'Extreme' gamers padding video game industry's bottom line

The video game industry had better thank its lucky stars that hard-core gamers do what they do.

According to a report issued Monday morning by industry analyst firm, The NPD Group, the most active group of players, which it termed "extreme gamers," devote more than a full-time job's work week to their avocation. But they don't get insurance benefits for their efforts.

Rather, NPD's "Games Segmentation 2008" report explained, extreme gamers put in an average of 45 hours a week playing games, and, even better--for the video game industry's coffers--bought a whopping 24 titles in the last three months.

True, these committed gamers make up just 3 percent of the 174 million that NPD said play on PCs or Macs or dedicated video game machines. Still, that means 5.22 million people out there are putting in serious amounts of time gaming away. And if you stop and think about the dollars they're spending, if they're buying 24 games every three months, it's kind of breathtaking.

The NPD report identified seven different segments of gamers, including our extreme friends. The others include 9 percent who are "avid PC gamers," 17 percent who are console gamers, 14 percent who are online PC gamers, 15 percent who are offline PC gamers, 22 percent who are "young heavy gamers" and 20 percent who are "secondary" gamers.

According to the report's author, NPD analyst Anita Frazier, the largest group, the young heavy gamers, comprise a group 38 million strong. They tend to favor portable game machines like the Nintendo DS or the Sony PSP, while the extreme gamer spends most of his or her time plopped down in front of a Microsoft Xbox 360 or Sony PlayStation 3.

Still, Frazier reported that PCs are still the single-most popular gaming medium.

The report delved into cross-ownership, producing some interesting, if a little confusing, data.

For example, someone who has a PS3 is more likely to also own another next-generation console, like the Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii, than those who started with either of the latter machines. And, 45 percent of PSP owners also have a DS, while just 21 percent of DS owners have a PSP as well. I'm not great at math, but I think that means there are a lot more DS owners out there. Perhaps I'm wrong.

One intriguing fact in the report is that fully 14 percent of games purchased overall were digital downloads. I would have thought that indicated a heavy degree of usage of services like Xbox Live, but the report indicates that 27 percent of that downloading activity--the largest share of any gaming medium--was done by PC gamers.

NPD said its report was based on a survey of 20,000 gamers.

What does it all mean? Well, it's hard to tell exactly. But one thing that stands out is the idea that PC gaming is alive and well.

I think we tend to forget that in the age of massive marketing budgets for machines like the Xbox, Wii, and PS3, and the incredible hype for games made for those consoles like Halo 3, Guitar Hero III, Grand Theft Auto IV and so on.

But when Electronic Arts' Spore comes out next month, it will not be available on consoles. It will be primarily a PC game, though versions will be available for the Mac, for the DS, and for mobile phones.

All told, though, the report seems to spell out that the video games industry is relatively healthy, even if those extreme gamers may not be.

[fredtheviking]

Who are these people who spent 45 hours a week playing games? I doubt any these people have girlfriends (or boyfriend in the case female or gay extreme gamers). 24 titles every three months! How do they fund that? That's $300 a month! (I assume they spent on average $50 on a game). I could lease a car for that much or buy a reasonable health insurance plan. Hopefully these gamers do trade-ins with their games. Overall, it probable cheaper than heroin addiction would be. But come on, these people need to get a life.

[Michichael]

Fred - Well consider an 8 hour a day job + hour lunch = 9 hours, Monday - Friday, leaving 15 hours in the day. Let's just say they work then go home and game for ~ 5 hours for 5 days, that's 25 hours. Saturday and Sunday they could play 10 hours a day, there's 45 in a week.

Sounds a lot like what I do, and I still find time to head out with my friends and hit movies, have fun offline, etc. Now buying 24 games in the past three months... yeah wish I could afford that, and I'm a sysadmin!

[lordmorgul]

Yes, thats a lot of time spent gaming... but its not impossible to carry on a reasonable life at the same time. While in grad school (electrical engineering, not a 'sit back and get degree' program) I was playing WoW more than 35 hours a week. I was still involved in some school clubs, and had time for other hobbies (open source stuff mostly). I was single, sure, but I was content with how things were going in my life, and the time spent gaming helped keep me sane enough to study that hard the rest of my waking hours.

Gamers do have lives, they are just busier than others and spend less time watching TV.

[midhenry]

.45PSP = .21DS
.45/.21 = DS/PSP
2.14 = DS/PSP
So, your statoid implies about 2.1 DSs per PSP

The really interesting statistic missing from the article is the average number of games purchased by the other 97%. Let's just say the number is about 2.4 (I have no idea, but its good enough to illustrate the point). Do the math and you find that the 3% of extreme gamers in this made up example are providing about 23% of the total revenue. Another way of looking at it is that the gaming industry gets a fourth of their revenue from sick people.

You find the same sorts of numbers with gambling. In that case municipalities get between a fourth and a third of their revenue from problem gamblers.

Who says you can't learn stuff from video games? Getting money from the weak who are trying to make life simpler than possible has always been a gold mine.

[limefan913]

I used to be one of these people. My day would consist of school, go meet my girlfriend, come home at about 11 or so and pull an all nighter playing games. When I was playing Counter Strike: Source religiously I had weeks where I'd play 60+ hours, with 40+ being CS:S. I never bought that many games though, as money was a bit tight.

It's not as drastic as it sounds. It's like people who read until 3AM, and the like.

[benjaminstraight]

Cool article.

[sting7k]

Well I used to really play a lot in college. Never ending LAN Halo sessions were the norm there. But now between work, gf, and having a life not anymore. Even when I played hardcore style I rarely bought that many games. I have a few titles I really enjoy that I get the new one. But now I'm lucky to get 2-3 hours of gaming in maybe 3-4 days a week. Even with my nice job I still can't see spending all that money on games, especially when they are $60 now. I often wait until they go on sale when vendors get to much stock, Best Buy has lots of sales all the time for $40.

[j88888888]

Children 5-11 years old can easily play more than 45 hrs a week, and it's us parents who buy 3+ games a month for them. It's a reward for getting "A"s on tests and report cards. Even when our children get a little older, most parents don't mind if their middle school - high school (12-17 yrs) play 45+hrs as long as they maintain a 4.0 GPA, complete their homework before playing games, and continue extra-curricular activities that make their pre-college resume look good.