Mobile gaming reaches 100 million Americans, study says

The face of the mobile gaming market has changed dramatically in recent years, with more people abandoning their traditional handheld devices in favor of smartphones and tablet computers.

According to a report from market research firm Newzoo, more than 100 million Americans are now playing games on their mobile devices, a figure that has grown by about 35 percent since a year ago. Mobile gaming in Europe has increased by 15 percent year over year, reaching a total of 70 million gamers.

The research firm highlights the emergence of "mid-core" games as one reason for mobile gaming's success. The term describes a genre of games that target core audiences but are based on free-to-play business models.

Newzoo estimates the size of the US mid-core gaming market to be about 21.6 million players who spend approximately $1.2 billion on games each year.

A separate study from Parks Associates shows that 18 percent of American gamers downloaded mobile games regularly in 2011. Tablet users are especially drawn to this platform, as 79 percent of teens say they play games on their tablets for an hour or more each month.