IDG Study Cites Devoted Gamers as Key to Profits

IDG Entertainment, publisher of magazines such as GamePro and Code Vault, has published a whitepaper on divisions in the game-buying audience which examines the habits of devoted gamers, social gamers, and casual gamers. The study has found that the devoted gamer segment is responsible for the majority of the game industry's earnings in the first half of 2005. Devoted gamers, who make up 41 percent of the overall game-buying population, accounted for 52 percent of the money spent on games in the first six months of the year. Social gamers, who make up 31 percent of the population, accounted for a more proportional 35 percent of spending, while casual gamers (28 percent) accounted for a scant 13 percent of spending. “This console cycle will be distinctively different from previous transitions,” said Daniel Orum, president of IDGE. “Our research indicates that dual console ownership is much more prevalent for the devoted and social gamer segments, which means the real hardware transition won't occur until PlayStation 3 launches next year. That said, with over 50 million current generation consoles in the market, a very robust environment exists for ongoing development of software titles, which was not the case in previous hardware transitions.”