Mapping State-by-State Tech Trends: Top US Gaming Platforms

PCMag surveyed preferred gaming platforms across the country. Xbox took the top spot in 27 states with 31 percent overall. PlayStation and Nintendo each won 10 states with 28 percent and 21 percent, respectively. The other 20 percent of respondents were PC gamers.

[ThinkThink]

I thought this was interesting. It would be cool to see a state by state breakdown of the world.

[Prince-Ali]

"state by state breakdown of the world" looooooooooooooool!! sooo funnyyy!

[ThinkThink]

Thanks! :)

[Cueil]

A State is a Country do they not teach Civics in school anymore?

[JMalone]

“a state is a country”
The country of California. Remember me to not send my kids to your school.

[Relientk77]

Lol what

[KillBill]

@shaggy2303 and so many others. The word "State" can also represent a country. Though it can be confusing words can have more than one meaning.

"Country and State are synonymous terms that both apply to self-governing political entities. A nation, however, is a group of people who share the same culture but do not have sovereignty.

When the “s” of state is lowercase, it constitutes a part of a whole country, such as the different states of the United States of America. When the “S” of State is uppercase it signifies an independent country."

[Prince-Ali]

@Cueil

Nice try bro... we both know what was meant here but you keep fishing for internet points and then maybe you can buy some internet friends :-)

[TK-66]

Lol I'm outside th realm of existence.

I understand what you mean and agree that it is actually interesting but I don't think there's much value in this data. I'd say similar if you compared the breakdown of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in that it's interesting but mostly useless information.

[ThinkThink]

Maybe not this data per say, but I would still find it interesting to see how this maps across the world. I agree that 40 is a low number to poll. PC mag needs more interns.

[rainslacker]

Guess this is the outcome when you use your XBL friends list to get the results.

Logic would dictate that Sony would have more, even with MS having less of a gap in sales in the US. Switch is doing well, but hasn't been on the market as long to really take more states than Sony at this point. Either that, or the states that are primarily PS have an extraordinary larger percentage of PS gamers. I also really question XB being dominate in NC, because anecdotal evidence based on my own friends, and the regions GameStop's allotment of space for the systems games, and general marketing material, seems to lean heavily towards PS. Something I also noticed at a GameStop in Ohio and Virginia when I happened into one while there.

[ThinkThink]

I don't think they are talking about sales though. I own all 3 systems but if someone called me and asked which system I prefer, I would say the name of the system I preferred.

[rainslacker]

@Think

Don't know, They didn't say what questions they asked, or even how they choose the 40 people per state. There was really no information on how the poll was conducted.

But most people don't own all three systems, and the vast majority only own one. I understand the difference between preference and sales, but posit that the map shown above doesn't line up with any reasonable conclusion based on sales, because it's basically saying that the 4 million odd user base difference is not a factor at all, and that despite so many more people owning PS4's, they illogically prefer Xbox.

Further, while the community isn't completely representative of the entire market, the fact that the community in general seems to be more about PS4, with Nintendo coming up quick from behind, and even surpassing PS4 in some places, Xbox still reigns supreme. There is no correlative, logical, factual, subjective, or anecdotal evidence to support the results of this study.

There are ways this study could be accurate, but would require some rather high disparities in user bases in those states which weren't Xbox. Given that practically all the most populous states in the US seem to be Xbox, that is highly unlikely to be the case, and it's even less likely given that some of the least populace state are PS, where given the known or predicted sales, the opposite should be true.

[DarXyde]

The world is often divided into provinces. India and Myanmar have states, if I recall.

Just for your understanding...

That aside, this is a skewed survey in that it provides an assessment of PC Mag's audience and has perhaps made improper inferences.

I think the best evidence of this is the fact that New York and California are such densely populated states with (I'm sure) an abundance of gamers, yet those regions are Xbox and they're still trailing PS4 in the states. Playstation's states are not nearly as densely populated or encompassing.

I'm sure the stats are close given the marginal lead of Playstation over Xbox in the west, but i suspect these numbers are not quite representative.

[Muzikguy]

The premise of this is interesting but the data itself is very inaccurate. I saw the map and laughed because it makes it look like Sony is barely selling and that's a lie. Or that Xbox is dominating which is also a lie. 40 people per state is nowhere near enough for a sample

[Jin_Sakai]

And we’re suppose to take this survey and map seriously? This means nothing.

“PCMag surveyed 2,033 US consumers in February on a variety of topics”

[PoSTedUP]

so they surveyed 40 people per state. im so glad sociology survey methods have come such a long way.

[Neonridr]

well you can't expect them to poll the entire state now can you? It's a statistical sample.. and it's very flawed. But it gives you an idea at least.

[bluefox755]

40 people gives you an idea? No it doesn't, lol.

[drunkenspy007]

better accurate results than presenting misinformation.

[DarkZane]

40 people is too insignificant even for the smallest states. If you took every gamers into account, Playstation and Nintendo would likely dominate almost all the states with Microsoft having less than 10 states.

[Neonridr]

@bluefox755 - better than asking nobody and just making it up I guess. I never once said it a good idea, but if they are trying to prove some sort of point, it's a start I guess. I already said that it was a flawed metric.

[RememberThe357]

1000 people per state would be better but even that would be hard to actually rely on. This is just kind of dumb.

[fiveby9]

A poll is not considered statistically sound by surveying 40 people to represent millions. I smell a marketing rat. I think this poll is pretty meaningless.

[ILostMyMind]

This gives you an idea that the US has more XB users than PS users. So the survey failed.

[TK-66]

You'd need atleast 1000 per state for it to be considered somewhat reliable.

