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NPD: 67% of Americans play games (90% mobile, 52% PC, 43% console), average 12 hours per week

Nirolak

Nirolak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,660
Highlights:
  • 67% of Americans age 2 and up play games. This is a total of 211.2 million game playing Americans.
  • 90% play on mobile, 52% on PC, and 43% on console. These are percentages of the 67% of Americans playing games, not of the total US population.
  • To be clear, PC includes stuff like Facebook or browser gaming.
  • Handhelds are down to 9%, but I think NPD counts the Switch as a console, so I'm not sure how much longer that stat will be relevant.
  • 59% of gamers play on both mobile and (PC and/or console).
  • 41% of gamers play on only one device type (mobile, console, or PC).
  • For people who play games, it tends to take up 16% of their leisure time, which turns out to 12 hours a week on average.
  • For comparison, internet browsing is 18%, listening to music is 15%, and social media is 13%.
  • Active gamers (the group studied) were counted as anyone who played games within the month of June 2018, were age 2 or higher, and had access to one of the devices mentioned (mobile, PC, or console).
Source: https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/...-across-multiple-platforms--according-to-npd/

Notes from NPD:

MatPiscatella said:
Mobile includes tablets
Switch is a Console
The % are of the 211m gamers
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MatPiscatella said:
PC Gaming includes anything played on the PC.
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Deleted member 29682

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The PC numbers surprise me actually. I know most people have a computing device but a lot have people have switched to tablets. Does the survey count tablets as mobile?
 
Aadiboy

Aadiboy

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Nov 4, 2017
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So about 31% of Americans play console games then? That seems extraordinarily high.
 
FliX

FliX

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I have a tough time believing that... Going by my (techy) office there are only a small hand full of console/PC gamers.
 
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Hieroph

Hieroph

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Oct 28, 2017
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  • 90% play on mobile, 54% on PC, and 46% on console.
  • Handhelds are down to 9%, but I think NPD counts the Switch as a console, so I'm not sure how much longer that stat will be relevant.
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This sounds really suspect. Also are handhelds counted in that console figure, including and beyond SW?
 
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Nirolak

Nirolak

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Oct 25, 2017
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Hieroph said:
This sounds really suspect. Also are handhelds counted in that console figure, including and beyond SW?
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I'm not quite sure what you're trying to ask. Basically the question would be if you played a 3DS, Vita, DS, or other such handheld (pre-Switch) in June 2018, which would be a much lower number than handhelds once were.
 
FliX

FliX

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delete12345 said:
You'd be surprised when they pull out their smartphones. No one would not have one in this day and age. It's a necessity at work.
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Well a lot of the people in my office are younger than me early-mid twenties, and they all say they no longer play video games... They might play candy crush or whatever else their phone gives them, but I doubt they play pc or console games.
 

Deleted member 2785

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Mobile includes tablets
Switch is a Console
The % are of the 211m gamers
One office versus 5k sample survey? And firing up Candy Crush while in line somewhere or on the train counts as being a gamer. It's someone who has played a video game in the period.
 
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Nirolak

Nirolak

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Oct 25, 2017
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FliXFantatier said:
Well a lot of the people in my office are younger than me early-mid twenties, and they all say they no longer play video games...
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Go around and ask them if they've played any game like things on their phones in the last couple months instead of "video games", which some people are going to think of as console things.
 
FliX

FliX

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inner-G said:
How many might play Overwatch or WoW on the weekends and just not talk about it at work? There's still a stigma around gaming in a lot of places.
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When I tell them giddy as a teenager that I am going out to buy Spider-Man and play it all weekend and they tell me they no longer play video games, I have no reason to doubt them.
 
FliX

FliX

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Nirolak said:
Go around and ask them if they've played any game like things on their phones in the last couple months instead of "video games", which some people are going to think of as console things.
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The 90% mobile gaming I can get behind its the others (54% on PC, and 46% on console.) that seem very high to me.
 
inner-G

inner-G

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Oct 27, 2017
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FliXFantatier said:
When I tell them giddy as a teenager that I am going out to buy Spider-Man and play it all weekend and they tell me they no longer play video games, I have no reason to doubt them.
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Hm.

Well a lot of people I work with still do. Someone brought in their mini Nintendo to a previous office party, and I know some play mobile games. My office is older, most are in their 40s.
 
Hieroph

Hieroph

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Oct 28, 2017
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Nirolak said:
I'm not quite sure what you're trying to ask. Basically the question would be if you played a 3DS, Vita, DS, or other such handheld (pre-Switch) in June 2018, which would be a much lower number than handhelds once were.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I actually missed the word to in that handheld part so now it makes sense. So handhelds down to 9 %, excluding SW.
 
Euphoria

Euphoria

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Oct 25, 2017
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So many kids these days playing stuff like Minecraft, Overwatch, Fortnite, etc...

It's definitely possible that numbers are that high for consoles and PC.


Remember, PC gaming will probably include Facebook games and stuff. Did they mention if it does?
 
FliX

FliX

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Nirolak

Nirolak

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FliXFantatier said:
The 90% mobile gaming I can get behind its the others (54% on PC, and 46% on console.) that seem very high to me.
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Dinjooh said:
As long as you're aware were talking 54% and 46% of the 67% total gamers
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Yes, it's 28.8% of the total US population (aged 2 and up) playing on consoles, so if we assume extremely high rates for school and college aged children and then moderate rates above that, you'd get there pretty quickly, versus 43% of the total US population.
 
SmashN'Grab

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Oct 27, 2017
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I assume the PC figure includes people playing words with friends on facebook and things like it. I find it hard to believe that 52% of Americans are playing Dota 2 or PUBG or Diablo.
 
Steel

Steel

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SmashN'Grab said:
I assume the PC figure includes people playing words with friends on facebook and things like it. I find it hard to believe that 52% of Americans are playing Dota 2 or PUBG or Diablo.
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It's not actually 52% of americans, it's 52% of 67%. That aside, you do realize that the player numbers of stuff like DOTA 2 and League of Legends dwarf pretty much any console/pc game's, right? Between that and MMO's this should not be surprising.
 

Cathcart

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Oct 29, 2017
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So from now on when we talk about how terrible "gamers" are we can just agree it's people who are shit.
 
adj_noun

adj_noun

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Nirolak said:
  • For people who play games, it tends to take up 16% of their leisure time, which turns out to 12 hours a week on average.
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