With nearly 187 million mobile gamers in North America alone, The NPD Group predicts that the industry will see significant gains  as more consumers access smartphones.

The video game industry generated record-breaking revenue in 2017, exceeding $30 billion in the U.S., an 18 percent increase from 2016, according to The NPD Group.

Excluding PC games, sales across all channels and categories were strong, especially in the mobile category.

According to Deconstructing Mobile and Tablet Gaming 2017, the latest report from video game research firm EEDAR, mobile spend, including paid downloads and in-game purchases for mobile and tablet devices, was one of the stronger growth drivers in 2017. While growth of the mobile market has continued to slow as both the device and gaming markets begin to reach saturation–as of 2017, an estimated 80 percent of adults and teens either own or regularly use a smart device–the number of new mobile gamers entering the market are still increasing.

There are 229 million consumers in the U.S. and Canada ages 13-plus that own or have regular access to a smartphone and/or tablet. The majority of these device owners play mobile games, translating to 187 million users.

Comparing the genders, we see that current mobile gamers are generally more alike than different, with male and female gamers generally showing similar rates of dual-device usage and play. That said, the broader North American mobile gaming market continues to show a slight female majority overall.