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84% Of Tablet Owners Game, Should Nintendo & Sony Be Worried?

By on April 9, 2011

There’s a new survey  shows that 84% of tablet owners play games on their devices. This is a somewhat shocking number when you think about it, aren’t tablets for web browsing, email and movies? This could explain why Apple hired gaming executives from Activision & Nintendo. Tablets “might” become a threat to other gaming devices—like Nintendo’s 3DS and Sony’s upcoming NGP. So should Nintendo & Sony be worried? Yes and no, here’s why. Keep reading after the break.

Since 84% of owners play games on their devices, a gaming tablet wouldn’t be a bad idea. There is some speculation that GameStop plans on making one. The rise of tablet gaming would probably impact Nintendo the most, since it’ll have mostly casual games. Maybe that’s why Nintendo are so against “garage” developers. Since most tablet games are from unknowns. Yet—I doubt tablets will hurt Nintendo too much because they’ll never have games like Pokémon. So at most tablets will become a minor annoyance to them.

When it comes to the NGP, I don’t think tablets will have any impact on sales. Most people who want the NGP are hardcore gamers, so they won’t be as easily swayed by quirky games. Also with all the cool control options the NGP has, a touchscreen can’t compare.

I own an iPad and I love it—but I don’t game on it often, the same goes for my iPhone 4. This is because my mindset is different from most iPad users. I’m more of a console/pc gamer, appstore games rarely satisfy me. So I’ll probably turn to the NGP for my portable gaming fix (when it comes out). I look at these numbers and think most people playing games on tablets are non-gamers. Nintendo & Sony (particularly Nintendo) should keep an eye on them, but not consider them a major threat just yet.

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I'm DeShaun Zollicoffer, and I approve this message/bio. "26-years-old, Proud Northeast Ohioan, a Gamer Without Loyalties, an Equal Opportunity Offender, Apple Evangelist, Apple Hater, Music Lover, Anime Junkie, Little Monster, Frequent Flyer, Dexter Fanatic, Title Case Addict, and Geek Revolt's Founder and Editorial Director."
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  • Overblown

    There is a big difference between playing games on a tablet you bought for something else and buying a tablet so you can play games. When you start hearing people say “I bought the iPad 2 just so that I could play games on it,” then you have a problem. The casual/social gaming pandemic is blown so badly out of proportion. Of course people are going to want to play games when they are sitting on Facebook. No, they don’t start a Facebook account to play games. Same thing with iOS type gaming. People looking to play real games will continue to buy portable gaming devices from Nintendo and Sony.

    • http://www.geekrevolt.com/ DeShaun Zollicoffer

      I basically agree with you. That’s why I said Nintendo and Sony really don’t have much to worry about. Thanks for stopping by.

  • http://twitter.com/Thecharrr It’s Mima!

    When the tablets get controllers is when the worry should begin. Most genres don’t work right on a touch screen anyways

    • http://www.geekrevolt.com/ DeShaun Zollicoffer

      That’s true, I grow tired of touch only controls quickly.