"LaserDisc movies, however, only account for three percent."

Funny, I would have thought that LaserDisc wasn't much more than three percent even back in its time.

I tend to be like the first paragraph of the article describes:  Someone who plays the classics on today's systems thanks to Arcade Archives, Sega Ages and all of the wonderful collections of classic arcade/console games available from Capcom, Namco, Konami, etc.  Otherwise, I would be breaking out my retro consoles a lot more because I still do play a lot of 20th century games for sure.  This became especially apparent to me during the Wii era when I played almost as much from the excellent Virtual Console as I did the current gen titles.  When I break down all of the compilations, I have over 200 playable titles on my Switch that released before the year 2000, not even counting any of the games available through Nintendo Switch Online.

Yeah there's been a lot of 80s/90s nostalgia over the last decade or so as Millennials get old enough to miss their childhood, from shows like Stranger Things to games like Shovel Knight, Dusk, Sonia Mania, etc.

There's also a lot of draws to old games over modern ones; no mandatory installs or microtransactions or compulsory online sign-ins, just plug in and play.

i may be too young to play pre 2000 systems, although i started playing at 6 in 1992 on snes.

I don't see the point of playing on a old system while all games from these eras can be found legally on newer systems (For example, most snes games that are hold dear by people are on post 2000 systems (switch online, gba/psp, others)

Even if you want to play a game like super mario bros, you don't have to use a nes or snes for all stars or gameboy for deluxe, you can use gba nes classic, wii all stars, switch online )

Technically, i have some pre 2000 games on compatible pre 2000 systems (ps2, playing ps1 games, gba for gb games)

It would have to be very specific to use an old sytem for old games with games never released or not available on newer systems.

My 5 years old tv doesn't have scart anymore, my 1 month tv only have hdmi, only my 15 years old 3d tv still has everything, and even then i could play all gb games with a gamecube and gameboy player or a gba and all ps1 games on ps2 and most on ps3.

That would leave some non released atari, nes, snes, n64 or sega systems games. Sure, there are, but most well known games have been rereleased since.

I can tell that most people not in US or Canada don't realize the gaming market, and views on older systems, is significantly different here than it is in the rest of the world (except for maybe Japan).  Pong first became successful in 1972 in the US, while gaming first hit Europe in a major way with the PS1.  There is about 25 years of difference there.  (*Yes I realize Europe is a very diverse place, and some Europeans first experienced gaming through computers like the Spectrum ZX or consoles like the Sega MegaDrive, so this is a rough generalization.)  The point is that gaming is a lot younger in Europe as a whole than it is in the US and Canada.

The North American gaming history and market is most similar to Japan's.  Both regions started gaming in arcades and arcades were a major part of our gaming history.  Consoles have been around for a lot longer here, and North America has an extremely robust second hand market for used games.  It isn't just GameStop.  There are retro game stores and flea markets all over the place selling old systems and old games.  Cartridges also tend to be more durable than discs.  On top of that 2D gaming took a back seat to 3D gaming after Generation 5.  All of these things give plenty of reasons for people in North America to keep playing older systems.

That is indeed a surprising statistic!
I guess given the study is for all of North America, a lot of latin american countries are also included, where new hardware might be too expensive for a lot of working class households. I know at least that the Master System and Megadrive are huge in Brazil.
I also think that a lot of the retro system players might be elapsed gamers rather than retro enthusiasts. They might not care about or have time to play new games, but from time to time they fire up their old console for nostalghia.

Just read the survey, the median age for the answers is 47 years, a good 10 years above the current median of the population

I don't think we can extrapolate it to the whole American population, maybe 1/7 from adult population?


Also the way the question was phrased means anybody who played a classic videogame will be included. It doesn't mean you have to actually own the system. If you have played N64 or PS1 once in a friends house it already counts in the statistics

IMO, this is a meaningless statistic. It's the same number of people who declared to have used VHS tapes to watch movies and cassette tapes to listen to music

I would but PS3 plays PS1 games. Everyone seems to forget even the slim models do that.

Mid 20th century.

Vinyl record sales are slowly increasing again.

Music CD sales have also started to increase.

If there is a spike for 2023-2024, it was probably me. lol,jk

I thought about getting into vinyl, but proper upkeep would be too involved for me.  I'm rooting for a physical media comeback. 

Discloser: I spent 150+ hours ripping these into Itunes.  About 10 years ago I ripped my entire CD collection that I started from the mid 1980 through 2012 (hundreds of albums) and I don't remember it taking as long as these recent purchases.

Sorry for getting a little off-topic, couldn't resist. 

Some 80s GIFs, just because.

Bonus Content: Me and some dude in 1987.

  My head did eventually grow to catch up to my ears, so they don't appear as large anymore. 

I would have been gaming on both my Atari and NES at that time.  And it would still be another 2 years till the release of the Gameboy.

Ah yeah, the vinyl record itself is 20th century, I was referring more to the underlying technology of using tiny grooves in a physical medium to store sound for playback, I should have been more specific there.

There are a lot of 19th century inventions we do still use; internal combustion engines, refrigerators, electric lightbulbs, etc.

I just barely made the 80s myself, born in January 1989, so don't actually remember the decade and it's more the 90s I have an attachment to. Started gaming with the SNES, which I still play. 

I guess it makes sense I still regularly play links crossbow training or Wii sports resort on my Wii. If I were a couple of years older I could see myself playing an older console.