entertainment

PC Games Still Attract Crowds

Although people have a multitude of platforms upon which to play computer games (tablet, smartphone, consoles), the humble PC (or Mac) still has some draw for players. 

According to the NPD Group, 37% of the U.S. population age 9 or older play PC games for an average of 6.4 hours a week. PC game players fit into three categories: Heavy Core gamers, who play core games — those classified as Action/Adventure, Fighting, Flight, Massively Multi-Player (MMO), Racing, Real Time Strategy, Role-Playing, Shooter, or Sport — for five or more hours a week; Light Core, who play such games for less than five hours a week, and Casual gamers, who only play games outside of those categories. 

PC gamers as a whole split almost evenly down gender lines, although Heavy and Light Core gamers were much more likely to be men, while casual gamers were overwhelmingly female. 

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Not surprisingly then, Casual gamers make up the largest segment of PC game players, making up 56% of the market, and Light Core gamers accounted for 24%. Although Heavy Core gamers were the smallest segment (20%), they spent significantly more time and about twice as much money on physical or digital games than the Casual gamers. 

Still, nearly half of all PC gamers (46%) had visited a Web site to make a game purchase via digital download. Digital game purchasers were also less likely to look for a discount before purchasing a title. Half of all gamers, in fact, are accustomed to waiting for a sale before buying a digital game. 

“Consumers’ expectations may be the greatest barrier to maximizing spending in the PC gaming space,” said Liam Callahan, industry analyst at The NPD Group, in a statement. “Since half of PC gamers who play digital and/or physical games on the computer are expecting there to always be a sale right around the corner, publishers and retailers alike need to better manage these expectations.”

"Young people playing games on a laptop computer" photo from Shutterstock.

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