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Games Geek / Technical Marketing/Business

The American Gamer

People like to analyze NPD statistics on console ownership, so feel free to pop on over to The Great American Gaming Landscape if you want to see what this past year can tell you about the American gamer.

Or I can spoil it for you. B-)

Over half of the population plays video games, yet only a quarter of households own a next-gen console. Unless you count my Nintendo DS, I fit into these stats. My gaming takes place mostly on my computer, and I still have GameCube games I haven’t finished. Heck, I still have N64 games I haven’t finished. And SNES. And NES. And I have a few Atari 2600 games to go through. I should add that if you follow me on Twitter, you would know that I also play next-gen games at my day job’s employee lounge at lunch. My coworkers and I would play Metal Gear Solid games together, then N+ (yay, indie!), and now we’re on a Boom Blox kick. It seems lots of people who play next-gen games do so somewhere other than home.

Those people who insist that they needed to get every next-gen console so they don’t miss out on any great games? There are almost 3.4 million of them. Sounds like a lot, but that’s only a little over 1% of the population. Those people are elite.

Almost half of all households with a next-gen console have a Wii, which dominates. Most likely if you have a Wii, though, you won’t have a PS3 or a 360.

And with the Wii price drop coming, even though there is a dearth of quality games, it’s likely that the Wii will only get more popular, even in the face of new offerings from Sony and Microsoft.

Again, if you want more details, visit the link above. It’s fun to pore over the numbers. Just think: 75% of households who play games don’t own a modern-day console. If you make browser-based games or downloadable games for PCs, my interpretation of the data suggests you are a force to be reckoned with.