Apparently, the majority of gamers are online

by Nick Doerr { May 8th 2007 at 9:00PM }

NPD, the source of all things American numbers (exaggeration), has recently divulged the public with a survey regarding the amount of people playing video games online. The numbers aren't all that surprising, but compared to, say, five years ago, they are astounding. 62% of all gamers admit to having played video games online. Ooh, we worded that like it was a disease. Perhaps "62% of gamers ecstatically thrust their hands in the air and issued a triumphant hurrah when asked if they play video games online." Either way, the result is the same. Most people like online gaming.

What's even more interesting is that a good slice of that 62% admitting to playing games online are women -- yeah, imagine that. That female character in World of Warcraft might actually be a girl after all! Hmm, maybe not. Either way, the advent of online gaming on consoles really should deliver a message to Sony. They've been vague with their online strategy and apparently, if they got that straight, it'd help a whole lot with sales. Let's hope that Home will really signal a new way to play online with consoles, even if it's straight out of Second Life and The Sims.

Tags: Home, NPD, PlayStation 3, Playstation3, PS3, Sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

massive_98 @ May 8th 2007 10:03PM

PS3 is my first time playing online, I absolutly love... that its free!

Also on a sadder note
Another person was killed over a PS3. A college student in NY. Its just a video game console.

bootsielon @ May 8th 2007 11:10PM

What? Just a console? HEATHEN!!

"It's not a videogame console. We've never once called it a game machine. It's an entertainment supercomputer." -Good Old Kenny K

We'll miss ya, ken. :(

Oh, and yeah... online gaming FTW

humpty @ May 8th 2007 11:21PM

There's something fishy about that report...

"Those surveyed who play games on the Nintendo Wii were found to be most inclined (76 percent) to be online gamers...."

There are currently ZERO wii games that are online multi-player. Elebits dont count. Are they counting shit like looking up the news are online gaming? Or downloading VC games.. thats not the same as 40 player RFoM.

Next-Gen-Gamer @ May 8th 2007 11:57PM

humpty
It doesn't say they play games online with Wii. It just says that those owning a Wii play online games.

Draco @ May 9th 2007 12:30AM

its ironic that the Wii doesn't have online games, as its a kids system and kids are most likely to go online. (I know I played alot more games online as a kid) Starcraft mainly.

Next-Gen-Gamer @ May 9th 2007 1:49AM

"its ironic that the Wii doesn't have online games, as its a kids system and kids are most likely to go online. (I know I played alot more games online as a kid) Starcraft mainly."

I missed the part where the Wii was a kid system.

jorma @ May 9th 2007 2:01AM

The fact that Sony isnt positioning themselves as 'we are all about the online experience' is part of the attraction for me! The current trend in gaming seems to be leaving out 2 player offline modes in favour of 1 player online modes. And that absolutely sucks for me.

Andir3.0 @ May 9th 2007 9:44AM

"I missed the part where the Wii was a kid system."

Read the comment again. I think it's pretty clear where they wrote it. If you need help, I'll point it out.

"as its a kids system"

Though, I will admit, Draco should have used "it's" instead.

It's kind of hard to miss that part even with the grammatical mistake.

Jon @ May 9th 2007 10:05AM

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=24832

This article reports that Spider Man 3 Game has had 45% of it's sales come from the Xbox 360. PS2 accounted for 40% and the Wii covered 10%. Is this game even out on the PS3 ???

This does not bode well for the PS3 at all. It's amazing to see the 360 surpass the PS2 in sales given that the PS2 has a huge install base in comparison.

Andir3.0 @ May 9th 2007 10:57AM

And what does that have to do with online gaming Jon?

WebMaster @ May 9th 2007 11:27AM

"And what does that have to do with online gaming Jon?"

Translation:

Don't state anything here that could be negative news for the PS3.

@9

Yes, Spiderman 3 is out on the Playstation 3. At least Sony's making big bucks off the movie.

Andir3.0 @ May 9th 2007 12:41PM

Translation: If I actually cared to rebuke his off-topic comment, I would have linked to:
http://vgchartz.com/aweekly.php
and shown that the PS3 version of Spiderman 3 is placed 5th on the chart for the most prevalent audience. (The biggest market)

If you look at the numbers and divide them buy the amount of available consoles, you'll see that per console, the PS3 is selling more version of Spiderman than any other.

PS3s on the US market: 1.4 mill
Spiderman 3 games: 79,541
Percentage of PS3 owners with game: 5.6%

360s on the US market: 6.1 mill
Spiderman 3 games: 194,394
Percentage of PS3 owners with game: 3.1%

Wiis on the US market: 2.7 mill
Spiderman 3 games: 39,741
Percentage of PS3 owners with game: 1.4%

How is that bad news? It shows that more PS3 owners bought Spiderman 3 over any other system. Not even including the PS2 game sales which are still good for the Playstation brand name.

But you know, since this is bad news. It's apparently not allowed here.

Andir3.0 @ May 9th 2007 12:43PM

oops, each of the percentages are on the system it's categorized with, I cut and paste the first category and forgot to change the PS3 in the other system percentages.

Jon @ May 9th 2007 3:36PM

It's bad news because it shows that if you want to make money you release a title on the Xbox 360. Used to be the other way around last gen...developers new that the PS2 was where to go.

And besides the Xbox 360 has 5.7 attach rate for nearly 8 months running.

At least this month 360 users have other options for games....like Command and Conquer 3 and ShadowRun which by the way is the first FPS console game where you are able to play head to head against folks playing on their PC's.

Andir3.0 @ May 9th 2007 4:14PM

Your story only shows the UK. But overall, the PS3 and 360 are on just about even terms. You'd be stupid not to sell it on both platforms (even stupider to ignore the Wii.) It means absolutely nothing right now being early in the "next gen" battle. At all.

The PS3 has other options coming. The 360 didn't have all these options you speak of right off the bat and generally in gaming, the Spring/early Summer months are always slow for pickup. Your trying to justify your 360 purchase at the wrong time of the year.