Among mobile gamers, males are the whales, and women don't pay to play

Men are more likely than females to be the spenders in mobile games, according to a survey by EEDAR, a game research firm.

Men account for 66 percent of the whales, or big spenders who are in the top 5 percent of payers, in mobile games, according to the survey of 3,000 players on smartphones and tablets.

Women are 65 percent of those who don’t pay to play in mobile games, while men are just 35 percent. Whales play mobile games for an average of 11.8 hours a week, while the average “nonpayer” plays for 4.1 hours a week and the average payer plays for 4.9 hours a week. Whales spend about 24 percent of their waking time playing video games of any kind. Nonpayers are likely to play only on mobile devices and not on other game platforms.

EEDAR mobile gaming infographic
EEDAR mobile gaming infographic

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.