Android and iOS Games Out-Earn Nintendo and Sony. Game Over?

Android and iOS will generate about $500 million more in revenue this year in the U.S. from the sales of mobile games than Nintendo and Sony, ending the DS and PSP makers' 20-year dominance of the portable game market in this country.

According to research-firm Flurry Analytics, by the end of 2011, 58% of total U.S. portable game software revenue will go to those being played on Android and iOS. As a result, Nintendo’s DS devices will only account for 36% of the U.S. portable game software market this year, with Sony’s PSP trailing with 6% market share. 

The most striking trend, according to the report, is that iOS and Android games have tripled their market share from roughly 20% in 2009 to almost 60% in 2011. Additionally, Nintendo, which controlled over two-thirds of the market in 2009, now has just over a third of the market. Last year, Nintendo’s share of software revenue was at 57%, with Sony’s PSP only nabbing 9% market share, while Android and iOS grew to 34%. 

Over the last three years, Nintendo and Sony went from a combined revenue total of $2.2 billion in 2009 to just $1.4 billion for 2011. Meanwhile, combined iOS and Android software revenue has jumped from $500 million in 2009 to an estimated $1.9 billion this year. 

With Nintendo and Sony only selling high-end portable gaming devices, like the PSP and DS, which can cost customers around $200, the two companies that once monopolized Mobile Gaming are seeing that such devices and $40 price tags for individual games can’t compete with the  low-priced or free games that Android and iOS offer. Nintendo experienced repercussions of this reality earlier in the year after launching its 3DS for $250, only to slash the price to $170 after selling a mere 710,000 units. 

Source: Flurry