Nielson: PS3 getting most play time out of new consoles?

xsynergyx | July 26, 2007 | News | Playstation 3 Wii

GamePlay Metrics shows that the Playstation 3 is getting the most attention through gamers and is being played the longest. The average session with a PS3 is 83 minutes in the month of June. The Xbox 360 is behind with 61 minutes and the Wii with only 57 minutes. GamePlay Metrics used data from the Nielsen's People Meter TV with the Nielsen GamePlay Metrics' proprietary audio signature to get these stats. They tracked 12,000 houses with about 33,000 people. Nonetheless, the PS2 still caught 42% of the total playtime on the PS3, as another article mentioned.

Nielsen just released their monthly GamePlay Metrics report, and it showed that PS3 owners use their consoles much longer than any other systems. The average session with a PS3 was 83 minutes in the month of June. In comparison, the average Xbox 360 session lasted 61 minutes, and the average Wii session lasted only 57 minutes. Could super-long Super Stardust HD play sessions be responsible for PS3's unusually long play time?

How did Nielsen get these numbers? According to their press release, "Nielsen GamePlay Metrics uses console data collected from the Nielsen's People Meter TV sample combined with Nielsen GamePlay Metrics' proprietary audio signature library that matches the unique audio signature of every game tracked on the six most widely available video game consoles, including PlayStation 2, PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii and GameCube. The GamePlay Metrics user sample includes more than 12,000 households with approximately 33,000 individuals."

News Story attached to:

PlayStation 3 Hardware [PS3]

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Comments

0 thumbs!
Storm | July 26, 2007

Wow, wonder what game got the hype for PS3 during June. Yeah, I don't play my 360 as much (but that's because of school lately), and the Wii can get rather boring unless you have a large group of people to play with.
0 thumbs!
dmf_dynasty | July 26, 2007

I haven't played my Wii since I beat Super Paper Mario, a while back. I played my PS3 for around 2 hours earlier today and it's been on for at least 4 hours trying to download the Heavenly Sword demo.
1 thumbs!
xsynergyx | July 26, 2007

I can see why the Wii has less playtime. It'll get boring after a certain amount of time, let alone tiring in some cases.
- -2 thumbs!
  Final Blade | July 27, 2007
  
  It just shows you if the other games will fall to the same fate.
0 thumbs!
Gogetenks | July 26, 2007

I still play my Wii quite regularly. My sessions with RE4 and a few other games I'm currently playing go way over an hour, very easily.

The results fit well with the demographics, however. The Wii has the most people in the non-gamer category, so that would likely lower the average playtime. The 360 is more towards the hardcore, but they are trying to broaden the audience which may be responsible for the significantly lower playtime then the PS3(less hardcore gamers). Lastly, you have to be a pretty damn hardcore gamer to spend $600 on a PS3.
0 thumbs!
bbb7002004 | July 26, 2007

Many of Wii's games, such as Wii Sports or Wario Ware, lend themselves to short bursts of playing. This information makes sense, even if the article left out the rest of what this survey entailed.
0 thumbs!
Krunal | July 26, 2007

I saw the article description, and the name of the source, and it just made me chuckle a bit. But I do believe the numbers are correct, as If I had a Wii, I dont seem my self playing it unless I had friends around, which as I live quite far away for my friends, I doubt would happen often. XBOX 360... well I guess it has as much appeal as PS3, just that me (and one of my best mates) are more of FF fans, which is a series that comes on the PS3, so all in all, I can see where the numbers are coming from.
-1 thumbs!
Evanster 69 | July 26, 2007

Congratulations to Sony on the PS3's success. You deserve it.
2 thumbs!
Guugley | July 27, 2007

People want to get the most out of what they've played for and you can't blame them. I actually found the PS2 was more addictive than the XBox when they were out a good few years ago.
0 thumbs!
Cdemon | July 27, 2007

I'm pretty sure the millions of games played between Halo 2 and Gears of War tells otherwise.
- -4 thumbs!
  Final Blade | July 27, 2007
  
  And what proof do you have to back up that statement.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Aggro | July 27, 2007
    
    Geez finalblade lay off. He's just doubting the accuracy of the report, which is understandable considering the relatively small sample size of only 12,000 households.
    
