TEHRAN, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Children living in major urban areas in Iran start playing video games earlier compared to their peers in rural areas because they have more access to smartphones, tablets and computers, Eghtesd online news website reported on Saturday.

Likewise, smartphones and tablets are the preferred gaming platforms with some 90 percent of the kids using the smart gadgets for playing video games while personal computers and gaming consoles are used by 10 percent of the kids for playing games.

The report is based on a survey conducted by Iran's Digital Games Research Center (DIREC) which indicates that more than seven million children under the age of 12 regularly play video games.

Video games are more popular among boys and 60 percent of children who play digital games are male, said the report.

The most popular mobile game genres among children in Iran are platformer/runner, arcade, driving, puzzle, and strategy.

According to the report, most kids play freemium games. Freemium is a pricing strategy by which a product or service is provided for free, but money is charged for additional features, services, or virtual or physical goods, which are commonly categorized as in-app purchases.

Iranian children mostly download games from local Android market Cafe Bazaar. Google Play services, along with local app markets like Iran Apps and Myket are also used for downloading games.

Iran has 28 million gamers, annually spending 74 million U.S. dollars on gaming consoles and accessories, according to the report.

Besides, each player spends seven dollars on mobile games every year. The annual turnover of Iran's mobile games market is 18.4 million dollars.