The NPD Group has released their annual report on the state of “extreme gamers”; by definition, gamers who spent 40+ hours a week playing video games. The study concluded that PC and console gaming was on the rise; yet, portable gaming declined, not by a little, but by a lot.
According to their Gamer Segmentation 2010 report, console and PC gaming saw a modest increase of nine and six percent, respectively. However, portable consoles saw a devastating decline of 16%. These are some pretty startling numbers. While it is nice to see the respectable gains the console and PC sectors saw, it is unsettling to see the performance of the handheld arenas. Additionally, the study noted that the average U.S. gamer, age two and up, plays, on average, 13 hours a week. This number is up from last year’s 12.3 hours per week.
What are your views on these figures? Positive? Negative? Saw it coming? Post your responses in the comments section below.
