Children increasingly prefer mobile devices to PCs, consoles for gaming

Perhaps Konami wasn’t that insane when it announced it’s almost entirely switching to the mobile platform, and Nintendo also might be onto something with its announcement that it’s creating a couple of mobile games.

According to a report by the NPD Group, mobile is the number one platform for gaming, overpassing even the PC. The report called Kids and Gaming 2015 offered insights into what platforms children ages 2-17 play the most.

I didn’t even know two-year-olds played video games in the first place. Turns out they do, and they are the ones that made all the difference.

Now, 63 percent of children reported they play games regularly on mobile devices. By comparison, 45 percent of children ages 2-17 reported that they play on a home computer, which is down 22 percent from 2013.

This decline is seen within the entire age group, but is "most pronounced" for those ages 2-5, NPD said.

It’s not just the PC who’s seeing a decline. Console gaming, even mobile consoles such as PS Vita or Nintendo 3DS are suffering. A specific percentage decrease figure was not shared, though the NPD said it was nowhere near the drop reported for PC gaming.

"The largest and most surprising shift in the 2015 gaming ecosystem was kids’ move away from the computer", NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan said in a statement. "In the past, the computer was considered the entry point for gaming for most kids, but the game has changed now that mobile has moved into that position. 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".

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