UPDATE: bunnyhero points out that IGN’s chart is completely botched. More complete update tomorrow.
Nielson published some interesting demographics on console gamers.
In the U.S., younger gamers under 27, play 360 a full five times as much as PS3, while adult gamers 27 and up prefer the PS3 by almost as large a margin.
Why? I’m hypothesizing that this is because young or more susceptible to ads, are more heavily influenced by peer behavior and trends, and the Xbox system and brand won over the younger audience early. Why do adults prefer PS3 so strongly? I’m admittedly a big PS3 fan, but I think most adults just see the PS3 as a much better value. The free online and free WiFi, the larger and more easily and cheaply upgradeable hard drives, the Blu-Ray movie capabilities, and the system reliability just make the PS3 a much better deal.
Any other thoughts on why there is such a strong age split between the two consoles?
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Written by: Darrin
- Contributing Editor
#1 by Paranoimia on June 5th, 2008
Older people have more common sense…?
#2 by Trev on June 5th, 2008 [ 24520 Points ]
the price. older people earn more money. fact.
and when you look at the pricing of the consoles the xbox core unit is a lot cheaper than the PS3. plus if you don’t know the differences between the two, outlined in the article (hard drives, online etc). then at first glance the xbox seems the better purchase.
#3 by John on June 5th, 2008
There is also Microsoft. Younger people have grown in a world where MS always existed, never did no evil, and where their favourite IM, mail and news are carried by MS websites.
#4 by Darrin on June 5th, 2008 [ 15187 Points ]
Good point. I think Microsoft has won over a younger wave of extremely brand-loyal Microsoft fanatics. I think evil is the wrong word. They have always tried to leverage Microsoft-developed standards and technologies and platforms over all markets which breeds some resentment. But that hasn’t changed.
What has changed is that Microsoft is a lot better at controlling public perception. All interviews are more carefully engineered, their media teams are better and understanding and influencing journalist interpretation, etc.
#5 by M on June 5th, 2008
Two things: 1) Blueray; but more importantly 2) Older crowd grew up on PS2 & stayed loyal to Sony. The younger crowd did not have that built in loyalty factor.
#6 by Segitz on June 5th, 2008 [ 1450 Points ]
This also explains (to some degree) the VERY offensive and venomous comments on many boards about videogames.
I am not defending the PS3 Fanboys here (there are enough idiots there too), but usually, the “blindfolded” comments are from 360 users… (again, there are many viral PS3 fanboys too).
#7 by hobbes on June 5th, 2008
hmm latest word is the adult numbers were incorrectly reported and should be reversed. I simply don’t believe this study, but hey, i personally hate the 360 and Guitar hero for good measure.
#8 by bunnyhero on June 5th, 2008 [ 1850 Points ]
yeah, the chart on the neilsen site has the 27+ row names reversed:
http://www.nielsen.com/consumer_insight/ci_story1.html
#9 by Rjcc on June 5th, 2008 [ 490 Points ]
hmm, I wonder what the reaction is now that numberts have been corrected?
the idea that “young kids don’t think of microsoft as evil”, or that that they were more susceptible to advertising was just silly to begin with. these are big companies, both of which spend a lot of money on advertising.
with the corrected numbers, we can see the fact is, microsoft has captured the hardcore gamer market, independent of age. you like playing games? the people who play the most in the U.S. seem to think the xbox 360 is the place to do it, and I don’t think advertising is the main reason.
#10 by hobbes on June 5th, 2008
could make the argument that “majority” of Americans are idiots here now. But hey, I’m an American, so yah.
MS knows how to market to Americans and what gets them into gaming. MS pevved me off by ignoring my old xbox games, and basically well, being MS. Majority of gamers don’t see that.
#11 by John on June 6th, 2008
Don’t be so quick to reverse the chart people, the Nielsen comment says “In contrast, PlayStation 3 logged the highest number of usage days (21+) among the 27 and older crowd, likely appealing not only to video gamers, but to tech-conscious, Blue-ray early adopters. Wii lagged on usage days with the older demo”
So IGN’s chart is probably the fixed one, and Nielsen messed up theirs, and the Nielsen comments make it obvious.
#12 by P5ycH0 on June 6th, 2008
When price is not an issue, people tend to buy the best.