Survey: Mobile Gamers Average 3.6 Hours a Day

Spice Smart published the results of a survey on smartphone game play habits, monetization and in-game advertising, conducted through Playio Research, a research service it provides jointly with PLAYIO, the company behind the game platform Playio. The findings were reported by gamebiz.jp.

The survey covered 10,873 Playio users who had played a combined 7 hours or more in the past 30 days across the puzzle, RPG and simulation genres. It ran from August 14 to 23, 2026. The median total play time over the past 30 days came to 108.1 hours, equal to about 3.6 hours per day, and users playing 100 hours or more per month made up 53.8% of all respondents.

Among respondents, 40.5% had made a purchase in the past 30 days, and 43.1% of those buyers said they bought recurring products such as monthly passes or battle passes. Monthly passes were the most common purchase at 65.0%, followed by battle passes, or season passes, at 37.7%. The number of recurring-product buyers peaked in the segment playing 100 to under 200 hours per month, and the top three segments by number of recurring-product buyers were all users in their 30s playing 50 hours or more per month.

Buyers cited 'ad removal/skipping' and 'time saving' as common reasons for purchasing recurring products, particularly among users in their 30s and 40s. By age, play time tended to rise as the age group increased, and home — a user's own room or living room — was the main place for playing across all age groups from teens to sixties.

Spice Smart notes the survey is limited to Playio users and does not represent all smartphone game users. The results appear in the LIVEOPSIS September 2026 market trend report, which is distributed to contracted companies.