Video games are attracting more people than ever. Traditionally the realm of younger males, gaming has grown increasingly popular among women, older players and other demographic groups. And while the weak economy has had an effect on many forms of entertainment, video games have shown an amazing resilience, with sales of both gaming consoles and games continuing to show healthy growth. These are just a few of the findings of a new comprehensive report on PC game and video game console usage from Nielsen Games.
In addition to gaming consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox, PC gaming is alive and well, while new platforms like mobile phones offer new possibilities for game developers. More than ever before, video games encompass a broad spectrum of genres, platforms and price.
Other key findings from Nielsen’s report include:
- PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 attract the more engaged users, who are less likely to be watching prime time TV that users of other consoles.
- PlayStation 2 still leads all other consoles in total minutes of usage, but continues to have the highest downward trend. Data suggests that the PS2 will lose the top usage spot within the next few months.
- Females 25 years and older make up the largest block of PC game players, accounting for 46.2 percent of all players and 54.6 percent of all game play minutes in December 2008.
- The most played games on the PC are card games from Microsoft, with Solitaire being the most played game in December 2008 with over 17 million players.
“Gaming, once the domain of kids and a small group of core fans, is now more mainstream than ever. As the number of platforms continues to expand, we would expect that more people will be drawn to the entertainment video games can offer. Along with this, the evolution of gaming consoles into multimedia devices has changed consumption habits of traditional media such as TV, movie and Internet content,” said Bradley Raczka, Marketing Manager for Nielsen Games.
View the complete State of the Video Gamer report here.
This is only the beginning of the video game era.
[...] Nielsen’s full State of the Video Gamer report is available through the firm’s Web site. [...]
May I ask the people at Nielsen where and who they examined? Their study claims that the Wii was the least used?
I beg to differ with them because almost everyone I know uses their Wii and I myself and my family enjoy our Wii more than anything else.
[...] has released its “The State of the Video Gamer” report for the fourth quarter of 2008, and the data inside contains a few things we knew, a [...]
[...] has released its “The State of the Video Gamer” report for the fourth quarter of 2008, and the data inside contains a few things we knew, a [...]
[...] has released its “The State of the Video Gamer” report for the fourth quarter of 2008, and the data inside contains a few things we knew, a [...]
[...] growth in the video game market has not been dented by the recession according to Nielsen’s newly-released ‘State of the Video Gamer‘ report, which looked at console and PC video game usage in [...]
Gaming is everywhere and has been to those willing and wanting. I dont think this attention is bad by any means but the market may if not already be saturated with developers just hoping to cash in on a hot gimmick. Its been a long journey from the days of Atari and NES and the technology has really matured. I never would have imagined games like Shadow of the Collosus, Prince of Persia, Max Payne, Tomb Raider to garner the attention they did and catch the eyes of hollywood which only draws even more attention from curious audiences wondering what all the fuss is about, or even lonely girlfriends wondering why their boyfriend locks himself up in his room Friday Nights (sorry babe, love you! ;-) Harcore, Vets, noobs, all have a game that can satisfy and many different venues for them console, phones, portable all just waiting for a try and once you take the bait you’re hooked! I think its great that games are receiving the success they have, in fact all gamers should stop being whiny when a company like Capcom wants to charge 5 measly bucks for an add on to an amazing game (unlock code or add-on it still awesome and worth 4.99), or when Bethesda releases several patches for FallOut 3. Constructive criticism is fine but dont be a jerk!! if it werent for these companies you have to resort to watching reruns on TV instead of playing you favorite games, lets show a little appreciation. Enjoy the game every body and see you on Resident Evil 5’s Versus Mode i’ll be the one shooting zombies with my ethica shotgun!
XBL GamerTag: LivingAudio
[...] Nielsen Says A Lot of Guys Play World of Warcraft April 9, 2009 Posted by Wilhelm2451 in Blizzard, World of Warcraft. Tags: Nielsen Ratings trackback Instance group member Bung dropped the group an IM with a link to an article over at Ars Technica that refers to and sums up a report from Nielsen on The State of The Video Gamer. [...]
[...] yet another reason to slap that “No Girls Allowed” sign on your tree fort: the fairer sex digs PC gaming way more than [...]
Anthony –
Thanks for the inquiry. Nielsen electronically measures the console activity from the 17,000+ Nielsen TV homes from which TV ratings are derived. While the Wii may be less active overall compared to the PlayStation and Xbox consoles, sales have shown that Wiis are part of more American households than its competitors. Part of the reason PS3 and Xbox 360 are more actively used is because of their more robust connected/online offering which involves a multitude of multiplayer gaming options, TV & movie downloading/streaming and internet browsing (PS3) and or chat functionality.
Brad Raczka
[...] really blame them for the garbage found on most channels most of the time. But now they’ve gone and done something that is both ridiculous and concerning – if anyone believes them. They claim, you see, that [...]
[...] influence on the purchasing behavior of the gaming demographic is steadily dwindling. Most gamers spend more time online or playing games than watching TV. With the added channel of mobile gaming, from the PSP, [...]
[...] duro al control. Si gustan leer el estudio completo, esta disponible en la página de Nielsen: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/the-state-of-the-video-gamer-suitable-for-al... Written by admin in: Jovenes | Etiquetas:Jovenes, Julio Cesar Lopez Zamora, T&G, [...]
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