A new survey of iOS device owners in the U.S. and six European countries shows 63 million iOS gamers downloading over 5 million games a day, outperforming all other app categories combined.
The March 2011 study, a joint effort between analytics companies Distimo and Newzoo, looked at downloads for the top 300 games available in the free and paid categories. The average iOS gamer downloaded 2.5 such games each month, with the vast majority of those downloads (88 percent) being free games.
Such games helped drive the growth of in-game spending, which now represents 40 percent of iOS revenues across all games, according to the study. In-game spending is expected to generate the majority of iOS gaming revenue by the second half of 2011.
Between 50 and 75 percent of iPhone owners across the U.S., UK, Germany, France, Spain, The Netherlands and Belgium play games, according to the study.
While nearly 15 million Americans and 7 million Europeans play games on an iPad -- more than play on Sony's PlayStation Portable, according to the study -- the tablet device represented only 10 percent of all iOS gaming purchases.
Success for iOS games was concentrated heavily among a few top performers in the study, with games ranking in the top 25 bringing five to six times more downloads and revenue than the next 25 top-selling games.
