48% of Teens Play Games on their Cellphones

Nearly every teenager in America plays video games, according to a new survey just released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. You can read a summary of the report or get access to the entire report (76 pages) by clicking here.

Since this is a mobile phone blog I'll focus the highlights of cellphone gaming.

First of all, fully 97% of teens ages 12-17 play computer, web, portable, or console games.

-86% of teens play on a console like the Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii.
-73% play games on a desktop or a laptop computer.
-60% use a portable gaming device like a Sony PlayStation Portable, a Nintendo DS,
or a Game Boy.
-48% use a cell phone or handheld organizer to play games.

Interestingly, girls are more likely to report gaming on a cell phone than boys. According to the study 53% of girls play games on cell phones, compared with 43% of boys.

Other findings:
-Age is not a factor in whether a given teen plays games on cell phones.
-Cell phone ownership is not a requirement for playing games with them, as 21% of teens who play games on cell phones do not have one of their own.
-Girls and boys are equally likely to own a cell phone.

I'm actually surprised the number is not higher than 48%. I guess this has to do with lame legacy form factors of phones. This will change quickly, however, as new devices hit the market. My 6 year old plays games on my phone all the time so it's just a matter of time until the percentage of teens who play games on cellphones approaches the console penetration rates and probably even higher.