Online game purchases 'undisrupted' by economy

The NPD Group has released details of its latest study into online gaming habits, based on the results of questions put to over 18,000 members of the public in the US in January, which indicates a solid base that has been relatively unaffected by the wider economic conditions.

Online Gaming 2010 results suggested that while the total number of people playing games online fell slightly year-on-year (from 56 per cent to 54 per cent), the average number of hours spent playing online was up from 7.3 hours per week to 8.0 hours per week.

Additionally, the number of games purchased online was also up slightly, from 19 per cent last year to 20 per cent this year, while the PC is still the most-used platform when it comes to online gaming - it accounted for 85 per cent of the total audience for all online activities.

"While the percentage of the population that reports playing games has declined slightly, this study details other metrics which point to both stability and growth in both online and offline gaming," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst at The NPD Group.

"The installed base of videogame systems continues to grow, the platforms available to play games continue to expand, and the options for content acquisition have never been greater, especially online - and yet, effective monetisation of many forms of online gaming continues to be a topic of much debate and discussion within the industry."

Meanwhile, of the non-PC platforms, the Xbox 360 accounted for the highest number of online console gamers with 48 per cent, while the PlayStation 3 and Wii were roughly equal on around 30 per cent each.