[NXFather]

Even you acknowledged all statistical samples are not created equal. Like say this vs police report records. Yeah case by case in context.

[Tross]

@Neonridr What kind of sampling frame is that? Do you know how many people live in even the least populated US State, because I sure don't, but I can guarantee that 40 people is a laughably small percentage even there.

[cyber_daemonx]

Gives you an idea of how surveys are garbage lol.

[Tross]

@PoSTedUP I would not call this a good sociology survey. Undergraduate students are taught about sample sizes in even intro level classes, and whoever conducted this study clearly slept through those classes, if they even attended them to begin with.

[PoSTedUP]

i know. i was being sarcastic.

[Relientk77]

40 people per state is like nothing lol

[PoSTedUP]

i know, especially with easy access to ppl through the internet and all.

[DrumBeat]

Xbox is still quite popular in second place.

[Muzikguy]

I don't consider the Switch a next gen console. It's more like Nintendo released 2 consoles this gen

[PoSTedUP]

they released 2 consoles this gen according to you, and next gen (very soon, PS5) they will be behind two full generations in terms of power and graphics. i find it very interesting.

[Wikkid666]

Glad you make the gen rules

[Muzikguy]

Well Nintendo doesn't make them neither does pcmag so...

[PlayableGamez-]

People think Xbox is going away.
Xbox may not be popular worldwide, but it is popular in the US.

[rainslacker]

Not as popular as this survey's results suggest. That is a lot of green on that map, and for this to be anywhere close to accurate based on known, and reasonably estimated sales data, it means that PS and Switch sales are heavily concentrated in a fraction of the states available. I wouldn't say that Xbox isn't popular in the US, because it has it's audience, but as of now, PS still seems to be more popular, and Switch seems to be gaining ground on Xbox faster than MS can do something about it.

[YodaCracker]

Faster than Microsoft can do something about it? They are releasing Xbox Live on Switch. I don’t think they consider them a competitor, but rather a partner.

[rainslacker]

@Yoda

Them releasing XBL on switch is not them gaining console sales, nor is it allowing their gaming brand to be something that people prefer as is talked about here. If one is primarily a Switch player, I doubt they care that much. Cool, they get some achievements, and access to more friends potentially. But, they're not going to start preferring MS because of it.

@someone

Never said market share equals profitability. I'm simply referring to the statistic presented in the article, which is saying that MS is the preferred brand in a majority of the states, having almost an equal number of states as both PS4 and switch combined. But, when it comes to market share, logic and common sense does suggest that it is directly related to determining which brand people prefer.

[DVAcme]

How the heck is this in any way accurate when the sales numbers for the PS4 are ECLIPSING the XB1? If this was in any way accurate, the entire map would be black, with maybe a couple of red or blue spots.

[Neonridr]

this is the US. Sales in the US are not indicative of global sales.

[DVAcme]

Uh huh. Sales in the US are not predominantly XBox, either.

[AAWELLS09]

Dont let your feelings get hurt over video games. Its not going to matter either way.

[DrumBeat]

Simply put, but well said nonetheless.

[Razzer]

lol.....he is asking legit questions so no idea what the problem is.

[TK-66]

@Razzer

Yeah but the data and breakdown is worthless so he's getting all riled up over something that doesn't matter in the slightest.

[Razzer]

@Sw33tBoi

oh please. You guys are acting like he is ranting and raving in a huge wall of text. He isn't.

[TK-66]

@Razzer

Tell him not to use caps then.

[Razzer]

lol....using caps to emphasize one word is getting "riled up" now? Stop being so sensitive.

[Razzer]

It is accurate in the fact that more PC Mag readers are Xbox fans. It is stated in the article:

"Of the majority of respondents who identified as gamers, 31 percent chose Xbox, 28 percent prefer PlayStation, 21 percent are Nintendo fans, and 20 percent are primarily PC gamers."

[rainslacker]

PC mag readers probably prefer PC's. PC mag readers as a whole aren't really PC gamers either. PC Mag is a pretty technical, or industrial PC rag. It has game reviews, but generally speaking, they don't report on gaming that much.

[THC CELL]

This is inaccurate n stupid

[RememberThe357]

Here here!

[greywolf39]

Well known thing is that in US Xbox is on top. In other hand, rest of the world.... Well, that is other story

[TheHateTheyGive]

This is propaganda paid for by MS to hide the fact that they are nowhere near what they use to be. Now the xbox exects can look at this and say we still rule the usa.

[DrumBeat]

🙄

[Cobra951]

Don't challenge zealots' belief systems. That never ends well.

[Silly gameAr]

Posting facts makes him a zealot? Do you have a victim complex or something?

[madpuppy]

I don't know anybody that owns an Xbox1...doesn't mean they aren't prevalent though, and this observation is about as useful as this poll.

[KickSpinFilter]

I know one XB1 user at work, everyone else, relatives, work and friends are PS4, with a mix of Wii, WiiU mixed in.
Last gen I knew of one other PS3 user lol

[madpuppy]

I really don't know why I got voted down, unless someone doesn't know what prevalent means....

at least you got what I meant! :)

[rainslacker]

I know a few people who own an Xbox. Only one person I consider a friend.

That said, where I live outside Raleigh, NC the gamestops in the regions have larger PS4 sections than they do Xbox sections. GameStop tends to zone their stores based on what's selling, and if they have more PS users in that area, and in Charlotte from what I've seen, then it would suggest that at least in NC, PS is more popular, or at least selling more software for GameStop. Same is true at a couple of the walmarts, although their games section really doesn't consist of much to begin with. This map shows that Xbox rules NC, but when the two largest cities in the state has GameStops not representing the results, it calls into question the results.