from Ars Technica:

 http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080402-npd-shows-gaming-growth-online-stagnation.html

 

"Recent reports have all stated that more Americans are playing video games than ever before, but exactly how many people are picking up a controller in America? A new "Online Gaming 2008" report from the NPD Group finds that 72 percent of the US plays video games, a dramatic increase from the 63 percent who said they played in the previous year. The amount of people playing games online, however, is much lower than expected, with 42 percent of people saying they play games online, up only two percent from last year.

Unsurprisingly, the PC plays a large part in online gaming. 90 percent of those who said they play online play through their PCs, versus only 19 percent playing on a game console or portable and three percent using a cell phone. Not only do people play online games on their PCs, they are becoming increasingly comfortable purchasing games online as well. Steam has just received Ubisoft's blessing to sell its games online, including the yet-to-be-released PC version of Assassin's Creed, and the platform was instrumental in building buzz for the hit rhythm game Audiosurf.

This is of course not even counting the runaway success of online games like World of WarCraft, a game that has almost become its own industry. The money spent on digital downloads and online subscription-based gaming is often absent from market research on the strength of the PC gaming industry, something that NPD is trying to correct; the group is now tracking online subscription sales for a quarterly report.

"We wouldn't be initiating coverage of online subscriptions if we didn't believe it was a big and growing market," Martin Zagorsek, vice president of games and software at NPD, told Video Business. The report will include information on any business with a subscription-based revenue source, which should include game arcade services like GameTap. 

Still, NPD doesn't have any illusions about these numbers. "Despite the buzz in the industry regarding online gaming, it is still relatively small compared to offline gaming," said Anita Frazier, an industry analyst for the NPD Group. "There is still a large, untapped market for gaming in general and online gaming in particular."

Younger gamers are growing up to be more comfortable gaming online. Gamers aged 2 to 12 hold over 25 percent of the online gaming market, while gamers aged 18 to 24 have only 10 percent. Among consoles, Xbox Live is proving to be a powerful force for Microsoft; the Xbox 360 is the most popular console for online play. NPD does point out that households with multiple consoles are rare, with only three percent claiming to own two of the three "next-gen" systems, and only two percent claiming to own an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and a Nintendo Wii.

While the "PC gaming is dying!" cry is still often heard around the Internet, it seems that much of the computer gaming market is merely heading online, as evidenced by certain aspects of this report and NPD's new dedication to tracking online subscriptions. Overall, however, the gaming market is showing strong growth, but online gaming isn't nearly as large as the conversations about it would have you believe. Young gamers may bring the numbers up as they grow into an increasingly connected world, demanding the same social aspects from their games, but with online gaming there is currently more flash than fire."

 

How do they gather these reports? Im certain that 50% of the users registered on XBL and PSN play online, which is at the least 5 million people world wide.

Their methodology is obviously not as rigorous as your method of simply saying "I"m certain" of assertions you choose to believe

I had no problems finding people to play on PS2 titles , FIFA 08 had alota active people.And it was bloody impossible to configure the PS2 to play online , none of my friends did it.

now with the ease of connecting to the net through PS3 ,Wii or 360 I can't imagine that there wouldn't be a huge population of online console gamers , probably not a big a the online PC gamer community but big none the less.

leo-j said: How do they gather these reports? Im certain that 50% of the users registered on XBL and PSN play online, which is at the least 5 million people world wide.

Take 5 million and divide it by the supposed 28 million (front page) and you come up to 18%.  They quote 19% in the article.  It's probably pretty accurate.  If you spent enough money to buy a 360 and a PS3 the odds are much higher than the average console gamer which owns either a PS2 or Wii to go online.  As such, it wouldn't surprise me if 19% of console gamers that play games online.  I never went online gaming until I got a Wii/PS3.  As such, I'm guessing that the numbers for last gen were much lower and many haven't moved on yet.

I expect online console gaming to grow faster than pc online gaming but the pc makes the best online platform. PC is so good.

cleveland124 said: leo-j said:ther these reports? Im certain that 50% of the users registered on XBL and PSN play online, which is at the least 5 million people worldwide. Take 5 million and divide it by the supposed 28 million (front page) and you come up to 18%. They quote 19% in the article. It's probably pretty accurate. If you spent enough money to buy a 360 and a PS3 the odds are much higher than the average console gamer which owns either a PS2 or Wii to go online. As such, it wouldn't surprise me if 19% of console gamers that play games online. I never went online gaming until I got a Wii/PS3. As such, I'm guessing that the numbers for last gen were much lower and many

 Hmm...

This is not surprising. There is a difference between (1) having an on-line gaming account and playing on-line, (2) experimenting with on-line play and staying with on-line play.

I got a freebie Xbox Live account and tried to play some. Problem was that unless you are playing the current hot game, there often were few people wanting to play. I looked for people in Burnout 3 and Revenge, often with limited success -- or it was a group who already knew one another and didn't take kindly to newcomers.

Mike from Morgantown

Call me when NPD and others accurately track Steam sales...

Desroko said: Their methodology is obviously not as rigorous as your method of simply saying "I"m certain" of assertions you choose to believe

Well said Desroko.

Kind of amusing to see this coming on the heels of the CoD4 played by over a million people story.