NPD Shows "Extreme Gamers" Are The Industry's Bottom Line

[Lord_Don]

An NPD report (http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_080811.html) for the 2007 holiday season shows extreme gamers, those who spend 45 hours a week playing games, purchased 24 titles during that time period. The next closest were the console gamers, who only purchased 3.2 games during the same period.

Another interesting note is the percentage of digital downloads, especially in the PC market.

In total, gaming consumers indicated approximately 14 percent of games purchased in the past 3 months were digital downloads. Avid PC Gamers had the highest incidence with 27 percent of their purchases being digital. In terms of content, more than half of Extreme Gamers and just over a third of Avid PC Gamers stated they would definitely download a feature to enhance a specific game that they own.

This is an interesting counterpoint to the constant banging of the "more casuals" drum.

[DaXIthR]

Drum-banging assholes - the whole lot of them.

[Talon-]

45 hours a week? Who the hell has that kind of time?

[rein]

45 hours a week? Who the hell has that kind of time?
Extreme Gamers.

[Fonz]

45 hours a week? Who the hell has that kind of time?

I'm sure you can find some of that time instead of those 2800 posts on your account <3.

[CrashT]

Surely there's a degree of cross over between Extreme Gamers and the other categories? I mean if I'm an avid PC gamer who spends 46 hours a week playing which category do I fall into?

[MelbaToast]

45 hours a week? Sweet baby Jesus that's amazing.

[JRR006]

That's a full time job! Which I would suspect most extreme gamers don't have, but how could they afford 24 titles without a sufficient source of income?

Edit: "Young Heavy Gamers" - so, mom and dad footing the bill?

[Eric_T_Cheng]

45 hours a week? Who the hell has that kind of time?

People who play WoW...

[Talon-]

I'm sure you can find some of that time instead of those 2800 posts on your account <3.

2900 ;)

45 hours a week is criminal.

[f1sh3r]

45 hours a week? Who the hell has that kind of time?

if you'd quit arguing with me about college football you could be an extreme gamer too! :D

People who play WoW...

when i was heavy into WoW i probably put in that kind of time, but i wasn't buying any other games EVER, because all i ever did was play WoW.

[KamaItachi]

A few years ago I could log 45+ hours without much bother. I didn't watch tv, maybe catch a few films a week and didn't really do much on the weekend.
These days I think I'd be lucky to get it 10, but I do have a hell of a lot more going on in my life, I also don't have the couple hundred dollars a month spare to throw at a insurmountable library of games either. But I feel I get more out of the titles I buy this way.

[Xenaki]

i used to put over 60 hours a week into asherons call years ago... when i was 16.

I also made about $1200/month off the game while i played, thats decent cash for someone in high school.. of course in retrospect it was time poorly used, how i wish i spent that time getting wasted, doing drugs and chasing ass.

[oldjadedgamer]

A few years ago I could log 45+ hours without much bother. I didn't watch tv, maybe catch a few films a week and didn't really do much on the weekend.
These days I think I'd be lucky to get it 10, but I do have a hell of a lot more going on in my life, I also don't have the couple hundred dollars a month spare to throw at a insurmountable library of games either. But I feel I get more out of the titles I buy this way.

I've replaced TV time with game time. I even canceled my TV service since I was wasting money on it every month.

[mos]

Before I got married I'd play that much per week, and still find time to go out on the weekends with my friends. With six to eight-ish hours of gaming at night (except Fri/Sat), and then gaming all day Saturday and Sunday, you can add up the hours quick.

[jpublic]

You guys are massively underestimating the amount of games you play. Before I got married, I hit 45h easily.

Every weekday night up to 5h. To be reasonable, call it 24h.
Weekends, I'd get up and play games all fucking day. That's 12h at least.

24+12+12=48h.

Of course, now I'm married and I think that my wife would murder me with an axe if I played games that much, but I still can get about 20h a week in, sometimes as much as 30h. Her tendency to nap in the evenings and sleep in stupidly late on the weekends does wonders for my gaming time.

[oldjadedgamer]

Of course, now I'm married and I think if I tried that my wife would murder me with an axe if I played games that much, but I still can get about 20h a week in, sometimes as much as 30h. Her tendency to nap in the evenings and sleep in stupidly late on the weekends does wonders for my gaming time.

Now that a friend of mine got married, he's switched to portable games and plays them in the bathroom to get extra gaming time in. I tell him that he's going to get hemorrhoids doing that.

[f1sh3r]

Now that a friend of mine got married, he's switched to portable games and plays them in the bathroom to get extra gaming time in. I tell him that he's going to get hemorrhoids doing that.

hmmmm. interesting idea.

[AbinSur]

I don't know that I'd call Extreme Gamers the Industry's "Bottom Line". While they do buy a lot more games than other groups, they still only represent 3% of the gaming population, according to the report. That percentage is much more important when marketing a single game. The link even has a quote to that effect:

“Although Extreme Gamers are heavily involved with the industry, they represent a small portion of the potential market for any new game that comes to market,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. “In order to promote continued growth, we must better understand all of the gaming segments.”

