NPD “US Gamer Population” Survey Breakdown
The link above will take you to an article at Gamespot.com about the recent NPD survey that the following data was taken from, but I’m just interested in the numbers…
According to the survey…
- 2008 Domestic Number Of Gamers: 169.9 million.
- 2007 Domestic Number Of Gamers: 165.5 million.
- This is an increase of 4.3.
The US population was just over 304 million in July, so this means 55% of Americans play video games in one form or another.
The survey break down the US gaming population…
- 33.6 million - ”Secondary Gamers” (mostly female, non-console)
- 32.9 million - ”Console Gamers” (console gamers, mostly male)
- 30.0 million - ”Heavy Portable Gamers” (shrinking, youngest group)
Also mentioned were “Extreme Gamers,” whose gaming habit takes up nearly as much time as a 40-hour work week. No numbers were given, so I imagine these folks never answer their phones or doors, so did not take part in the survey. 
PC Gamers
67.3 million Americans use the PC as their primary gaming platform.
- 25.9 million - ”Online PC Gamers,” (mostly female)
- 17.3 million - ”Avid PC Gamers” (23 hours a week, mostly male).
- 24.1 million - Offline PC Gamers
WoW, look at the highest numbers. WoW, who are these people and what are they playing? Hmmm, mostly female, huh? WoW!
[via Gamespot]
