It doesn’t take a high-ranking economist to see the massive explosion of revenue stemming for the last few years from the Massively Multiplayer Online market. Ever fueled by Blizzard’s country-sized World of Warcraft, the draw of the social gaming sphere isn’t just on wallets. A recent study from Gamesindustry.com, Today’s Gamers MMO Focus Report, 15% of all logged gaming hours in both Europe and United States comes directly from the online market.
Drawing on data accumulated from 13,000 users from age eight and above, with an average of 5.5 hours played per week (as opposed to 4.9 for consoles and 4.8 for casual portals.) The numbers vary from country to country, from 8% in the United Kingdom to 16% in Germany, but Gamesindustry.com found the average American user to be male and between the ages of 8-12 (given the additional popularity of kid-centric titles like Club Penguin and Disney’s Toontown.) French and German players averaged between 13-19, with The Netherlands, U.K., and Belgium going even older. The study also found that 35-40% of this demographic are dedicated spenders on their MMOs, and trust friend opinion over almost every news outlet.
“The days we could categorize gamers on the basis of a single game platform are long gone. Of the U.S. console players 29% also plays MMOs and 25% on their mobile phone. Also typical for today’s gamers is the fact that more than half of U.S. console gamers (55%) also plays on casual game portals. All these platforms are increasingly competing for time and money of the same consumer,” commented Peter Warman, MD of Gamesindustry.com.
Interested statisticians can purchase the full report ($5) here. Those that their own thoughts on this data can let them be known below!
I’m suprised it isn’t higher. Really, I know people that live on their computor.
I think the pool is lying.. I mean.. who wants to admit to having 4 lvl 80 characters who are tiered out and have 65+ days gametime on each? They might be committed. Or hired.