NPD: Females get in the gaming

PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK The NPD Group reported that according to a recent survey, the number of female gamers are is on the rise in 2009 compared to 2008, significantly among console gamers.

NPD examined game usage by looking at the following seven gamer segments as defined by ownership, usage and frequency:  console; secondary; online PC; avid PC; offline PC; heavy portable; and extreme.

Females increased by five percentage points among console gamers, from 23% in 2008 to 28% in 2009.  Since the rise in console usage among console gamers can be mainly attributed to the Wii, which increased in usage by 19 percentage points from last year, this underscores the finding that more females are using console systems, especially the Wii.

"Last year was one of the most transformative in history in terms of defining the audience for gaming, said Anita Frazier, industry analyst for The NPD Group. "Even with the increased competition from mobile and social network gaming, the console gamer segment added the most new participants to its ranks in the last year."

In terms of online game play, on average, 38% of gamers' time was spent playing a game online, with the rest being played offline.  This is flat when compared to the previous year, so despite focus of industry on more online game play opportunities, there is not that much of an increase in the number of  gamers taking advantage of it.