Analyst firm NPD Group has reported its findings from a new followup study, aptly titled Gamer Segmentation II, into the demographics of the gaming market. They break down 191 million gamers surveyed for its report into the following categories, in order from largest to smallest:

Avid PC Gamers - 33 percent
Secondary Gamers - 22 percent
Avid Console Gamers - 20 percent
Mass Market Gamers - 15 percent
Casual Kid Gamers - 8 percent
Heavy Gamers - 2 percent

It comes as little surprise that the "hardcore" gamers remain smallest in number, and according to NPD, the market most willing to vote with their dollars for all things gaming. "Heavy gamers" after all purchased an average of 13.1 game titles over the past three months, compared to the 2 games purchased by "mass market gamers" and the 1.9 purchases made by "avid console gamers" over the same period of time. What may raise eyebrows however is NPD's assertion that the majority of "heavy gamers" is in fact comprised of children aged 6-17. Meanwhile the 18-34 year olds (which may be more in keeping with your view of "core" gamers) in fact populate the "avid PC gamer" market. The prevalence of younger gamers in the "Heavy" category makes more sense when you consider they tend to have less financial responsibilities.

While the gaming industry always stands to benefit from those with disponsable incomes, figuring out how to tap into the markets which are larger yet less involved will also be essential for growth:

According to [NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier], "Heavy gamers were more likely to come from mid to upper income ranges than from lower income groups, but also what is playing into the amount of games that they purchase is that they're choosing to spend money on gaming as opposed to other things they could be spending on.

"Heavy gamers have always been a focal segment for the games industry because they're so deeply invested in gaming," she said. "The potential for industry growth lies with the other, larger groups, and getting them increasingly involved in gaming over time.

"The real point here is that these less involved segments represent untapped potential. They don't need to become heavy gamers themselves to represent a growth opportunity to the industry. If you were looking at it as a scale, even moving them up the 'involvement scale' a little could provide industry growth, because there are just so many of these people."

Wolfwood via biz.gamedaily.com »