“Primarily, we believe mainstream gamers are playing more of the broadly appealing games (i.e Wii Fit, Guitar Hero and Rock Band) pushing their hours of gameplay up,” said Michael Flamberg, director of client consulting, Nielsen Games. “The social aspects of these games have engaged them. We don’t believe hardcore gamers are driving up the usage averages we’ve observed. Second, gamers may be looking to stretch their entertainment dollar further through playing games they own more. The importance of value for them is evident in the findings on used game purchase.”

In terms of why new game sales have been soft, Nielsen offers three contributing factors that explain this:

1. Used game purchasing is at all-time highs in 2009, looking back since 2006. Claims about how many used games are being purchased in absolute terms and as a share of the total (used vs. new) have increased substantially (see graph). This is corroborated by GameStop’s record-breaking first quarter financial results, on the strength of used game sales. Best Buy recently announced it was getting into the used game market as well and Wal-Mart is testing this out.
2. There has been an uptick in claimed subscriptions to video game rental services by mail, to all-time highs since 2006 (14% of gamers in May). This is a plausible substitute for new game purchasing.
3. New game sales have been soft compared to last year in part because of unfavorable title comparisons in terms of how popular the releases have been this spring vs. last spring. This is a hit driven business and there haven’t been as many hits. Awareness of new titles, when prompted with their names, has dipped in 2009 to lows not seen since 2007.

For more, download The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behavior in a Recession and read the coverage in the Los Angeles Times.

A gamer is defined as claiming to have purchased a title in the past 6 months and played for at least 1 hour per week on any of the current consoles or the PC.

The table below shows total positive purchase interest (definitely or probably interested in buying the title) for games that garnered at least 30 percent on this metric and will be released at least a month from now.  For most of these twelve titles, either a trailer was released or gameplay was demoed in some form at E3. But interestingly, there were not massive spikes in consumer interest in purchasing these titles from pre- to post-E3. Most moved up or down 1-2 percent at most, which is well within the margin of error. In other words, games that already tugged at gamers’ hearts held on.

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.

What’s driving the wild success of EA Sports’ star product? 

A marketing vision that combines a deep understanding of the game’s core fan base with an innovative, “three-screen” strategy that leverages TV, online, and mobile phone outlets for the game, Matt Foran of Nielsen Sports, writes in the November issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter.

Thanks to websites like Xbox Live, “Madden” gamers can head online to play with friends and anonymous fans across the country — making the game a communal experience, Foran notes.

“Madden” is also one of the top ten mobile game downloads: 142,000 mobile users downloaded the game in July 2008, paying an average of $4.34 for the game, according to Nielsen’s latest Mobile Games Report. 

Not surprisingly, the mobile version of “Madden NFL 2008″ skews heavily male.  In Q2 2008, 78% of the game’s downloaders were male.  However, Foran notes, the game also skews more middle age than the overall mobile gaming population: 44% of “Madden NFL ‘08″ downloaders were between the ages of 45 and 64.  In comparison, just 21% of the overall mobile gaming audience falls within that age group.

And because video gamers are avid football fans (in 2008, NFL games have drawn 44% higher TV ratings among households with video game consoles than those without, according to Nielsen), EA Sports expanded the “Madden” franchise into TV. 

The company partnered with ESPN to create “Madden Nation,” a “Survivor”-esque reality show airing on ESPN2, Foran notes.  The show, which draws an average of 300,000 viewers each week, has come up with innovative ways to integrate cross promotions of NFL teams and sports apparel.

“Madden” has also found success with other ESPN programs, such as “Sunday Countdown” and “Monday Night Countdown,” Foran notes.  The programs regularly feature “EA Sports Virtual Playbook” segments, in which ESPN analysts diagram the plays using the “Madden” video game with super imposed graphics. 

The takeaway for marketers?

Follow the “Madden” marketing team’s lead: a strong presence across multiple media platforms and a commitment to authenticity are essential for reaching increasingly empowered 21st Century consumers.

Read the full article.

View the latest issue of “Consumer Insight.”