The link also says that Extreme Gamers lean heavily towards PS3 and Xbox 360, so it's probably not just WoW...

Finally, the link contradicts itself. The title mentioned the 45hrs per week statistic, but half way down, it says Extreme Gamers spend 22.3 hrs per week playing games.

[KamaItachi]

I've replaced TV time with game time. I even canceled my TV service since I was wasting money on it every month.

Yeah, these days I think I probably watch less than 3-4 hours a week of tv. That's proper sitting down time, rather than background noise/the missus is watching Law and Order while I play Mass Effect time.

If I really want to watch something I usually grab the dvd so I at least have a bit of flexibility in when I can sit down and enjoy it.

[Xerxes]

Roughly 7 hours of gaming a day? I think on my most serious of gaming weeks I only scratch about 35 hours. Well, without WoW.

[jacktion]

This doesn't even make sense. Isn't this mixing apples and oranges? One group is hardcore gamers and the next group is console gamers? So those are two separate groups? You can't be hardcore if you are a console gamer?
And the falloff goes from group one purchases 24 games, the next group purchases 3 games? That seems fucked up.
This study is stupid.

[Tel Prydain]

I spend a good 25-45 hours a week.
I play in the living-room, next to my wife who is normally watching TV or using her laptop. We still go out and do stuff, but the time that was normally tv/book/comic time is now game time.

[Wyrm]

I'd say I put in about 25 hours a week on a good week. Used to be, if I didn't get my fix for a few days, I'd go nuts, but I'm better about it now. And the DS is highly portable :).

[vherub]

how many weekly hours do americans post watching tv or online?

[JimmyDanger]

Well - I definitely bought (more than) 24 games last year.

45 hours (a week) though? I wish!
(altho for a month or so - I reckon CivRev was taking up at least that much time per week!)

[JayK47]

I figured that half of the posters on this site would be easily considered extreme gamers. The same guys who buy a game at 12:01 in the morning the day the game comes out, beat the game before before dawn, then post in these very forums about how awesome the game is, going on 7 pages, before I even read the review of the game to see if it is worth my time. Shit, before I get most games, people are already bored of the game and have moved on to the next game. EXTREME! Slam another Dew Baby!!!

The good news is some recognition for digital PC downloads. Maybe now digital download sales for PC won't be neglected. So PC gaming is alive after all. Sorry to disappoint.

[inmostlight]

Well - I definitely bought (more than) 24 games last year.

They're not saying 24 games over a year, they're saying 24 games over THREE MONTHS. That's two games a week. How do these people have so much time and money? From the report, they're talking about a group of over 5 million people that fall into this category (3 percent of 174 million).

I just have a hard time believing those statistics. Unless, since it was the holiday season, they're counting people buying games for others as gifts. Or people who have some sort of weird hoarding disease who buy two games a week but never actually play them.

[asimonk]

I'm confused. People who buy lots of games are the most lucrative demographic of the gaming industry? Am I missing a nuance or is this a "water is wet" type of story?

[abso]

4-5 hours a day M-F (20-25), then 10 on Saturday and Sunday, and there is your 40-45 hours in a week. Incredibly unhealthy, but very doable.

I can't believe people would spend that much money in so short a time period. I think I might purchase 10-12 games in an entire YEAR. Forget 24 in a 3 month period. Guess my gaming addiction isn't really an addiction after all.

[Variable Gear]

Goes to show you that money makes all the difference in the world. I'm not extreme because I don't spend enough green.

[Talon-]

4-5 hours a day M-F (20-25), then 10 on Saturday and Sunday, and there is your 40-45 hours in a week. Incredibly unhealthy, but very doable.

I can't believe people would spend that much money in so short a time period. I think I might purchase 10-12 games in an entire YEAR. Forget 24 in a 3 month period. Guess my gaming addiction isn't really an addiction after all.

I actually know a guy that probably buys about a dozen games every three months, but he's by no means a "hardcore gamer." He just burns through money like a fiend. I'm pretty certain that he owns every XBox 1 game. It's a bit disgusting.

Anyways, I think I buy maybe 8-10 games a year, a bulk of those purchases coming around the Holiday season. I feel like that's a reasonable amount of purchases for the average "hardcore gamer."

[greenapple]

They're not saying 24 games over a year, they're saying 24 games over THREE MONTHS.

Based on the article's discussion of digital downloads, I'm guessing that they're counting xbox arcade games and such as a game purchase. Otherwise, something is ridiculously out of wack with their survey.

[Phread]

I've been wondering which group is more profitable for the game companies in the long run - the casual gamer who picks up 1-2 games a year (Nascar/Madden/Mario/etc.) or the more "hardcore" player that buys 6-8 or more games in the same period. I realize that the casual gamers are in the majority, but which group spends more $ overall.

Personally, I know several people that rushed out to get the Wii and to my knowledge have never bought another game for the console besides wii sports. I realize that Nintendo makes $ on the console, but I don't see how long that will last.

