According to a new report from NPD, digital gaming (i.e. "not retail" gaming) is on the rise, with "digital gamers" gaining headway against "core gamers" in two categories. Specifically, digital gamers spend sixteen hours gaming per week, as compared to the eighteen hours spent by the core. Digital gamers actually purchase more games, pulling in 5.9 games over the last three months, while their core brethren brought home 5.4 in the same period. Meanwhile, both groups are actually hefty acquirers of downloadable games, with downloadable titles accounting for more than a third of overall game purchases.
The question, then, is what exactly separates the two demographics? After all, it looks like they share fairly similar habits, according to the numbers. We turned to NPD's David Riley, who explained that core gamers as defined by NPD are "very engaged across all systems, especially consoles" and have "higher use of Xbox 360 and PS3 than all other segments." When it comes to digital purchases, core gamers are more likely to buy add-on content than full games.
Digital gamers, on the other hand, "are engaged in a variety of gaming, from PC to mobile, console to portable, online and offline." They also have the "highest number of digital games acquired" and particularly enjoy the immediacy of downloadable purchases.
Still, it's clear that there's some crossover between demographics, something that seems to be recognized by NPD itself. Citing the growth of mobile and tablet gaming, NPD's Anita Frazier notes, "what a game is and what it means to be a gamer is evolving, reflecting the rapid nature of change within the industry."
