How many mobile gamers play in the bathroom? [ft. André Gualda]

The latest episode of Reality checks with Brian Reitz features André Gualda, Senior Manager of Consumer & Player Insights at KING, the maker of Candy Crush. The survey explored America’s favorite genres of mobile games, how frequently mobile gamers download and play games, and the unique places they play games.

“I think lots of players pick one game, and they carry it with them as part of their routine. I would expect to have more people who think, 'This is my game' about Candy Crush or Sudoko or Wordle, and that’s the only one.”

To uncover the reality behind mobile gaming habits, André Gualda and the YouGov team collaborated on a five-question survey of 600 US mobile gamers.

Which types of mobile games do men and women prefer?

Puzzle and word games reign supreme as the most popular genre of mobile games, with 56% of all US mobile gamers enjoying puzzle/breakout games and 53% favoring word/number/brain games.

Female mobile gamers show a stronger preference toward both of the most popular genres, with 62% reporting that they enjoy playing puzzle and breakout games (vs 46% of men) and 56% selecting word/number/brain games (vs 47% of men).

On the flip side, strategy and action/adventure games skew toward men, with 32% of US male mobile gamers enjoying strategy titles versus 22% of women, and 23% of male mobile gamers playing action/adventure games on their phones compared to 15% of women.

Sports games exhibit the largest gender gap, with male mobile gamers four times as likely as female mobile gamers to say they enjoy the genre (16% vs 4%).

60% of US mobile gamers have 4+ games on their phone

The majority of US mobile gamers have multiple games installed on their devices, with 60% reporting that they have at least four downloaded. An additional 27% of US mobile gamers said they have 2-3 games on their phones.

A significant portion of mobile gamers maintain a substantial game library, with 19% having 6-10 games and an additional 19% having more than 10.

Women tend to have more games installed than their male counterparts, with 21% of female mobile gamers having 10+ games compared to 15% of men.

86% of US mobile gamers played 2+ games in the last month

The Reality checks survey with KING’s André Gualda found that 86% of US mobile gamers said they played multiple games on their phones in the last month.

Following the previous finding that 60% of US mobile gamers have 4+ games on their phones, the survey uncovered that 36% of US mobile gamers play 4+ games on their phones every month.

In other words, 60% of mobile gamers have 4+ games, and 60% of that segment play 4+ per month.

Like the trend of installed games, US female mobile gamers also show a higher tendency than men to play more games per month, with 42% playing 4+ games monthly, compared to 26% of male mobile gamers.

52% of US mobile gamers downloaded a game in the last month

The survey also dug into how recently Americans have put new games on their phones, finding that most mobile gamers (52%) said they downloaded a game in the last month, with slightly more than a quarter (27%) reporting that they downloaded a game in the last week.

Despite previously noting that women seemed to have installed and recently played more games on their phones, more men in the survey said they had downloaded a game in the last week (26% vs 21%), suggesting that female mobile gamers are slightly more likely to stick with tried-and-true gamers, whereas men may be hunting for new options.

Where male and female mobile gamers admit to playing

Based on the options, bathroom gaming emerges as the most popular unconventional gaming location, with 44% of US mobile gamers admitting to playing while on the toilet.

Gender differences around toilet gaming are notable, with 53% of male mobile gamers engaging in this behavior compared to 40% of female mobile gamers.

It’s worth calling out that this survey reflects self-reported data, and some gamers may not have felt comfortable admitting to their bathroom habits.

Public transport ranked second in the list of unconventional gaming locations, with 20% of mobile gamers playing during their commute or other uses of mass transit. Female mobile gamers are slightly more likely to say they play phone games at the dinner table (21%) compared to their male counterparts (17%).

The data also shows that a significant portion of mobile gamers (27%) play in other unspecified situations, with respondents writing-in bedtime, watching TV, or on a work break.

Where different genre’s players admit to playing

When segmenting unique gaming locations by preferred genre, we find that toilet gaming most strongly appeals to simulation (57%) and action/adventure players (55%), who presumedly aren’t getting the action they want while sitting on the throne.

Simulation game players notably exceed the US mobile gamer threshold across all listed options, leading in categories such as playing while walking (35%) and at the dinner table (34%).

Strategy gamers also demonstrate above-average engagement in various contexts, with 51% playing on the toilet and 27% gaming at the dinner table.

Just 3% of US mobile gamers have played their games while in the shower, though this jumps to 5% among Action & Adventure players and Simulation players, both of whom also led for toilet gaming.

These findings suggest that certain game genres may be more conducive to play in diverse situations, potentially due to their game mechanics or session lengths.