Wii Has Fewest Percentage of Active Users, says Nielsen

Nielsen Games has released new data regarding video game usage in the U.S. during the first half of 2009. Although June marked the fourth consecutive month of sales decline, that doesn't mean people are playing less. In fact, it's the opposite - Nielsen found that gamers are playing more this summer than last, and total console usage minutes in June were up 21% year-over-year. The average console gamer played 768 minutes on consoles in June.

June data indicated that Xbox 360 is the most active console, with a 6-month trend showing Xbox 360 with the highest active users. Trailing the pack by a good margin in terms of active users is Nintendo's Wii, which is even trailing its predecessor, the GameCube. Check out the chart below.

We think this trend is attributable, at least in part, to the major influx of "casual" gamers and female gamers on the Wii. Nintendo's console is hugely successful, but its audience just isn't the same as the rabid, hardcore gaming audience typically found on Xbox 360 and PS3. In fact, the Wii has double the number of female players on Xbox 360, and more than Xbox 360 and PS3 combined (see chart below).

Overall, Nielsen found that the transition to the current generation of consoles is in full effect. The data shows that Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii accounted for 50% of total share of minutes in June 2009, while last generation consoles (PS2, GameCube, Xbox) made up only 31% of total minutes. Somewhat surprisingly, use of even older consoles (PS One, Atari 2600, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, etc.) accounted for the remaining 19%.