NPD notes increase in online gaming during 2008

[Uniquely]

Not surprisingly at all...... console online gaming saw big increases in 2008. Also not surprising.... PC online gaming saw a slight decrease in 2008. The HUGE SHOCKER? The Wii has more online players (as a percentage) than the PS3


http://kotaku.com/5167384/online-gaming-jumps-in-2009


"Although PC online gaming has dipped slightly, a recent survey by the NPD Group shows that online gaming as a whole has increased from 19 to 25 percent this year.

The console leader for online gaming is, not surprisingly, the Xbox 360 which dominates the survey with 50 percent. I was more than a little surprised to see that the survey shows that Nintendo's Wii, and not the Playstation 3, is in second place with an amazing 29 percent. The PS3 rounds out the group in third place.

Looking at the demographics, online gamers ages 13 to 17 increased from 17 percent in 2008 to 22 percent in 2009, while the percent of 18 to 34 year olds, as well as those 35 to 54, decreased slightly.

"Online gaming is enjoyed by a diverse group of players," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "The sheer variety of content and ease of access makes online gaming attractive to a much larger demographic than what we typically see in retail."

Finally, the survey shows that Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 owners are downloading more content than owners of other systems. But, overall downloading has slowed compared to last year.

It is important to keep in mind NPD Group's methodology when looking over these numbers. The report is based on online survey responses from more than 20,000 members of NPD's online consumer panel ages 2 and older (respondents age 2-12 were captured via surrogate reporting).

The survey data was then weighted to represent the U.S. population of individuals ages 2 and older. Fieldwork was conducted from January 6–26, 2009."

[PH3AR]

WOW!


wii has more online gamers than PS3!

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by P|-|3@R

WOW!


wii has more online gamers than PS3!

I know right?!

50% of 360 owners play online
29% of Wii owners play online

The article does not state the percentage of PS3 owners who play online... only that it is less than the Wii.

[Nerdkiller likes BD]

Wait...an increase in the amount of 13-17 year olds gaming? People, get ready for the racial scur apocolypce (I think you know what I mean).

Well Wii online is just awful. I mean friend codes my ass, I wanna unified friends system for my Wii.

[jkwest]

Mario Kart on the Wii is really fun online....jus' sayin'...

[dereksworl]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

The article does not state the percentage of PS3 owners who play online... only that it is less than the Wii.

28.9%

[pacificvibes]

Originally Posted by jkwest

Mario Kart on the Wii is really fun online....jus' sayin'...

[Septimus Prime]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

50% of 360 owners play online
29% of Wii owners play online

Actually, that's not what the figures imply at all. Or it could be; the article is pretty vague.

My understanding of these numbers is that of the people surveyed (hopefully sampled randomly, but we don't know), 50% of them play on Xbox LIVE, 29% play on WiiConnect24, and thus 21% play on PlayStation®Network.

I disagree with your interpretation because yours (I'm not blaming you) is a heavy spin figure. Given that there are almost twice as many Wii consoles in homes than there are Xbox 360s, that 29% of Wii owners could very well be higher than 50% of Xbox 360 owners, if we use raw numbers. I don't think that's the case at all.

Plus, we don't even know how these numbers are counted. It's not really any official measure other than that the numbers were acquired via survey.

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by Septimus Prime

Actually, that's not what the figures imply at all. Or it could be; the article is pretty vague.

My understanding of these numbers is that of the people surveyed (hopefully sampled randomly, but we don't know), 50% of them play on Xbox LIVE, 29% play on WiiConnect24, and thus 21% play on PlayStation®Network.

I disagree with your interpretation because yours (I'm not blaming you) is a heavy spin figure. Given that there are almost twice as many Wii consoles in homes than there are Xbox 360s, that 29% of Wii owners could very well be higher than 50% of Xbox 360 owners, if we use raw numbers. I don't think that's the case at all.

Plus, we don't even know how these numbers are counted. It's not really any official measure other than that the numbers were acquired via survey.

If you read it that way..... that does make it a little less surprising since the PS3 has the fewest number of units in people homes. However, the PS3 isn't THAT far behind the 360 in sales; yet the 360 has a huge lead over both competitors in online play.... so still kind of surprising that the PS3 would be lagging behind the Wii in online gameplay.

[Septimus Prime]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

If you read it that way..... that does make it a little less surprising since the PS3 has the fewest number of units in people homes. However, the PS3 isn't THAT far behind the 360 in sales; yet the 360 has a huge lead over both competitors in online play.... so still kind of surprising that the PS3 would be lagging behind the Wii in online gameplay.

Like I said, we don't know how these numbers were acquired or what they really mean. What if you own multiple consoles? Why does the number necessarily have to add up to 100%?

I'm guessing the survey question might have been something like "On which console do you play online the most?" Maybe dual-HD console owners play on XBL more. Who knows?

What we don't know is how they selected a sample and what kind of questions they asked. We also don't know what these numbers even mean or what "play online" even means. What if you download a Virtual Console game on your Wii and play that? Does that constitute online play? What if you just look at PlayStation®Store? Does it count by paid subscriptions? We don't know any of these things.

