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Posted by: Matt Liebl

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Global market research firm Nielsen has released a slew of neat gaming statistics today, including in-depth figures on mobile gaming.  As part of the Nielsen webinar on trends in U.S. gaming, Nielson has decided to share some stats via Twitter.

One particularly area of focus in the abundance of jumbled stats is mobile gaming - particularly Android vs iOS devices.  According to Nielson, 39% of households own an iOS device - be it iPad, iPhone, or iPod.

Although they didn't release a specific Android device number, it's safe to assume that the combination of the two is leading to an overall growth of mobile gaming, which Nielson states as "broadening gaming's potential reach".

And this is a reach across all ages.  The thing about mobile gaming is everyone has a phone these days, meaning everyone has access to mobile gaming.  Whether it's an Android or iPhone, they all have access.

While the iPhone gaming is spread across many age segments, it is said that Android gaming "peaks" among adults age 25-34.  It was also noted that the average age of an Angry Birds player is 37 years old with 54% of the players being male.  On the other hand, 54% of females play Words with Friends, with the average age being 34 years old.

As you can see, gaming is no longer targeting the average 18 year old male.  In fact, these stats prove it has expanded well beyond that demographic.  Gone are the days of the single, male being the most attractive target.  Now developers have a much broader audience thanks to mobile devices like the iPad, iPhone, and Android phones.

And if you think it's going to slow down anytime soon, you are dead wrong.  Gaming time is on the rise, according to Nielson.  In fact, it's up 7% from last year, with tablets and mobile gaming "fueling the increase."

Whether you like it or not, mobile gaming is a growing market and developers are beginning to notice this.  Just recently it was reported that Twisted Metal developers Eat Sleep Play were going to expand their reach in the mobile gaming market.  And who could blame them?  The market is just too big and too broad to ignore it at this point.

This is not to say that console gaming is going to be replaced by mobile games, but it's definitely going to be interesting where the gaming industry goes from here.

Tags: iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android, Apple, iOS