Demographics

Between the 18th and 21st of December 2013 560 members of the MMD Labo monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. All the sample were 20 years old or more, and all had smartphones.

I reckon my most-used genre is games, and Candy Crush Saga in particular. SNS, Google+ specifically, comes a close second, however.

All the game links below lead to the Android version, if there is one. Only two titles appear to be iPhone only.

Research results

Q1: What genre of smartphone app did you use the most in 2013? (Sample size=560)

Free voice calls, chat	30.5%
SNS	14.5%
Game	9.5%
Weather	6.8%
Navigation	3.8%
Movie	3.6%
News	3.4%
Lifestyle	3.4%
Finance	2.7%
Work efficiency	1.8%
Photos, video camera	1.4%
Travel	1.4%
Electronic book, magazine	1.3%
Sports	0.7%
Dictionary	0.7%
Education	0.4%
Catalogue	0.2%
Health, fitness	0.2%
Business	0.2%
Medical	0.2%
Utility	0.2%
Entertainment	0.0%
Music	0.0%
Other	2.1%
None in particular	11.3%

Q2: Did you play any smartphone games in 2013? (Sample size=560)

Yes (to SQs)	52.5%
No	47.5%

Q2SQ2: What genre of smartphone game did you play the most in 2013? (Sample size=281)

Puzzle	48.0%
Virtual pet, virtual garden	7.1%
Simulation	6.4%
Action	5.3%
RPG	4.6%
Sports	3.9%
Quiz	3.9%
Adventure	3.2%
Trading card	3.2%
Education	2.1%
Table-top	1.8%
Shooting	1.8%
Escape	1.4%
Board	0.7%
Racing	0.7%
Trivia	0.7%
Coin (slot machine, etc)	0.4%
Defence	0.4%
Other	4.3%

Q2SQ2: Did you play any smartphone puzzle games in 2013? (Sample size=281)

Yes (to SQ3)	77.9%
No (to SQ4)	22.1%

Q2SQ3: Which smartphone puzzle game did you play the most in 2013? (Sample size=219)

Puzzle and Dragons	30.1%
LINE Pokopang	16.9%
LINE POP	11.9%
Candy Crush Saga	5.5%
LINE Bubble!	5.0%
Puyo-Puyo Quest	4.6%
Keri Hime Sweets	3.2%
Tetris Monster	1.8%
Escape Game DOOORS 3	0.9%
Romance of the Three Kingdoms Puzzle Great Battle	0.9%
Other	19.2%

Q2SQ4: Did you play any smartphone adventure games in 2013? (Sample size=281)

Yes (to SQ5)	31.0%
No (to SQ6)	69.0%

Q2SQ5: Which smartphone adventure game did you play the most in 2013? (Sample size=87)

Quiz RPG Mahoutsukai To Kuroneko No Wiz (Magic user and Black Cat Wiz)	33.3%
LINE WIND Runner	25.3%
Love Story! School Idol Festival	8.0%
Brave Frontier	8.0%
Monhan Daishuryou Quest	4.6%
Tokimeki Restaurant	4.6%
Legion War	3.4%
Treasure Detective Carrie	3.4%
Military RPG Blue Romance of the Three Kingdoms	1.1%
Thousand Memories	1.1%
Other	6.9%

Q2SQ6: Did you play any smartphone non-puzzle and adventure games in 2013? (Sample size=281)

Yes (to SQ7)	34.9%
No	65.1%

Q2SQ7: Which smartphone non-puzzle and adventure game did you play the most in 2013? (Sample size=98)

Dragon Quest VIII	19.4%
Rage of Bahamut	14.2%
Chain Chronicles	10.2%
Monster Strike	7.1%
Clash of Clans	5.1%
LINE Fish Island	5.1%
Sangokushi Rumble	4.1%
Gentou Senki (Mysterious Tower Military History) Griffon	3.1%
Gundam Conquest	2.0%
Legend of Monsters	2.0%
Other	24.5%

Demographics

Between the 28th and 30th of May 2013 1,098 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.0% of the sample were male, 13.4% in their teens, 15.4% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 17.3% in their forties, 14.8% in their fifties, and 17.9% aged sixty or older.

I have spent exactly zero yen on in-game purchases; the two games I play that have such features play perfectly well without any extra contributions.

