NPD: Heavy Gamers Have Greatest Purchasing Power

**Tommy Tallarico** · 02 Jul 2007, 05:10 PM

Though they represent the smallest segment within the gaming demographic, the Heavy Gamers open their wallets the most, buying more games than any other group. The key for the video game industry, says NPD's Anita Frazier, is to ramp up the involvement of the other segments. More within...

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(Link to GameDaily.com)

**Nick** · 02 Jul 2007, 05:10 PM

[Insert fat joke here.]

your fat gamer buddy is so fat the rings he collects in sonic the hedgehog are onion rings!

**Melf** · 02 Jul 2007, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by Game Daily Article

Even though the Heavy Gamer segment represents just 2 percent, NPD's data (based on survey responses from 11,638 members of NPD's online consumer panel) shows that this tiny segment of the market spends more on games (PC, console and handheld) than any other group. In fact, in the last quarter, the Heavy Gamer segment purchased more than six times as much per individual and eight times more than the average when compared to the largest segment, Avid PC Gamers.

[Besides the Heavy Gamer segment, the rest of NPD's gamer segmentation breaks down as follows: 33 percent are Avid PC Gamers, 22 percent are Secondary Gamers, 20 percent are Avid Console Gamers, 15 percent are Mass Market Gamers, 8 percent are Casual Kid Gamers.]

Too bad developers are too busy jumping on the bandwagon of consoles aimed at soccer moms and girls, all of whom buy one or two games per year, to notice this.

**SpoDaddy** · 02 Jul 2007, 06:13 PM

Unsurprisingly, Heavy Gamers also play more frequently than any other group, both overall (39.3 hours/week of gameplay on any system) and by system type (23.9 hours/week playing consoles, 1.9 hours playing portables and 13.6 hours playing PC/Mac). After the Heavy Gamer, as their segmentation labels would suggest, Avid PC Gamers spend the most time on PC/Mac gaming (10.4 hours/week), while Avid Console Gamers play most with consoles (8.9 hours/week) and portables (0.8 hours/week).

I don't want people that have 40 hours per week to spend playing videogames dictating the whole market. All we'd get is shooters with online e-penis modes and GTA-style rape sims.

**YellerDog** · 02 Jul 2007, 06:15 PM

...what video games are worth playing 40 hours a week?

**RoleTroll** · 02 Jul 2007, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by Melf

Too bad developers are too busy jumping on the bandwagon of consoles aimed at soccer moms and girls, all of whom buy one or two games per year, to notice this.

Remember the good ol' days when consoles were aimed at the mainstream, instead of one console for non-gamers and two consoles aimed at heavy gamers?

**Melf** · 02 Jul 2007, 07:02 PM

Originally Posted by SpoDaddy

I don't want people that have 40 hours per week to spend playing videogames dictating the whole market. All we'd get is shooters with online e-penis modes and GTA-style rape sims.

Having people who hardly buy games at all dictate the Wii market is what's given us eight months of quick ports and mini games collections. I'll take shooters over that any day.

Originally Posted by RoleTroll

Remember the good ol' days when consoles were aimed at the mainstream, instead of one console for non-gamers and two consoles aimed at heavy gamers?

Yes, I remember the day when all consoles were aimed at gamers, and not office workers at a farewell party or 12 year-olds at a sleep over. You know, people who actually bought games. Those were the days. It's a sad reality that the fastest-selling console this gen is being aimed at and bought by people who don't really play video games all that often.