NPD: Gamers Spend 22 Hours Weekly Playing Video Games

13 May, 2014 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Hardcore gamers spend on average 22 hours playing video games — more time spent than the average part-time employee works, according to new data from The NPD Group.

There are 34 million core gamers in the country, people NPD said play video games five or more hours a week on a PlayStation 3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, Mac, or Wii.

NPD tabulated the data from an online survey of nearly 8,000 U.S. respondents from March 10 to 28.

With the advent of new gaming consoles, the average weekly time spent playing should increase, according to industry analyst Liam Callahan.

“Core gamers are really the lifeblood of the industry, spending tremendous amounts of time on their hobby of choice,” he said.

While core gamers are most likely to play on consoles and computers, phones and mobile devices are also a popular method of play by 66% of respondents. Meanwhile, 70% of core gamers play multiplayer games either regularly or occasionally.

In addition, 74% claim they would opt for the physical format over digital if the price was the same. However, the preference for digital is still on the move, up 5 percentage points from 21% to 26% this year.

“Understanding [core gamer] behavior is critical to anyone invested in the games space,” Callahan said.
 

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