Poll shows Japanese online gaming habits

Japan's largest online survey provider, Goo Research, today released the results of its Third Broadband Content Usage Survey. The survey was conducted in collaboration with Mitsubishi Research Institute and NTT Resonant Inc., and polled individuals regarding their online gaming habits.

Of the more than 40,000 responses factored into the results, 37.9 percent said they had tried online games, with each player participating in two games on average. Furthermore, 23.7 percent said they played every day, while over half played once a week or more. Dormant users, who once played but haven't done so recently, accounted for 23.3 percent of respondents.

As for means of access, 35.2 percent said they played online using a personal computer, 13.7 percent through a cellular phone, 8.6 percent on a game console, and 6.7 percent with a portable gaming device, such as a PSP.

Table and card games were the most popular genre of participants, being enjoyed by 41.6 percent of participants. Role-playing games were the next most popular at 36.4 percent, while puzzle games were close behind with 33.6 percent. When asked what genres they wanted to try next, 29.1 percent replied they wanted to check out online training/parenting simulations.

However, Japanese gamers proved pretty tightfisted when it came to shelling out for game fees and extra items. Nearly 70 percent of respondents stated they used games that were completely free. Only 17.7 percent played games that had a monthly subscription fee, and a mere 8.0 percent were willing to play games that charged them to purchase items. Furthermore, of those who play this last type of game, 17.4 percent said they never actually purchased items, choosing to make do with whatever was available in the game for no fees.

While cheating, game exploits, and real-money trading have hurt a number of online games, few respondents admitted to taking part in such dealings. Of those surveyed, only a few indicated they had participated in real-money trading, reverse engineering of game programs, data modification, or other such mischief. Less then 10 percent of the survey group expressed any interest in attempting such illicit procedures in the future, leading the survey's authors to conclude that potential troublemakers will be limited to a small subset of the total users.

As for the potential for growth in this market, almost half the respondents who hadn't tried online games said this was because they had no interest in games in general. Of the remainder, 32.5 percent stated that paying the fees was a hassle, while 27 percent simply didn't know that much about them. Furthermore, those who responded said they had little interest in trying online gaming in the future, 30 percent indicated they would try them if the security conditions were right.