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The growth of gaming apps on phones appears to be detracting from “primary” mobile gaming units like the PSP and the DS, according to reports from market research firm Interpret. “The proliferation of highly multifunctional smartphones and messaging phones is a very real threat to the dominance by the DS and PSP of the handheld gaming market,” Interpret’s Courtney Johnson, manager of Research and Analysis, said in a press release. “Devices which satisfy a variety of entertainment and utility are fast outstripping single-function devices as consumer favorites.”  Some of their statistics report that forty-four percent of the mobile gaming market play their games on their phone, “while the proportion of those who play on the DS or PSP has fallen by 13 percent.” Twenty-seven percent of mobile gamers also stated that they played games on their phones exclusively, despite owning a PSP or DS. Even with future handheld devices looming, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter isn’t optimistic about the future of “single function devices” as mobile gaming units. “Ultimately, I think handhelds are in trouble,” he said. He predicted that the PSP2 would be “dead on arrival,” although he did admit that he believed handheld gaming would have a “little rush” after the 3DS launch. |