Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Nielsen: Nearly 3/4 Of U.S. Households Own A Gaming Device
Fact: A percentage of households in the United States own video-game console. OK, that didn't have quite the effect I was going for. Let's try that again. Did you know that females play video games? It's a fact. Nielsen has released a sheet filled with actual media facts in anticipation of this year's CES. One of the more sobering facts: Facebook is the third most-visited site by users 65 years of age and older. In other words, you are probably being stalked by your parents/grandparents. Anyway, since gaming represents a nice little slice of our nation's media consumption, there's a section with game-related tidbits.
According to Nielsen, nearly three quarters of homes in the United States own at least one device dedicated specifically to gaming. And since "own" can presumably mean "it's somewhere in a box someplace in the basement," it's not necessarily your cue to hyperventilate. A little more than half of U.S. household--54 percent--own a game console or handheld. Nielsen isn't too specific about the breakdown, but that could mean nearly 20 percent of homes are playing games on some combination of PCs, LCD games and electronic board games. Solitaire gets around, don't you know. Our current generation of hardware is enjoying a 41 percent penetration rate, undoubtedly thanks in no small part to the DS and Wii.
Speaking of the DS, 23 percent of homes own a handhold console. We're sure that at least a few of those are dedicated Atari Lynx, Game Gear or PSP Go users, but it's safe to say the bulk of those handhold owners are playing on some kind of Nintendo hardware. Forty-five percent of active gamers (spending at least one hour gaming per week) are female. Interestingly, 49 percent of Wii owners and 52 percent of PSP owners are women.
Finally, Nielsen says that Xbox 360 players spend more time with their consoles than their counterparts. At 23.1 percent of total usage minutes, Microsoft's system edges out the PlayStation 2 at 20.4 percent and the Wii at a nice, even 19 percent.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