Research results

Q1: Do you have a smartphone or tablet? (Sample size=1,098)

Yes (to SQ1)	51.8%
No	48.2%

Q1SQ1: Do you have any games apps installed on these devices? (Sample size=569)

Yes (to SQ2 and SQ3)	71.2%
No	28.8%

The gamers were asked what genres these game apps were from, and the top three were puzzles (52.1%), action (28.9%) and cards (23.0%).

Q1SQ2: About how long do you spend per day playing game apps? (Sample size=405)

Less than 10 minutes	36.0%
10 to 30 minutes	33.6%
30 minutes to 1 hour	20.5%
1 to 3 hours	7.7%
3 to 5 hours	1.5%
5 to 10 hours	0.5%
More than 10 hours	0.2%

Q1SQ3: Have you ever bought in-game items in these game apps? (Sample size=405)

Yes (to SQ4)	20.5%
No	79.5%

Putting Q1+SQ1+SQ3 together we get:

Q1+SQ1+SQ3: Have you ever bought in-game items for smartphone or tablet game apps? (Sample size=1,098)

Yes	7.6%
No	29.3%
Don’t have games installed	14.9%
Don’t have smartphone or tablet	48.2%

Q1SQ4: In total, about how much have you spent on in-game items? (Sample size=83)

Under 500 yen	25.3%
500 to 999 yen	19.3%
1,000 to 2,999 yen	21.7%
3,000 to 4,999 yen	12.0%
5,000 to 9,999 yen	0.0%
10,000 to 29,999 yen	7.2%
30,000 to 49,999 yen	8.4%
50,000 to 99,999 yen	1.2%
100,000 yen or more	4.8%

Demographics

Between the 17th and 20th of December 2012 1,067 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.2% in their teens, 18.7% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 15.9% in their forties, and 27.5% aged fifty or older.

My gaming is recently 100% smartphone based, and my solitary smartphone game is Andoku, a Sudoku clone with 800 standard boards (I’m just over halfway through), then another 3 sets of 800 boards of other game variants – I see the new version now has 10,000 boards, but also has adverts, so the paid-for and ad-free version will be worth it. The game’s surely going to outlast my smartphone, and I’m not sure if it will be possible to transfer my played state across to a new device.

Research results

Of the complete sample, 666 people, or 62.4%, had a games machine. Top as usual was the various incarnations of the Nintendo DS with 60.4%, Nintendo Wii and Wii U with 48.6%, Sony PlayStation 2 with 41.4%, Sony PlayStation Portable with 33.8% and rounding out the top five was Sony’s PlayStation 3 at 29.6%.

Q1: Might you buy the Nintendo Wii U, released on 8th December 2012? (Sample size=1,067)

Already bought	1.2%
Want to buy	14.6%
Don’t feel like buying, but interested in it	31.5%
Don’t feel like buying	52.7%

Demographics

Between the 10th and 13th of August 2012 1,000 members of the Just Systems-affiliated FastAsk monitor group who played social games completed a private internet-based questionnaire. No further demographics were given.

My wife spends what is, I suppose, technically real money on social games. She is a member of a number of online survey sites, and rather than cashing out, she transfers saved points to social games, in particular Oshare Dorobo, (perhaps “The Elegant Thief”) a Dress-Up Barbie-type game where in order to complete some quests you need (or so she claims) to buy particular hairdos which are only available from a random vending machine that costs 300 yen per spin. It’s probably about 1,500 yen’s worth of points per month she gets through, and I wish she’d never told me about the month she won 5,000 yen’s worth of tokens…

Research results

Q1: Have you ever spent money on in-game items, etc for social games? (Sample size=1,000)

Yes (to SQs)	48.5%
No	51.5%

Q1SQ1: Do you regret, have you reflected on using money in social games? (Sample size=485)

Regret, reflected on	26.4%
Perhaps regret, reflected on	34.2%
Perhaps don’t regret, reflect on	20.8%
Don’t regret, reflect on	18.6%

Q1SQ2: On average, about how much money do you use per month in social games? (Sample size=485)

Up to 1,000 yen	55.3%
Up to 2,500 yen	22.1%
Up to 5,000 yen	12.4%
Up to 7,500 yen	1.9%
Up to 10,000 yen	4.1%
Up to 20,000 yen	1.2%
Up to 30,000 yen	0.8%
More than 30,000 yen	2.3%

Q1SQ3: What is the most money you’ve used in a month in social games? (Sample size=485)

