U.S. Console Penetration Remains Steady

Gaming seems to be more popular than ever, doesn't it? It might surprise you, then, to learn that the percentage of U.S. households containing a videogame console has remained relatively the same since 1995. A recent report from Odyssey LP called "The Homefront Study" reveals that, while July 2008 saw the highest penetration at 40 percent, that's only two points higher than it was 13 years ago. But why read about data when you can look at a handy graph?

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/ar...1225300397.jpg

Data was collected from over 1,500 households in a survey asking about different types of home media. We wonder what happened in 1997 that caused a bunch of households to chuck out their consoles. Also, where is the mysterious data from 2006?

IGN suggests America throws a big party the day that 50 percent of our households own a gaming system.

Please post your penetration jokes in the comments below.
http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/924/924916p1.html

1500 is not a very big sample when you consider the population is about 200 million households or something, so much of the difference is just normal random variation unless they use the same household each year.

If you select the sample carefully, you can get a good handle on the population with smaller numbers. Still, this seems consistent with my experience.

Game consoles have been pretty much entirely game-oriented devices before the latest generation, though. The most recent ones could be DVD players, but you pretty much had to be a geek to make them into a media box or whatever. The newer consoles are trying to be more than just game machines. (Well, except the Wii.)

It'll be interesting to see if the experiments with making consoles into media players (streaming and otherwise), web browsers, and so forth bump up the numbers.