PC losing gaming time share as tablets boom, report claims

Growing tablet and mobile game has taken a big chunk out of the PC games sector, a new study has claimed.

The Nielsen 360 Gaming Report says that in 2012 PC games accounted for 39 per cent of the total time spent gaming by US gamers aged 13 and over. In 2013 that number fell to 33 per cent.

Tablet and mobile gaming, however, grew from four and nine per cent to nine and ten per cent respectively. Console gaming also grew one per cent to 38 per cent when next and current-gen console usage is combined.

It also found that overall gaming time is one the rise within the demographic, climbing from 5.1 hours per week in 2011 to 5.6 hours in 2012 and 6.3 hours in 2013.

The number of console gamers also playing on mobiles and tablets has grown from 35 per cent on 2011 to 50 per cent last year.

Nielsen director Nicole Pike added: With these 8th generation consoles still in their infancy, in addition to up-and-coming platforms such as microconsoles and cloud gaming gaining momentum, gaming time is poised to continue evolving moving forward.”