Up to 1,000 yen	33.8%
Up to 2,500 yen	19.0%
Up to 5,000 yen	20.6%
Up to 7,500 yen	4.5%
Up to 10,000 yen	9.7%
Up to 20,000 yen	5.8%
Up to 30,000 yen	1.6%
More than 30,000 yen	4.9%

Q2: Do you regret, have you reflected on the time you’ve spent playing social games? (Sample size=1,000)

Regret, reflected on	12.8%
Perhaps regret, reflected on	28.4%
Perhaps don’t regret, reflect on	26.8%
Don’t regret, reflect on	32.0%

Of the 412 people who have reflected on their wasted time, 55.6% want to reduce their play time, and 16.3% want to stop completely.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 29th of January 2012 1,073 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.3% of the sample were male, 15.9% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, and 28.0% aged fifty or older.

I’ve not really got much interest in buying any of them, but I’d like to find out more about the Wii U.

Research results

First, the sample were asked if they had any games machines, portable or fixed, used or unused. 679 people, or 63.3% of the sample, said they had, with the top five being 62.3% (of 679) having a Nintendo DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSiLL or 3DS, 51.5% with a Sony PlayStation 2, 47.6% with a Nintendo Wii, and 35.2% with a PlayStation Portable, and 27.4% with a PlayStation 3.

Furthermore, in October 2011 the Xperia PLAY SO-01D was released, but just one single person owned one. The PlayStation Vita fared slightly better since its December 2011 launch, with 16 people having one, or 2.4% of the total machine owner group.

Now, the whole sample were asked about their intentions for the next generation of devices.

Q1: Do you think you will buy a PlayStation Vita? (Sample size=1,073)

Already bought one	1.5%
Want to buy	7.9%
Don’t want to buy, but interested in it	36.2%
Not interested in it	54.4%

Q2: Do you think you will buy an Xperia PLAY SO-01D? (Sample size=1,073)

Already bought one	0.1%
Want to buy	2.1%
Don’t want to buy, but interested in it	23.1%
Not interested in it	74.7%

Q3: Do you think you will buy a Nintendo Wii U? (Sample size=1,073)

Want to buy	9.1%
Don’t want to buy, but interested in it	38.4%
Not interested in it	52.5%

Demographics

Between the 16th and 20th of January 2012 1,077 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

I play a couple of social games, but have never spent any money on them. On the other hand, my wife plays a few and although she doesn’t actually spend money as such, she earns points from various survey sites that can be transfered to partner social games.

There’s two social games being heavily advertised on television and in trains right now by major pop groups; first is EXILE doing Holy War Cerberus for GREE, then there’s TOKIO doing Doliland, also for GREE.

This one is apparently doing 2 billion yen a month (just under 20 million euro!) in in-game sales so they can afford to splash out.

Research results

First of all, 58.0% of the sample were registered on an SNS, and of that 625, 42.1% had played a social game within the last year, or in other words 24.4% of the whole sample.

These 263 social gamers were asked the following.

Q1A: Have you ever bought a social game’s in-game item with real money? (Sample size=263)

Yes	24.3%
No	74.1%
Don’t know what a game item is	1.5%

Putting the three answers together, we get this:

Q1B: Have you ever bought a social game’s in-game item with real money? (Sample size=1,077)

Yes	5.9%
No	18.1%
Don’t know what a game item is	0.4%
Not played one (recently)	33.6%
Not registered with an SNS	42.0%

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 26th of December 2011 714 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service who owned and were interested in portable gaming machines completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.0% of the sample were male, 30.0% in their twenties, 49.9% in their thirties, and 20.2% in their forties.

My gaming device is my Android smartphone (Panasonic P-01D), and the only two games I have on it at the moment are Andoku (sudoku) and Nethack. I should really download Angry Birds (I’m still to play it on any device!), I suppose, but as I’m trying to keep my data charges down I don’t want to have adverts being fetched from the internet as I play!

