Survey: iOS not taking much gaming audience from gaming consoles
Conventional wisdom says iOS is slowly chipping away at more traditional gaming devices like portable and home consoles, with even Nintendo admitting that Apple's handhelds are competition. But that role may be a little overstated, according to a new survey. Resolve Market Research found that after buying a tablet like the iPad, the percentage of customers who say they won't bother buying a portable gaming console or a traditional home console is falling, meaning that more people are thinking about owning a tablet and owning a completely separate device meant just for gaming.
As we've heard from elsewhere, laptops are the main target for tablet owners in terms of gaming, with dedicated e-readers also losing out to tablet devices for that function. But portable consoles like the Nintendo 3DS and Sony's upcoming PS Vita may have more of a life after iPad than previously thought. That doesn't mean that people aren't playing games on their tablets -- games are still one of the biggest categories in the App Store. Rather, it means that game time on the iPad isn't necessarily coming out of game time already being used up on traditional devices.
Although this is just one survey, it'll be interesting to see how free time and gaming attention gets divided up as people settle down into life with the iPad and other tablet devices. Traditional consoles may be more focused than all-purpose tablets, but that doesn't mean tablet users don't want to play games or be entertained sometimes.