Anyone have any numbers one way or the other?

[Rafer]

4-5 hours a day M-F (20-25), then 10 on Saturday and Sunday, and there is your 40-45 hours in a week. Incredibly unhealthy, but very doable.

That's me with some JRPGs, 40 hours the first week then the other 40 hours over 5-6 months. A few times in my life I've put in 40 hours into a game in a week but I can't imagine averaging that.

Strangely when Shadow Hearts Covenant came out I think my savefile said I had put in 27 hours in what I thought was a 24 hour period (and I had slept 6 hours)... so maybe these "Extreme Gamer"s are entering some dimensional area where they can put more time into a videogame than they have available or this 3% is just really, really bad with estimating time and doing math.

[tombofsoldier]

45 hours a week? Unless some incredibly awesome game just came out I don't think I equal that. Even know between semesters with no job and not much to do I'll play maybe 24 hours a week.

Now WOW players? For the "hardcore" 45 hours a week is probably close to withdrawal symptoms.

[baz]

When I was an undergrad student I skipped most of my lectures and could hit that pretty easy :), but I didn't have the money to buy heaps of games so I used to play lots of online multiplayer. In our honours lab we played constant UT and Warcraft 3.

The shame of it is now though is I earn enough to buy any game I want, but only get about 20 hours in. Which should be more than enough for anyone, but I'm greedy and there are so many good games!

Unless I'm contracting somewhere far out with a big commute, then I can get an extra 15 hours in portable gaming and I'm set.

[Loganrapp]

I like how this is breaking down.

This can be compared to some of the more high-concept shows on network TV. While the ratings in numbers may not have been as good as some other shows, the kind of people who would watch shows like The West Wing were more valuable to advertisers than the average watcher.

The industry breaking down demographics like that can help some of the smaller titles acquire some solid support - i.e., Brutal Legend.

[Lord_Don]

The industry breaking down demographics like that can help some of the smaller titles acquire some solid support - i.e., Brutal Legend.

We can hope.

[Wolvie]

45 hours a week? Who the hell has that kind of time?

I'd say people who have no job for one. And I'm pretty sure the bulk of these "extreme" gamers are kids and/or teenagers. Also 40 year old virgins who live with their mommies.

Edit: If my math is correct, I average 21 hours of gaming a week. That is if I play at least 3 hours a night for all seven days. So I'm sure I come in under that average quite a bit.

[alienchild]

Hehe guess I am an extreme games then...

My games (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197997975089/games) <-- Almost 45 hours last 2 weeks, and all games have been bought - if not in the last 3 months, then the last 4 months. That's when I created the Steam account (because I gave the old one to my dad).

In my defense though, I've just come off a three week vacation, have a fulltime job, a wife, a cat and a mortage :p

[alienchild]

damn where's the edit button...

I forgot, this was 2 weeks, not 1... how the hell can people play twice as much as I've done for the past 2 weeks? I've felt real guilty for playing this much :(

Oh well, at least I'm an extreme gamer in the purchase department.

[Yellowman]

This is a very disappointing definition of 'extreme gamer'. To me that word conjures up an image of a man playing with his 360 on top of a tiny plateau very high up who suddenly drops his controller and hurls himself off the side. The camera follows him flailing down until finally there is a reassuring snap and the bungie cord goes taught as the gamer bobs up and down looking self satisfied.

Or perhaps four skydivers all seemingly doing a formation jump, but as the camera comes in a bit closer they are all playing Mario Kart on their DSs.

[Demo_Boy]

Lets see I'm pulling 2 hours a day M-F on PC, all retail stuff
Then about 2 a day M-S on 360/PS3, mostly digital download stuff.

So let's see that's 24 hours a week, and to be honest, I feel pretty hardcore as a gamer. And I buy tons of games. But I guess I'm not EXTREME! enough..

aww crap. *goes to cry in corner*

[Nighthawk]

Damn I'm definitely not extreme enough. Between my sons and myself, I might be lucky to buy/download 15 games a year. And thats with supplying them games on their Wii that I play and feeding my gaming habit on the computer.

As for time spent, I used to blow through this in college when I had no job. But now its all but impossible. I might get in 2 hours a night on gaming after the kids are in bed, and 4-5 hours on the weekend, but I just have too much to do these days. Between working, kids, wife, Netflix/TV, reading books, etc. I just do not have the time to devote solely to gaming that I used to.

[menage]

Wow, 24 games, didn't even know there were that many games worth playing last year. My average was up to 7-9 in those 3-4 months. Average 12-15 hours a week I guess.

[DaXIthR]

Don't know if anyone made this point, but they should spell it "XXtreme Gamer".

[TDub301]

The trick is to have a foreign girlfriend, whose native language you can't speak. Worked well for me. She'd watch her home-country shows and I'd play my games, we were both content.

[dr_wily]

im up from about 0 hrs a week to 2! yay tuesday! ;)

...dont have kids