Just as gaming's biggest fanfare is about to open its doors a new survey suggests that 40 per cent of American adults play games on a computer or a console. The study, conducted by AP-AOL Games, suggests that gaming is as popular as ever with men, younger adults and minorities being the most likely to play.
The study also reported an increase in online gaming as 45 per cent of those that describe themselves as gamers play over the Internet. Online gamers were also found to be the biggest spenders with over one third of them having spent more than USD 200 on their hobby compared to under a quarter of those not playing online games. Overall gaming is a high maintenance mistress and 11 per cent of gamers spent over USD 500 last year on her while those most likely to have spent more than USD 500 were online gamers. Hardcore gamers, those playing 3 or more hours per week, were the biggest spenders with 6 in 10 spending USD 200 or less on gaming last year.
These new figures, the survey was conducted in mid April 2006, suggest that Nintendo may be wise in targeting the 60 per cent of the population that are not gamers especially with its latest efforts to appeal to women and the more mature non-gamer. Sony and Microsoft will continue to target their current user base, the reported 40 per cent, which is diluted if you consider the number of PC exclusive gamers and the amount of money most are comfortable with spending.
The AP-AOL Games poll was carried out on 3,024 U.S. adults, including 1,046 gamers on April 18-20 and 24-27.