[Monkey]

What a world, the best online gameplay experience in last place. McDonald's burgers in first place

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by Septimus Prime

Like I said, we don't know how these numbers were acquired or what they really mean. What if you own multiple consoles? Why does the number necessarily have to add up to 100%?

I'm guessing the survey question might have been something like "On which console do you play online the most?" Maybe dual-HD console owners play on XBL more. Who knows?

What we don't know is how they selected a sample and what kind of questions they asked. We also don't know what these numbers even mean or what "play online" even means. What if you download a Virtual Console game on your Wii and play that? Does that constitute online play? What if you just look at PlayStation®Store? Does it count by paid subscriptions? We don't know any of these things.

If it counted by paid subscriptions..... then the 360 would have 100% since online play is free on both the Wii and the PS3. It also states that microtransactions are down on both the 360 and the PS3.... so that would lead one to believe that they are not counting browsing the stores as actual "playing online." The article does specifically state "online game play." 20,000 people surveyed is not exactly a tiny sampling... so while the numbers may not be %100 accurate.. they are probably the best representation we have so far as to which consoles are preferred for online gaming.

[Septimus Prime]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

If it counted by paid subscriptions..... then the 360 would have 100% since online play is free on both the Wii and the PS3. It also states that microtransactions are down on both the 360 and the PS3.... so that would lead one to believe that they are not counting browsing the stores as actual "playing online." The article does specifically state "online game play." 20,000 people surveyed is not exactly a tiny sampling... so while the numbers may not be %100 accurate.. they are probably the best representation we have so far as to which consoles are preferred for online gaming.

The point I'm trying to make is that we don't know. 20,000 is a large sample, but it is not a census, and we don't know the selection method. What if it's 20,000 people from the same geographic location? You don't think that would skew results at least a little bit? I'm not saying that that's what happened, but we can't be sure that it isn't.

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by Septimus Prime

The point I'm trying to make is that we don't know. 20,000 is a large sample, but it is not a census, and we don't know the selection method. What if it's 20,000 people from the same geographic location? You don't think that would skew results at least a little bit? I'm not saying that that's what happened, but we can't be sure that it isn't.

"The report is based on online survey responses from more than 20,000 members of NPD's online consumer panel ages 2 and older (respondents age 2-12 were captured via surrogate reporting).

The survey data was then weighted to represent the U.S. population of individuals ages 2 and older. Fieldwork was conducted from January 6–26, 2009."


I doubt the people of NPD's online consumer panel are all from one geographic location..... nor does NPD have any kind of reputation whatsoever for ever attempting to skew it's data in one direction or another. I see no valid reason to attempt to dismiss these survey results. Every result of the survey could have been pretty easily predicted by anyone who even loosely tracks the state of gaming today.... EXCEPT the Wii coming out on top of the PS3 in online gaming. That may well be because the Wii is very popular with younger gamers, while the PS3 and the 360 have pretty evenly split the more mature market.

[PH3AR]

Originally Posted by Monkey

What a world, the best online gameplay experience in last place. McDonald's burgers in first place

+1

[Maximus]

It's not %age of owners who go online. It is the market share of online gamers by console.

Hardly surprising since Wii has sold more than double the PS3 in NA. If NPD gave the detailed figures (i.e. attach rate or no. of online players per 100k sold) to the public the results are less headline grabbing. Xbox owners come top, then PS3 not too far behind, then Wii.

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

It's not %age of owners who go online. It is the market share of online gamers by console.

Hardly surprising since Wii has sold more than double the PS3 in NA. If NPD gave the detailed figures (i.e. attach rate or no. of online players per 100k sold) to the public the results are less headline grabbing. Xbox owners come top, then PS3 not too far behind, then Wii.

The Wii also has more than double the base of the 360 so that can not be the sole reason.

[dereksworl]

i found this, looked interesting

Nielsen Media Research has released new data regarding usage statistics for the Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 which provides some interesting numbers and confirms what most people expected as far as who is using the gaming systems and how often they are playing.

The report covers between October and December 2008 (via GameDaily) and gives the following numbers.

* The Wii is the most popular console for boys aged 6 to 11 and women aged 25 to 35. The Wii has captured females over the age of 35 more than any other gaming system with the most popular games by older women being Wii Fit, Guitar Hero games and Rock Band 2.

* The Xbox 360 appeals most to males aged 12 to 17.

* The PlayStation 3 appeals most to the coveted 18 to 24 age group for both males and females.

* The Wii is the least played console by both men and women. While the system was played on average 6.6 days of use during November among men, the PS3 averaged 9.2 days and the Xbox 360 averaged 10.2 days. As far as females are concerned the usage was more balanced (nearly matched in terms of days) but the Wii still was played the least amount.

* For both males and females, the highest usage was the 18 to 24 year old age group.

“All three of the consoles have their fans, and sales of consoles and games have been some of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak retail environment,” said Bradley Raczka, Marketing Manager for Nielsen Games. “It will be interesting to watch the continued migration to the current generation consoles in 2009, and see how releases of titles such as Halo Wars, Resident Evil 5, MadWorld, Killzone 2 and Street Fighter IV impact usage trends in the first half of the year.”

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

The Wii also has more than double the base of the 360 so that can not be the sole reason.

360 is known and advertised as an online console. I don't know too many people who buy a 360 to play offline...