New Study Shows Nintendo Needs To Take Mobile Seriously

A recent study has shown a robust number of kids in the UK own tablets, and that metric increases all the time. Nearly half of kids aged 12 and under own a tablet of some kind. The study also showed that those tablets have eclipsed the Nintendo 3DS as the gaming platform of choice for youngsters.

Futuresource Consulting found that 44% of kids 3-12 own a tablet. Even the youngest of the study, those aged 3-4, have a healthy showing — 30% of them have tablets. The top end of the spectrum favored smartphones — 25% of those 9-10 have one, and that jumps to 46% when they hit 11 years old.

Parents spend roughly £100 annually on mobile charges of one kind or another for their kids, the survey notes. Nintendo has long held-out of the mobile device platform game due to their own hand-held console efforts. Having been eclipsed in a major market they once held sway, perhaps the handwriting on the wall has dried to the touch(screen).

Every time someone around the SlashGear offices brings up another sad Nintendo tale, my retort is the same: "just give me Mario Kart on my iPad, already!" Nintendo could also give me those classics I cut my teeth on, like Metroid or Kid Icarus — whatever they want to bring to the table, so long as it's available on our mobile devices. I'd even spend on a controller if that's what it took.

Maybe with studies like these, I won't feel like I'm screaming into the wind so much someday. At least, I hope Nintendo starts to get that the mobile landscape has changed — and adapt to that soon. It's time.

Via: Pocket Lint