NPD: Free, mobile gamers outnumber all other segments in US

Industry tracking firm The NPD Group has released findings from its latest Gamer Segmentation study, concluding that the "Free & Mobile" gamer segment represents the largest group of gamers in the United States.

Based on an online survey of 8,831 individuals, The NPD Group found that 29 percent were free and mobile gamers, up 2 percent from last year.

A group described as "Avoid Omni Gamers" (frequent gamers who play on multiple systems) was the only other segment to experience growth, increasing "slightly" to represent 16 percent of total gamer population in the US.

The remaining segments, Casual Gamer, Core Console Gamer, Family Gamer, and Social Gamer, either decreased or remained unchanged for the year.

"Growth among both the Free & Mobile Gamer and Avid Omni Gamer segments speaks to the different types of gamer personalities, the type of experiences they are looking for and the growing opportunities provided by different gaming capable devices," NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan said in a statement.

The report also found that Core Console Gamers report playing on the most systems--an average of five--with the Xbox 360 being the most popular. In addition, this group spends more money across physical and digital games compared to other groups, according to the report.