    Anyway, I wonder if this takes into account the PS3 users that have Folding@Home running on their PS3 all the time.
    - -4 thumbs!
      Final Blade | July 27, 2007
      
      I don't think so, i think it monitors games played but i could be wrong. And this is accurate, and where he state that in his Halo and gears otherwise post.
0 thumbs!
Armed Rebel | July 27, 2007

I know what Nielson is and how they conduct their tests? Their TV system works because everyone that uses it has a TV. Nielson has a whopping 33,000 people in this gaming test. That's easily less than .1% of ALL console owners, which can hardly be reliable.
0 thumbs!
Cdemon | July 27, 2007

Wow... you Sonybots are something else.

I stated that I'm pretty sure the millions of games logged in between the Halo beta, Gears of War and Halo 2 prove otherwise.

Grow up, finalblade.
2 thumbs!
bbb7002004 | July 27, 2007

This article only says that the average PS3 player plays the PS3 20 minutes longer per play session than 360 or Wii. That's it. This data has nothing to do with how good or bad a system is, or any success that the PS3 is or isn't having.

To begin with, this site, ps3fanboy.com, obviously an unbiased site, left out the vast majority of the information gathered by this group, because this fact seems to be positive for PS3. If you read the remainder of the servey, here, or in other articles around GameGrep, you see that the PS3 does have the longest play periods, but also less play periods a day and less players than any of the other consoles out, this or last gen.

quote article linked above
For the month of June, Nielsen says the PlayStation 2 accounted for 42.3 percent of play time on consoles, trouncing all other systems. The original Xbox was the next most frequently played system, representing 17 percent of the gamers' total play time for the month, followed by the Xbox 360 (8 percent), the GameCube (5.8 percent), the Wii (4 percent), and the PlayStation 3 (1.5 percent). The remaining play time--just over 21 percent of the whole--was divided between all other console systems.

The company is also tracking the number of daily play sessions each console gets, as well as the average length of those sittings. The Xbox 360 had the highest number of sessions on days when the system was played at all, with 2.21, while the PS3 had the fewest of the major consoles, with 1.88 sessions per day. However, those PS3 play sessions tended to be longer than any other system's, clocking in at 83 minutes a pop. The PS2 and original Xbox shared the next longest playtimes, with an average of 62 minutes per sitting, while the GameCube offered the briefest diversions at 55 minutes a session.
0 thumbs!
Light Warrior | July 27, 2007

To the Article: Like Cdemon said, I'd beg to differ with some of these other games they didn't take account for Xbox. I've played my Xbox a good 5-6 hours a day (Well at night).
-1 thumbs!
Solid Snake 4Life | July 28, 2007

Finalblade you are the biggest fanboy. You bitch if anyone badmouthes Sony. Also your sentences have no structure. Pass writing in elementary school. Also try to realize that Sony heads are not gods and then I bet people will take you seriously.
Also I don't trust Nielson. They have a very small percent of gamers in those tests. I have played the nintendo wii for 100+ hours since having it since Febuary and I still have fun. My friend with a 360 and ps3 play reguarly to so I would say it would be closer.
0 thumbs!
dxrocks_666 | July 28, 2007

to me thats a damn lie.I play my gamecube and Ps2 wayyy more than my ps3.
0 thumbs!
tidus04 | July 29, 2007

It is interesting too see, when reading this. With the games that the 360 have got out at the moment like GoW I though more people would be playing that online and that would be upping the percentages, not trying to make Sony's more time look better, but I guess it just must have the better games but then if there is less people playing the console compared to the likes of the Wii and 360 you just need a set people playing the console for as long compared to the others. I would say the 360 and Ps3 would be more even if the Ps3 had the same amount of consoles tested.