Core gamers game 18 hours a week – NPD

Core gamers game for on average 18 hours a week, according to US stat tracking company NPD.

They bought an average of 5.4 games over the last three months, NPD said in a new report.

The report claims digital gamers, which are different to core gamers, are catching core gamers up. Digital gamers spend 16 hours a week gaming, and bought an average of 5.9 games for any system or device over the past three months.

So, how did NPD come up with its numbers?

It collected data from February to March this year from 8214 respondents aged two and above. The data is weighted and representative of the US population ages two and older, NPD said.

But how does it define core gamers? And how does it define digital gamers? It doesn't say.

We do know core gamers represent the highest number of gamers (23 per cent), though, followed by family and kid gamers (22 per cent), then "avid PC gamers" and "light PC gamers, both of which claim 15 per cent.

Mobile gamers and digital Gamers bring up the rear.

"The name of the game in 2011 seems to be choice," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said.

"Gamers are increasingly branching out to methods of play other than those that the industry has traditionally expected them to use.

"Fuelled by the growth of smartphones and new tablet devices, mobile gaming continues to accelerate, and what a game is and what it means to be a gamer is evolving, reflecting the rapid nature of change within the industry."

Which type of gamer are you?