Just about anyone born in the US from 1970 on grew up with some sort of video games in their life. Whether it was playing Pitfall on a grade-school friend's Atari 2600, The Bard's Tale on an uncle's Apple II, or Defender in the local arcade, a larger percentage of American adults--that is, those aged 18 and up--have experience with games in some form or another.
So it was no surprise when demographic research firm Nielsen/NetRatings released a report this week saying that over a third of Web users own a gaming machine. Though it did not outline its methodology, the company said that 36.5 percent of US adults who go online own a console, and that 15.9 percent own a gaming portable. The report made no mention of PC gaming.
Perhaps more surprising is exactly how grown up gamers have become. The Nielsen/NetRatings study found that 71 percent of online, adult game-device owners were married, and 66 percent had at least one child.
"As game consoles have become increasingly sophisticated, families have incorporated them into their centralized home media centers, which include the television, digital recording device, digital music player, and the PC," said Carolyn Creekmore, Nielsen/NetRatings' senior director of media analytics.
Nielsen/NetRatings also released traffic statistics for the big three console makers' Web sites. Nintendo.com had the best showing, with traffic soaring from 856,000 unique visitors in January 2006 to 1.6 million in January 2007--a 91 percent increase. Xbox.com enjoyed a 47 percent increase, going from 827,000 to 1.2 million. Unfortunately, Sony's site, PlayStation.com, saw traffic slide 8 percent during the same period, going from 1.1 million to 1.0 million.
Also interesting is which retail sites are visited most by gamers. Nielsen/NetRatings estimates that 90 percent of Bestbuy.com visitors own a console, with 89 percent of Amazon.com and 88 percent of GameStop.com visitors also owning one.
Via GameSpot