Research results

Q1: What portable gaming machines do you currently have? (Sample size=714, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=407	Female N=307
Nintendo DS	83.5%	78.1%	90.6%
Sony PSP	48.9%	52.8%	43.6%
Nintendo DS Lite	39.8%	39.6%	40.1%
Android smartphone	20.3%	25.3%	13.7%
iPhone	19.5%	21.1%	17.3%
Nintendo DSi	18.9%	19.2%	18.6%
Nintendo 3DS	16.4%	17.7%	14.7%
iPad	9.9%	10.6%	9.1%
Nintendo DSi LL	6.2%	5.9%	6.5%
Sony PS Vita	5.0%	6.1%	3.6%
Android tablet	3.6%	4.9%	2.0%
Other	2.1%	2.2%	2.0%

Q2: What portable gaming machine are you most interested in? (Sample size=714)

	All	Male N=407	Female N=307
Sony PS Vita	39.8%	46.4%	30.9%
Nintendo 3DS	20.2%	17.4%	23.8%
iPhone	9.8%	9.6%	10.1%
Sony PSP	7.4%	7.1%	7.8%
Android smartphone	5.7%	4.4%	7.5%
Nintendo DS	3.9%	2.9%	5.2%
iPad	3.5%	3.4%	3.6%
Nintendo DS Lite	3.4%	2.9%	3.9%
Android tablet	1.4%	2.0%	0.7%
Nintendo DSi LL	1.3%	0.5%	2.3%
Nintendo DSi	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%
Other	2.9%	2.5%	3.6%

When asked why they were interested in the particular device, for the PS Vita popular answers were because it’s the latest leading-edge multi-function device, new functions such as the rear touch-panel and online games, it’s a follow-on to a device I love, and I’m a Sony fan. For the Nintendo 3DS, popular answers were interest in 3D and that it has games I want to play.

Q3: What portable gaming machine do you most want to try out? (Sample size=714)

	All	Male N=407	Female N=307
Sony PS Vita	49.3%	56.5%	39.7%
Nintendo 3DS	18.8%	16.2%	22.1%
iPad	6.9%	5.2%	9.1%
iPhone	5.6%	3.9%	7.8%
Android smartphone	3.8%	2.7%	5.2%
Android tablet	3.4%	3.4%	3.3%
Sony PSP	3.2%	2.7%	3.9%
Nintendo DSi	1.5%	2.0%	1.0%
Nintendo DSi LL	1.3%	0.7%	2.0%
Nintendo DS Lite	0.4%	0.5%	0.3%
Nintendo DS	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Other	5.9%	6.1%	5.5%

Q4: How do you want to spend your New Year holiday this year? (Sample size=714, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=407	Female N=307
Watching television	67.8%	63.4%	73.6%
Surfing the internet	65.5%	66.1%	64.8%
Playing computer games	45.0%	47.7%	41.4%
Visiting a shrine, temple	40.3%	34.2%	48.5%
Shopping	38.7%	31.7%	47.9%
Going to the cinema	30.4%	29.0%	32.2%
Hanging out with friends	21.1%	20.6%	21.8%
Domestic travel	10.1%	10.6%	9.4%
Work	9.2%	10.6%	7.5%
Visiting leisure facilities	7.6%	7.6%	7.5%
Doing sports	5.3%	6.6%	3.6%
Foreign travel	2.9%	3.4%	2.3%
Other	4.9%	4.7%	5.2%

Demographics

Between the 17th and 19th of October 2011 1,083 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.3% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 18.2% in their twenties, 21.9% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, and 27.3% aged fifty or older.

I wonder if just as people talk about a post-PC world where smartphones and tablets take the fore, are we also entering a post-console world? Zynga, the makers of FarmVille and other Facebook games are about to float at a valuation of $6 billion, and DeNA, the people who run the almost-exclusively Japanese gaming site Mobage had a turnover of about $1.5 billion (yes, dollars, not yen) last year with a profit ratio of about 50%! However, both these companies offer mainly pretty simple browser-based games using the freemium model – free to play, but with additional items available for a fee. Similarly, the iPhone and Android app stores price games very cheap and support them using either or both in-game advertising or paid-for additional items or levels. Thus, a separate console plus $30 or $40 per game looks not too good a deal.

Research results

First of all, 64.1% of the sample (694 people) owned a games machine. The most popular was the Nintendo DS family, with 62.2% of the 694 owning one, then 53.0% with a PlayStation 2, 51.7% with a Nintendo Wii, 34.3% with a PlayStation Portable, and 27.8% a PlayStation 3.

Furthermore, of the sample 694 people, 42.8% actually played with their Nintendo DS, 36.2% with their Wii, 22.2% with their PlayStation Portable, 20.6% with their PlayStation 3, and 20.6% with their PlayStation 2.

