Digital gamers purchase more games than core

Customers on digital devices acquire more games than any other kind of gamer, according to a new report from NPD looking at current buying trends in the US.

The report found that 'digital gamers' - those playing games on devices where content is obtained primarily via digital download - acquire an average of 5.9 new games every three months. This compares to just 5.4 amongst core gamers.

Core gamers do play more than digital gamers, but the difference is not as marked as might be expected, at 18 hours per week to 16.

The core still represent the single biggest block of gamers, at 23 per cent, but even this is almost equal to 'family and kid gamers' at 22 per cent and "avid and light PC gamers" at 15 per cent.

NPD suggests that amongst all gamers more than one third of all game content is now acquired digitally, whether via consoles, PCs, smartphones or other media devices.

"The name of the game in 2011 seems to be choice. Gamers are increasingly branching out to methods of play other than those that the industry has traditionally expected them to use," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

"Fuelled by the growth of smartphones and new tablet devices, mobile gaming continues to accelerate, and what a game is and what it means to be a gamer is evolving, reflecting the rapid nature of change within the industry."

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