Gamesindustry.biz: The NPD Group today announced that there are about 211.5 million gamers in the US, which is down five percent compared to last year. The firm's newest report, Gamer Segmentation 2012: The New Faces of Gamers, notes that of the six gamer segments outlined, only Mobile Gamers and Digital Gamers saw increases in the number of gamers when compared to 2011, with Mobile Gamers up 9 points to 22 percent and Digital Gamers up 4 points to 16 percent.
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Interesting.
Gaming has expanded from basically zero to a huge industry in a very short time, a drop of 5% isn't huge and I think pricing is a major factor for kids, mobile and social gaming is inexpensive compared to console and PC gaming.
Obviously people would worry a bit about the future of gaming if declining gamer's becomes more of a trend.
I wouldn't underestimate what mobile gaming has done to the console industry as it is. We are seeing controllers that look like tablets, Smartphone integration with other games, and I believe next generation consoles will all try and offer a magnitude of other features and options to attract more than core gamer's.
If you were to give the average middle class 18-25 year old gamer $65 to blow, societal norms tell is they'd be more likely to use that money to get drunk and party rather than buying a game.
They are counting all the parents and grandparents and nursing homes that bought a wii and probably never bought a game outside of the packed in game or wii fit or maybe a dancing game.
Then there is the fanboy that says he is not a fanboy because he owns all the consoles. But only buys 360 games or only ps3 games, etc. X consoles sold minus games per household bought.
This proves how far fetched the expectations from publishers and the rest of the gaming industry is going into next gen.
There are also too many gaming blogs. One would think it is bigger than it really is.
I have adult friends over 45 who own a ps3 or 360 and only buy Madden games yearly, an nfl subscription maybe and a grand theft auto, halo or uncharted here or there.
The gaming industry has gotten fat and its time to slim down. The decline is good, its setting a realistic setting for the industry.
Personally I like the epic role playing games but I accept the fact that it is a dying breed. I just spent over 400 bucks in games last 6 weeks but I haven't even finished the ones I bought over a year ago! Just too busy working and generating new clients.
There is no way to actually tell.
How do they know some guy stopped gaming in Indiana ?
How do they know that same guy didn't start gaming again 5-6 months later once he realize he missed it ?
They don't....These are just 2 random scenarios that prove this stat wrong.
Paris RAW.
I'll stick to classic gaming until they release games that actually interest me instead of just releasing games they "think" people will like.
*Edit* And yes as of late I've been revisiting my older PS1/2 collection more than playing newer games? Why? Because there's this thing called "Talent" that died back in 2005/6.
It's not like good games aren't being released.Hell,I'm playing Sleeping Dogs right now...one of the best Sandbox games I've played in ages.Mobile gaming should never be included along with general gaming devices,primarily because of the pedestrian "games" they provide.
Anyway,people shouldn't be concerned about the statistic in the first place.It's not clearly stated how that number was tabulated in the first place.
of course console sales are trickling down, the damn things have been out too long