Q1: Do you want to buy the PlayStation Vita, which is due to be released on the 17th of December 2011? (Sample size=1,083)

Want to buy	10.2%
Don’t want to buy, but interested in it	35.2%
Not interested in it	54.6%

Q2: Do you want to buy the Nintendo Wii U, which is due to be released some time in 2012? (Sample size=1,083)

Want to buy	9.4%
Don’t want to buy, but interested in it	36.1%
Not interested in it	54.5%

Demographics

Between the 20th and 22nd of April 2011 1,110 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.5% of the sample were female, 10.8% in their teens, 16.2% in their twenties, 27.4% in their thirties, 26.4% in their forties, 9.3% in their fifties, and 9.9% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. Also note that naturally those who had already bought a 3DS would not have answered the question.

My reason for not upgrading is that I haven’t even got round to playing the Nintendo DS we have lying around the house…

Ranking result

Q: Why haven’t you bought a Nintendo 3DS? (Sample size=1,110)

Rank		Score
1	Too expensive, waiting for the price to come down	100
2	I’m satisfied with my DS, DSi	60.6
3	Worried about eye strain	41.2
4	I’d probably get motion sickness	39.4
5	Wasn’t much software available at launch	24.6
6	Will buy once a game I want is released, eg Pokemon, Zelda, Love Plus	18.5
7	I’m satisfied with my mobile phone, smartphone games	11.1
8	I’m satisfied with my Sony Playstation Portable	10.8
9	Battery life seems poor	8.0
10	Too heavy to be bothered carrying around	7.1
11	Can’t use Gameboy Advance cartridges	5.5
12	Not out in a colour I want	4.9
13	Can’t use Gameboy cartridges	4.3
14	I’m saving up for a Sony Next Generation Portable (NGP)	3.7
15	Want to get one with a bigger screen	3.1
16	Can’t move my DSi points across	2.8
17	Buttons look difficult to use	2.2
18	No Famicon/NES virtual console	1.8
19=	Scaled-up DS games are ugly to look at	1.5
19=	Friends didn’t buy, so I’m waiting until they do	1.5

Demographics

Between the 6th and 8th of January 2011 1,093 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16/3% in their forties, and 27.5% aged fifty or older.

As there’s nothing I can graph in this survey, instead here’s the first match on YouTube for Nintendo:

The survey also noted that in the US the various Nintendo DSs had sold about 47 million, and the Wii around 34 million.

I’ve not seen the Nintendo 3DS in real life, but the Sharp LYNX mobile phone uses similar technology to do its 3D, and it does work rather well, although I’m not sure how trying to use 3D in a moving train will be, although I suspect that at least I would get motion sickness from it; One Seg television is enough eye (and stomach) strain for me.

Research results

From the original sample, 683 people, or 62.5%, had games machines. They were asked the following.

Q1: What games machines do you have? (Sample size=683, multiple choice)

Nintendo DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSiLL, etc (to SQ)	62.2%
Playstation 2	54.0%
Wii	45.2%
Playstation Portable	29.6%
Super Famicon	26.4%
Playstation 3	24.2%
Playstation (original)	22.8%
Gameboy Advance	21.1%
Nintendo 64	18.3%
Gameboy (including Colour, Pocket, etc)	17.3%
Nintendo Gamecube	13.8%
Famicon	13.6%
Dreamcast	4.8%
Xbox360	4.0%
Xbox	1.5%
PSPgo	0.9%
Other	6.4%

Q1SQ: Why do you have a Nintendo DS? (Sample size=425, multiple choice)

Because games I want to play are exclusive to the DS	68.5%
Because everyone’s talking about it	34.6%
Because my friends, family have one and I wanted my own	22.4%
Because I liked the functions	21.5%
It’s a family shared device	17.2%
Because games I want to play are coming out on the DS	12.0%
It was a present	9.4%
Because I’m a Nintendo fan	4.9%
Because it caught my eye in the shap	3.3%
No particular reason	2.1%

Q2: What games machines do you currently play with? (Sample size=683, multiple choice)

Nintendo DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSiLL, etc	45.5%
Wii	31.2%
Playstation 2	23.4%
Playstation Portable	20.5%
Playstation 3	18.0%
Super Famicon	4.2%
Playstation (original)	3.4%
Nintendo Gamecube	2.6%
Xbox360	2.5%
Nintendo 64	2.3%
Gameboy Advance	1.9%
Gameboy (including Colour, Pocket, etc)	1.6%
Famicon	1.5%
PSPgo	0.6%
Xbox	0.3%
Dreamcast	0.3%
Other	1.9%
None	16.4%