NPD: More Americans play games than go to movies

A greater percentage of Americans play videogames than go out to the movies, according to a new report from chart compiler and research firm The NPD Group.

Extracts from the report "Entertainment Trends in America" suggests that 63 per cent of Americans have played a videogame in the past six month, compared to just 53 per cent for those visiting a cinema. However, both activities are dwarfed by the number who listened to music during the same period - which runs to 94 per cent.

"Videogames account for one-third of the average monthly consumer spending in the US for core entertainment content, including music, video and games," said analyst Anita Frazier. "While a portion of that share stems from the premium price of console games, we’re also seeing an overall increase in the number of people participating in gaming year-over-year."

A total of 10 per cent of the 11,000 consumers questioned admitted to playing videogames on a social network. Meanwhile, 5 per cent paid to download a game from the Web - an increase of 2 per cent on the previous year

Other statistics from the report show that the average gamer spent over USD 38 per month on gaming content in the first three months of 2009. Within the last 12 months 31 per cent of gamers bought a new home or portable console game, up 7 per cent on the previous year.

The report also found that 31 per cent of console gamers also played a game on a gaming website, 12 per cent played on a social network site, 19 per cent played a game pre-loaded on their mobile phone and 11 per cent bought and downloaded a game to a mobile phone.

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