The NPD Group has released a new report called Online Gaming 2010, which shows that the average number of hours spent each week on online gaming has increased 10 percent since 2009. Additionally, an average of 20 percent of all games purchased by online gamers were digitally downloaded; this is up from 19 percent in the 2009 study and 18 percent in the 2008 study.
Interestingly, of the percentage of gamers ages 2 and older reporting that they personally play video games on at least one type of system, 54 percent report that they play games online, which is down from 56 percent in 2009 and 55 percent in 2008. Even so, the people who are playing online are playing longer because the average number of hours spent per week on online gaming has gone up from 7.3 hours per week in the 2009 study to 8.0 hours per week in the 2010 study. “While the percentage of the population that reports playing games has declined slightly, this study details other metrics which point to both stability and growth in both online and offline gaming,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.
Frazier added, “The installed base of video game systems continues to grow, the platforms available to play games continue to expand, and the options for content acquisition have never been greater, especially online. And yet, effective monetization of many forms of online gaming continues to be a topic of much debate and discussion within the industry."
NPD cited mobile and iPhone gaming as well as social gaming as big expansion factors, but cautioned that "it’s unclear which business models are working in this space.”
While the PC remains the most used platform for online gaming (85 percent of respondents use the PC to play online), Microsoft's Xbox 360 remains the top console for online play (48 percent). NPD also noted that "in contrast to 2009, when Wii was leading over PS3 by 8 percentage points, PS3 and Wii are now neck and neck, with about 30 percent of online gamers reporting that they use each system for online gaming. This is due to an increase in use for online gaming on the part of the PS3, which increased 10 percentage points since last year. The top three systems with the highest average hrs/wk spent gaming online (using the respective systems they own) are: Xbox 360 (7.3 hrs), PC (6.6 hrs) and PS3 (5.8 hrs)."
1 Comments
March 3, 2010
Online multiplayer is one of the reasons why I use my 360 so much. But I never go online with my Wii. I'm still waiting for them to get rid of friend codes. Looks like I'll be waiting a really long time.