Android continues to lead the pack in mobile gaming with 83 percent of the activity taking place on the operating system, according to a study from MocoSpace.

In addition to devices, the study also looked at how mobile gaming compares to desktop and console usage. The MocoSpace study, which surveyed 15,000 gamers on its network during December, found that mobile is increasingly becoming the go-to platform for gamers.

?We believe that much of the success of mobile gaming in 2011 is due to the rise of HTML5 combined with fantastic new devices from Android and Apple,? said Justin Siegel, cofounder/CEO of MocoSpace, Boston.

?We have certainly seen a lot of success with the roll-out of our HTML5 mobile game platform, and we are really looking forward to seeing new devices unveiled at this year,? he said.

MocoSpace is an online gaming community in the United States that claims to have 25 million users.

Hand-held gaming
The study found that 46 percent of consumers played games on their mobile devices compared to 30 percent of users that play on their desktops, showing the switch from computer to mobile gaming.

When playing games on their mobile devices, users are interacting with content for short periods of time, with 39 percent of users surveyed saying that they spend less than one hour playing games on their mobile devices each day.

An average of 30 percent of users play games for one to two hours on their mobile devices, and 18 percent of consumers surveyed said they played for more than three hours each day.

Compared to Android, Apple made up a small percentage of overall gaming with 10 percent of users surveyed saying they played games on iOS devices.

RIM?s BlackBerry devices made up 1.25 percent of gaming activity.

Gamers in the study were also loyal to a small number of games that they regularly played. Seventy-three percent of users surveyed said they played an average of one to five games via mobile per month, and only 17 percent of users played six to ten games per month.

More shift
The study is proof that entertainment mobile activities are increasingly moving to more mobile platforms.

According to the study, 46 percent of consumers said they played more mobile games in 2011 than in 2010.

Similarly, 37 percent of users are playing less on their desktops in the past year and 32 percent of consumers are playing less on console devices.

The study also shows that both men and women are using their mobile devices for gaming.

For example, 90 percent of women, which are stereotypically believed to not be gamers, over the age of 30 said they played mobile games, pointing to the explosion of mobile game applications and services available.

Comparatively, 83 percent of men above the age of 30 said they played games on their mobile device.

Going forward, game corporations such as Nintendo and Sony will need to develop their products to be more suited for mobile consumers, per Mr. Siegel

?Expect to see mobile gaming continue to surge in 2012,? Mr. Siegel said.

?As more people get smartphones and tablets, console and PC gaming will likely continue to decrease,? he said.

?There will always be an audience for console gaming, but the way that people interact with it, and their expectations, are going to change.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York