It’s not a good week for PCs. First they receive low satisfaction scores for the third year in a row, and now kids are giving up on them for gaming.
In news that likely surprises very few teachers or parents — or anyone who’s visited a restaurant in the past two years — mobile devices are now the devices most used by kids ages 2 to 17 who play video games, with 63 percent of respondents playing them. These kids spend an average of six hours each week playing. (Survey respondents all played at least one type of video game.)
However, this doesn’t mean that more kids are playing on them than two years ago. Just 45 percent of kids are gaming on a PC, which is down a whopping 22 percentage points from 2013. As a result of this drop, mobile devices were awarded the No. 1 spot.
Consoles are also feeling the pinch, although NPD declined to provide a specific figure. Liam Callahan, NPD industry analyst, said the segment declined “modestly” vs. the computer decline.
While computers were once considered the entry point for gaming, Callahan said, this is no longer the case. “This may be related to a change in the behavior of parents that are likely utilizing mobile devices for tasks that were once reserved for computers.”
Some other stats:
The average amount of money spent by kids on games in the past three months:
Physical games: $27.
Digital games: $13
Boys are most likely to spend the most: $54 vs. $36 for girls.
