Considering that the videogame industry is more lucrative than Hollywood, it’s perhaps not especially surprising to learn that more than 7 in every 10 Americans indulges in the popular digital pastime.
NPD figures reveal that 72 percent of people in the US are gamers. Credit: Totoro!/Flickr.
No longer a haven of escapism for spotty teenagers and social misfits, figures released from a new NPD Group study into videogames reveals that computer and home console gaming is now a mainstream form of entertainment.
NPD’s study returned that 72 percent of American residents enjoy spending time in the virtual environments created by computer and videogame technology, and also outlines that the growing attraction of online gaming has still not been properly assessed.
According to the study, which garnered its conclusions from the gaming habits of 20,000 US-based respondents, the current figure of 72 percent is a marked increase of 8 percent over figures taken from the year before. What’s more, NPD highlights that, of those 72 percent immersed in videogames, more than half of them take their enjoyment online.
Specifically, the PC remains the prominent destination for online game fans, with some 90 percent of all online players claiming to prefer PC online gaming over home console alternatives. By comparison, only 19 percent of those polled said they fired up their Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or Nintendo Wii when looking to game online.
Of those console options, the Xbox 360 and its (10 million-member) Xbox Live service remains the online platform of choice for console users, with NPD Group also noting that Xbox 360 owners spend the most time gaming online, followed by the PC and then PlayStation 3.
“Despite the buzz in the industry regarding online gaming, it is still relatively small compared to offline gaming,” commented NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier. “There is still a large, untapped market for gaming in general and online gaming in particular.”
In terms of age groupings, NPD says that around 40 percent of all online gamers are in the 2-17 age bracket, while only a mere10 percent of online players reside in the 18-24 age range.
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