Announced at Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona, the much anticipated Sony Ericsson Xperia Play was one of the highlights of the show. (See MWC 2011 - 3D and Mobile Gaming Experiences in the Spotlight). In 2010 Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice found that 47% of Smartphone owners in the US use their phone at least once per week for mobile gaming, with one-in-five playing games on their phone every (or almost every) day.
Strategy Analytics interviewed 197 existing Smartphone owners in the US during the week of 14th February 2011 to find out how interested they would be in owning a mobile phone with dedicated gaming controls and a PlayStation style gaming experience.
Almost one-third of those interviewed were interested or very interested in owning the Xperia Play, with the majority being males. The word cloud below represents the main reasons given for wanting to own an Xperia Play.
Unsurprisingly, 'Games' was the stand out word. Other words of prominence used to describe why users may want to own the Xperia Play included easier, play, time, and kids as well as love, great and like.
Strategy Analytics will be conducting a full benchmark analysis of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play when it is commercially available, as well as publishing a report looking at mobile gaming in April 2011.
- Paul Brown