Survey Finds Significant Overlap Between Console, Social, Mobile Gamers

A newly released survey of video game usage in the U.S. and U.K. shows traditional PC and console gamers increasingly expanding their gaming horizons with games on social networks and mobile devices. Newzoo's National Gamers Survey for 2010 categorizes the estimated 160 million gamers in the U.S. and 32.5 million gamers in the U.K.* into seven non-exclusive groups based on what platforms they use to play games: console (including portable consoles), MMOs, PC/Mac (boxed), PC/Mac (digital), online casual, social networks, and mobile devices (including the iPod Touch and iPad). The breakdown shows that consoles still represent the most popular platforms for gamers, with 56% of all U.S. respondents and 62% of all British respondents saying they played games on TV-based or portable gaming systems. But these traditional gamers aren't above expanding their horizons to new types of games. Newzoo's data shows that, in the U.S., 56% of console gamers also play games on mobile devices, with 59% playing on social networks and 40% playing MMOs. The results are similar in the U.K., where 66% of console gamers play on mobile devices, 56% play games on social networks and 34% play MMOs. Not all of these gamers can be considered part of the market actually paying money for games, however. Newzoo's survey found only 72 percent of U.S. gamers and 75 percent of British gamers actually pay to play games. Console gamers were the most likely to spend money on games in both regions, while players on mobile devices and social networks were the least likely to pay for games. Newzoo's data also showed general strength for the social game space, with an estimated 87.3 million Americans and 17.5 million Brits playing games on social networks. The numbers represent a slight majority of both social network users and the overall gaming population in both countries, with slightly more women than men playing social games overall in both regions. Facebook is the overwhelmingly dominant network in Newzoo's data, with 93% of social network users in both countries using the service. * - Newzoo's report is based on data gathered from "more than 10,000 respondents from national panels representative of the total online population of 10 years and older" conducted in June of 2010. Newzoo estimates the total size of this surveyed population at roughly 210 million people in the U.S. and 42 million people in the U.K.