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Study Shows Increase In Time Spent Gaming Online
According to a 2010 online gaming study published by market research company NPD, the average number of hours spent each week gaming online has increased 10 percent since 2009. On the digital distribution side of things, 20 percent of all games purchased by online gamers were downloaded, up one percent since 2009. While these numbers are on the rise, the number of people that actually play games online has dropped two percent from 56 to 54 percent, with an average of eight hours per week (up from 7.3 hours in 2009). Therefore, even though less people are actually playing online, more time is spent gaming in the online space overall.
“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 at NPD.
The report also notes that 71 percent of online gamers bought games during the October through December holiday season with no significant changes since 2008 suggesting that the purchasing behavior of online gamers may have not been impacted by the recession.
“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,” said Frazier. “And yet, effective monetization of many forms of online gaming continues to be a topic of much debate and discussion within the industry."
It's no surprise that the PC is still most commonly used for online gaming (85 percent), however in the console space, Xbox 360 maintains its leadership position at 48 percent. The PlayStation Network is making some strides with online gaming use increasing 10 percentage points over last year making the PS3 and Wii tied at 30 percent.
What do you think of these results? Do you spend more time playing games online these days? Have you purchased more digital copies of games?
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