LIVE FROM CTIA WIRELESS 2012: The CEO of games publishing giant Electronic Arts trumpeted the value mobile brings to the gaming industry, but stopped short of claiming that the mobile platform will eat into more traditional gaming revenues despite annual mobile device shipments being ten times greater than the console market.

“Mobile games will not wipe out the console business,” declared John Riccitiello. “Consumers are buying [games for] all platforms.”

Some of Riccitiello’s statistics highlighted the importance of mobile to the gaming business. “Games generated the most revenue in the Apple App Store last year, and the category was number one on Android in 2011. 67 percent of all iOS app revenue comes from games… The smartphone user spends 46 minutes a day playing games, compared to 15 minutes talking on the phone.”