game, it's important to consider features that would drive quick conversion to pay." "Males and those ages 18 to 34 are traditionally seen as a big part of the core gamer audience, so it's likely these groups are not quite as engaged with freemium because the gaming experience is quite different from what they are used to from the games they play on consoles, handhelds or PC's," continued Frazier. "At a minimum, for these gamers a freemium game would provide a different experience, like a snack versus a full meal." All told, NPD believes that about 38 percent of the US population ages 2 and older currently plays some type of freemium game. About the author James Brightman James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously EIC and co-founder of IndustryGamers and spent several years leading GameDaily Biz prior to that.