Topic: Two-Thirds of America Play Videogames

[WindyMan]

Gamers are also impacting the box office and music purchases, says the study.

Ziff Davis Media's Annual Survey of Videogame Trends Finds That Almost Two-Thirds of U.S. Households Plays Digital Games

SONOMA, Calif., July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Ziff Davis Media's videogame survey, "Target the Gaming Life: Digital Gaming in America 2003," 63 percent of U.S. households play digital games -- an indication that they're becoming more mainstream and a major entertainment form. Additionally, the annual survey study reveals that digital games now are played in 68.5 million homes. This research was presented today at the seventh annual Ziff Davis Media Electronic Gaming Summit, held in Sonoma, Calif.

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and cellular phones are also becoming an attractive form with over 14% of U.S. households now using these technologies to play their videogames. Over 9.5 million people report playing games on their PDAs, and 8 million use their mobile phones for video gaming.

Online Gaming

Moreover, online gaming is becoming increasingly popular, as 66 percent say that the Internet is their platform of choice. These users spend 12 hours online each week. Eight percent of online gamers cite Sony's PlayStation 2 as their platform of choice, while four percent use Microsoft's Xbox "The study tells us that whether at home or on the go, videogames are increasing in popularity as a primary form of entertainment," says Lee Uniacke, publisher of the Ziff Davis Game Group. "This year's research proves that gamers are becoming more mainstream. They're significant consumers of motion pictures and music and are having a broad impact on those activities."

Impact on Motion Pictures

The research also reveals that video gamers go to the movies twice a month on average, and 60 percent see films during their first two weeks of theatrical distribution. Among core gamers -- those purchasing at least 18 games yearly -- 77 percent have watched movie trailers online.

Moreover, 89 percent of core gamers are fans of action and adventure movies. Films such as "The Matrix," "X-Men," "Lord of the Rings," "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars" rank among their favorite films.

Respondents ranked their familiarity and willingness to purchase the next game sequels as:

1. Zelda (ranked 7th last year)
2. Grand Theft Auto (2)
3. Final Fantasy (
4. Mario (1)
5. Mortal Kombat (10)
6. Donkey Kong (4)
7. Resident Evil (13)
8. Lord of the Rings (n.a.)
9. Frogger (17)
10. Tomb Raider/L.C. (15/19)?)

Impact on Music Purchases

The research suggests that gaming influences music purchases. Forty-nine percent of core gamers and 32 percent of general gamers say they have discovered a new band in a video game, prompting 34 and 21 percent of respective gamers to purchase the band's CDs after hearing their songs in games.

Among gamers, the five favorite artists are Eminem, 50 Cent, Linkin Park, Creed and Match Box 20.

Thirty-three percent of core gamers and 23 percent of general gamers say they would be more likely to buy a videogame if it has a good sound track. Nearly 13 percent have purchased videogame sound tracks.

Ziff Davis Game Group projects that PlayStation 2 will maintain its dominance among the three major gaming platforms, increasing to 25.9 million units sold by June 2004, compared with 18 million through June 2003. Xbox is expected to increase to 10.4 million units, up from 5.5 million in 12 months. Nintendo's GameCube should reach 8.2 million units by June 2004, an increase from 4.1 million a year earlier. (June 2003 base figures are from The NPD Group.)

[Berto2K]

Those sales numbers seem to be a bit low. Hasn't Cube sold more than 8.2 million already? Thought I heard 9.4 before. Nice to see the list covered in Nintendo though. That is promising.

[DRJ]

The numbers seem odd to me too. 25 million for ps2? I thought they were around 40-50 million already. It was also nice to see Zelda on the top of the list for most wanted sequels beating out GTA.

[Bonzeemer]

It's sort of ironic that I wanted to buy GTA VC but
after it being shoved in my face a bazillion times
I would love to see that game burn in hell.

It would have been nice to see a hardcore gamer survey.

[Ian Sane]

If Zelda is the most wanted sequel then why the hell is the Gamecube not selling better?  One would assume people would be willing to buy a console for the "most wanted sequel".

[Djunknown]

*Scratches head till there's no dandruff.* ewwww....

Anyway, I'm left in the dark here.  Maybe its just too good to be true, all the info is scattered around, leaving me in a stupor. I'm gonna guess they sampled casual and hardcore gamers alike, and they'd love to see Zelda? Even good  old Donkey Kong got some play, probably because of the DKC re-release? As Ian Sane said earlier, then where's the lovin'? The numbers aren't showing it. I'm surprised that Halo didn't make the list, but oh well can't complain hmm?

[ruby_onix]

I'm pretty sure Sony just announced the PS2 as having put out 53 million hardware units worldwide (as of the end of the first fiscal quarter, which should have been June 30).

This report is American, and says that NPD said it was...

PS2 - 18 million
Xbox - 5.5 million
GCN - 4.1 million

... as of last June.

And that Ziff Davis (the parent company of the guys who make magazines like EGM, OPM, and XBox Nation and GMR) "projects" that the PS2 will still be "dominating" by next June, because it's sure to be...

PS2 - 25.9 million
Xbox - 10.4 million
GCN - 8.2 million

... in America by then.