NPD revises gaming-survey stats

Industry-tracking group clarifies announcement that 72 percent of US are gamers, says actual number closer to 59 percent.

Yesterday, the NPD Group released some nuggets of information gleaned from its 2008 report on online gaming. The industry-watching firm placed special emphasis on one figure when it headlined a press release with the news that, "an all-time high of 72 percent of the US population reports that they play games."

Now it turns out that figure isn't really accurate. An NPD representative contacted media outlets to clarify its previous report, saying that the 72 percent figure applies only to the US population between the ages of 6 and 44. The reported figures for the amount of respondents who play online games--42 percent, up from 40 percent for the year prior--also applies only to the 6-44 age bracket.

In the original press release, the NPD stated that its data was based on the online-survey results of 20,240 consumer-panel members assessing the gaming habits of people aged 2 and older. In today's clarification, the actual percentage of gamers among that age group is listed as 59 percent. Among those gamers, 56 percent of them play online.

24 Comments

  • puppiemaster

    Posted Apr 5, 2008 3:52 am PT

    What about the 100M southerners that live in shacks and cant read or write, they play loads of games, they don't own a console or computer, but they still play with each other

  • eViL_kA

    Posted Apr 4, 2008 1:11 pm PT

    Everybody thinks they're a "gamer" now-a-days, however, as soon as you start mentioning some games(past & present), they give you a blank look unless it's Halo you're talking about. try again NPD.

  • necronaux

    Posted Apr 4, 2008 10:16 am PT

    These stats and reports are always off. They'll always skew the figures to favor whatever point they're trying to make. I frequently submit / complete survey's for NPD, and I can't understand HOW do they get stats for game play for 2 year olds.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Apr 4, 2008 9:57 am PT

    so asking 20,000 people out of 303,000,000 nation wide gives an accurate number? hmmm dont think so.

    from wikepedia:
    Based on a population clock maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau, the current U.S. population, as of 17:04 GMT (EST+5) April 01, 2008 is 303,755,27

  • redskinStu

    Posted Apr 4, 2008 8:23 am PT

    That 42 per cent still seems a little high to me. I think they're padding it.

  • jmartin1016

    Posted Apr 4, 2008 5:51 am PT

    That sounds more accurate. I saw the story yesterday and my jaw hit the floor in disbelief. It will be 10 years before we get to 72% penetration.

  • Viral-venom13

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 8:59 pm PT

    Since we're all gamers i guess like the rapper Akon sayz......."We Taking Ovaaaa!!!"

  • darknferno12

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 8:37 pm PT

    72% did seem high if your counting everyone in the U.S. that would mean we would have a lot of casual, closet gamers and you would have to count people who've played a game once, seen a game, or know someone who plays (maybe i'm exaggerating) but this does seem right and 6-44 is still a big group

  • Gruug

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 8:27 pm PT

    What that survey "correction" says is that they missed a lot of gamers. There are a lot of gamers aged 44+. So, that makes 72% a bit low.

  • ganon546

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 8:06 pm PT

    O well doesn't really matter what the exact percent is because I think we all know that gaming has become an extremely popular hobby.

  • Bgrngod

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 7:53 pm PT

    Let's be honest now.. if you aren't betwen 6 and 44, who really cares? Amiright?

  • AlphaHawkP

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 7:21 pm PT

    Uh. I kinda don't really see the importance of this poll. I mean it's nice to have a percentage number to refer to and all, but does it really matter?

  • cattymeat357

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 6:48 pm PT

    yeah this would mean middle aged people and some elderly people play video games noooooooooooooooo! not going to happen. The NPD is about has accurate as bush assuming theres weapons of mass destruction in Iraq!

  • nate1222

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 6:43 pm PT

    At this point, I rarely entertain these polls. It's like FOX News, Glen Beck or those "anylists". These people get paid (a nice little chunk, at that) to spew stats that are rarely accurate. Sometimes, it's best to just 'unplug' from these little 'insider' groups. They're less often about informing us, and more often about the interests of their insider cronies.

  • the_monkey_god

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 6:16 pm PT

    Ah who cares!

  • KingTuttle

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 5:41 pm PT

    I used to work for a market research firm...people please...this is about as accurate as the information gleaned in political poling. It's garbage. I am going to give you a number that "could" very well be as accurate as this. 37%. Seriously the data can be skewed on so many levels its ridiculous. Let's hear more about this so called "consumer-panel".

  • glitchgeeman

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 5:40 pm PT

    Well, it's still a very impressive number. Besides, 6-44 is a pretty wide bracket of ages considering that's the majority of gamers right there.

  • bschroth

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 5:34 pm PT

    I still think if you wanna make games bad enough, you'll find a way.

  • CoricidinDXM

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 5:23 pm PT

    I suspected 72% was a bit of an inflated number. Still though, 42% of everyone thats enormous... Gaming has come a long way, I still wish we could go back to the golden age though. Lower development costs enabled a couple people with a dream to do big things, something not even possible it today's market.

  • VenomRitual

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 5:14 pm PT

    so is it 72% or 42%?

  • Nova_Mongoose

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 5:14 pm PT

    Not that this changes much. 72 percent in that age bracket is huge.

  • luckystar23

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 5:08 pm PT

    I thought this was gonna be about the 90% of online players doing so on pc...

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