25 million US gamers played music games in April

A new report based on research conducted by Interpret has claimed that during the month of April, 25 million people played music or singing games in the US.

Additionally, the report states that people who play music games are "the most engaged consumers of music through a number of different channels," and recommends that the music industry - already bewitched by the spell of Rock Band, Guitar Hero, SingStar and the like - should look to showcase new talent even more through games.

According to the report's statistics 29 per cent of music gamers had downloaded or streamed a music video in the past three months, compared to 15 per cent overall, while 45 per cent listened to music via a social network versus 32 per cent overall.

Meanwhile music gamers purchased 67 per cent more CDs than an average consumer, and was twice as likely to download music through legal channels.

"The insights found in these studies hold important implications for game developer and publishers, technology companies, and media companies," said Michael Cai, head of Interpret's videogame practice.

A second report issued by the company focusing on the PC games market found that "23 per cent of all gamers still rely on PC-based games as a primary means of gaming, feeling that the experience provided by the PC was superior to anything that could be provided by a console based game," also noting that the keyboard and mouse combination allowed users the most efficient method of communication, when compared to other controllers.