PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 2003--Zanthus, a leading market research-based consulting company, today unveiled the results of its second Future2Future survey, which focused on the video gaming market. According to the independent consumer survey, 92 percent of today's youth own and play video games. The Web-based survey, conducted by the Portland, Ore. research company, was designed to determine the latest trends in the video gaming market and gauge consumer demand for future advancements.
The survey was based on responses from 498 U.S. gamers, aged 14 to 26 years old, plus two separate focus groups of hardcore gamers divided into one group of 14 to 18 years old and another aged 19 to 26.
Highlights of the survey results include the following:
-- Heavy gamers tend to be males between 14 and 17-years-old who
describe themselves as innovators or early-adopters when it
comes to purchasing video and/or computer game hardware and
software. They represent about 25% of youth gamers. Most (55
percent) have played video and/or computer games for 10 or
more years and, on average, spend about 23 hours per week
playing games.
-- Light gamers tend to be older females, between the ages of 18
to 26, who largely fall into the late majority or laggard
categories. They have played video and/or computer games, on
average, for about six years and spend about eight hours per
week on this activity.
-- Teen and young adult gamers are satisfied with the current
state of the video game market, rating the video game market,
on average a 7 out of 10; however, only about two-in-five
youth gamers (39 percent) gave a score between '8' and '10' on
this scale, suggesting that there's substantial room for
improvement.
-- Youth gamers most appreciate the high-quality graphics
featured in today's games. When asked about positive market
trends, graphics, in some form, was mentioned the most.
-- The growing variety of games ranked as the second highest
positive trend; however, the variety for male gamers was
clearly higher than for female respondents as 'lack of
variety' by the older, female gamers still ranked near the top
of the list of gamers' complaints.
-- Early teens are still more likely to own a GameCube than
mid-teens or young adults; however, younger gamers in
Zanthus' focus groups proclaimed they would never purchase a
Nintendo GameCube because they considered it "geared for
little kids." This group uniformly regarded the PlayStation 2
and Xbox platforms as "more grown-up."
-- Online gaming holds substantial appeal among youth gamers, but
so far, few have pursued the option with any seriousness. Only
5 percent of the youth gamers surveyed currently subscribe to
an online game that requires a monthly fee; however, 21
percent reported an interest in subscribing in the future.
-- A substantial portion of youth gamers expressed an interest in
potential future services. Sixty-one percent expressed
interested in video-on-demand via a console and cable TV
connection, and another 23 percent expressed an interest in a
pay-to-play game service over the Internet.
"Our survey results clearly show that the youth gamers driving this market are most interested in higher quality games and greater variety," said David Edwards, CEO and founder of Zanthus. "Those companies that tap into youth gamers' desire for different types of games and capitalize on the demand for online gaming will be best suited for long-term success."
Highlights of the "BigBamBoom: The Future of Video Games" survey is available on Zanthus' Future2Future Web site at
www.f2fresearch.com. Full survey results are available only to subscribers of Zanthus' Future2Future research program
