Consumer study paints picture of gamers
by Kit

Wednesday, June 23 2004

Some gamers actually exercise, PS3 building hype.

E-Poll and GameDAILY announced the release of their latest consumer study on the purchasing and lifestyle habits casual and hardcore video gamers. The survey was conducted by E-Poll, a market research firm in Los Angeles. Gamers were identified through the GameDAILY’s network of 130 affiliated sites and portals.

A sample of the report findings include:

· Time spent on video gaming ­ Almost one in every four of the respondents play multiplayer games online at least six hours or more per week; while one in every five play video games with friends. The majority (66%), however, download a demo or watch video game trailers on a gaming website one to five hours per week.

· Gamers get exercise ­ Currently, over half (57%) of all
respondents participate in physical activity three or more hours per week and 30% participate six or more hours per week. Over the next six months, 46% claiming that they will increase a lot/somewhat on their physical activities.

· Holiday Outlook ­ Gamers not only increased their video game purchases in the past year, but more importantly, over half plan to increase software spending and over one third plan to increase hardware spending over the next six months, into the 2004 holidays season.

· The most/least awaited products ­ Sony Playstation 3 (PS3) is capturing considerable interest, with nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents very/somewhat interested in purchasing when it becomes available. On the other hand, less than 1 in 4 are very/somewhat interested in the NGage QD and almost half (46%) said they are not interested at all.

· More bang for the buck ­ Just like any smart shopper, gamers spend their dollar wisely. With 76% stating that price is very/somewhat important in deciding what game to buy, vendors should be very careful with their pricing strategies.

· Gamers Read More ­ Kids who play video games read more books on their own time. 80.8% of all gamers (78% males) surveyed are at least somewhat interested in reading (books, comics, magazines, newspapers). 25% spend 6 or more hours per week reading. 30% expect their reading time to increase in the next 6 months.

--- Kit