NPD Group: Americans Spend More Time Playing Videogames

Recent research coming from the NPD Group, which also tracks both consoles and videogames sales for the United States market, shows that the average time spent playing games has increased in 2010 when compared to the same period in 2009. Players in the United States aged over 2 have used 13 of their free hours to experience videogames when compared to the 12.3 hours reported in 2009. Data for the report came from a survey conducted in January on more than 18,000 subjects.

The Gamer Segmentation 2010 report from the NPD Group says that the most “extreme gamers” spend an average of 48.5 hours each week playing high profile titles like Modern Warfare 2 or God of War 3. But the research also shows that just about 4 percent of gamers fall in this category that is sometime the target of criticism coming from the media and the political medium.

When gaming is split into categories, both PC gaming and home console play saw increases in the times share they had, the former of 6 percent and the later of 9%. Gaming on the go, on the other hand, fell pretty sharply by 16% in the United States, which could explain the falling sales of Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable titles in the last few months.

The average age of gamers in the United States also grew from 31 to 32 years of age, with the older players being more interested in PC gaming and in offline experiences while the youngest segment is drawn to home console and to shared experiences in multiplayer.

The NPD Group data is also showing that a full 17% of videogames are purchased through a digital channel, which is up from 16 percent during the previous year. PC gaming was at the forefront of the digital distribution revolution, with almost one third of their gaming content arriving from the likes of Steam, Impulse or Direct 2 Drive.