Penny Arcade recently surveyed 38,350 gamers, asking various questions from “what type of internet do you use” to “how much do you game a week.” 38,350 people is a very large sample size for a private party to gather, and the data yields some very interesting results. Read more to see the data and some thoughts.
From the Source:
Sample Size: 38,350
Average Age: 26
Boy/Girl Split: 94% Boys, 6% Girls
Internet Usage:
- Cable/DSL: 84.7%
- LAN: 8.0%
- Fios: 3.0%
- WiMax: 0.7%
- 56k Modem: 0.5%
- Other: 3.1%
Where do you read PA from?
- Home: 93.8%
- Work: 49.2%
- School: 19.8%
Average Number of Hours of TV Per Week: 6.1 Hours
Console Ownership:
- PC: 86.3%
- Xbox 360: 54.1%
- Wii: 53.5%
- PS2: 52.7%
- Nintendo DS: 51.5%
- iPhone/iPod: 29.9%
- XBOX: 26.2%
- PS3: 24.5%
- Sony PSP: 20.5%
Average Game Library Collection: 73
Average Gaming Hours/Week: 18
Average Household Income: $66,000
Average Games Purchased/Month: 2
Game Genres Played:
- RPGs: 89.7%
- FPS’: 79.0%
- Platformers: 63.3%
- RTS’: 59.9%
- Turn Based Strat: 56.0%
- Tabletop/CCG: 40.0%
- Simulations: 37.7%
- Web Based: 37.5%
- Driving/Racing: 31.4%
- 2D Fighters: 29.9%
- Shooters: 29.0%
- 3D Fighters: 28.0%
- Sports Games: 14.7%
- Flight Sims: 10.5%
Phone Usage:
- Non-Smartphone: 65%
- iPhones: 15.7%
- Blackberries: 7.9%
- Windows Mobile Device: 6.9%
- gPhone: 2.9%
- Treo: 1.5%
Sites that get visited over twice a week:
- Penny Arcade: 96.1%
- Kotaku: 22.5%
- Joystiq: 12.1%
- Wired Blog: 10.3%
- IGN: 9.5%
- Gamespot: 7.1%
- 1up: 5.2%
- Destructoid: 2.6%
- Gamespy: 2.6%
- Gamepolitics: 2.2%
- GamesRadar: 1.3%
So what do you think? I know most of us guys like to think there are more girls out there gaming, but 6% is pretty low. Also, the Xbox 360 beat out the Wii in terms of ownership by 1%. This is most likely due to the fact that most people who visit Penny Arcade are hardcore gamers anyways. I would also guess that some of the Wii owners didn’t necessarily buy the Wii themselves, but got it as a “family gift”. A startling statistic is the sample’s total game collection averages at 73 games! Finally, 18 hours of play a week isn’t that much; I would have expected more. So what are your thoughts on the statistics? Do they seem about right?
Source: Penny Arcade
Penny Arcade sucks.
Whew, intelligent comment.
I too was surprised by the fact that the average amount of games owned was 73. I think many people who visit PA though are PC gamers, as well as console gamers, so I suppose with digital downloads the numbers can really start to add up.
Bias poll, gamer girls make up about 40% of gamers, this is just a poll targeted at penny arcade readers. Not that I’m bashing them, its just not an accurate sample.
18 hours a week seems very reasonable. For average people with a full-time job, family, and time devoted to self-improvement (unrelated to plastic instruments and/or a gamerscore) 2.5 hours a day seems to make a lot of sense.