Fuzzy Math- the NPD says games>movies…?

From Overdos3.com

The NPD Group (you know, the guys who release the console sales lists I keep talking about on the podcast) released a study that said that “nearly two out of three Americans (63 percent) have played a video game in the past six months. While that level of penetration does not begin to compete with music listening, which is nearly universal (94 percent), it exceeds the percentage of U.S. consumers who report going out to the movies (53 percent), during that same time period.”

Gaming websites like Kotaku were quick to declare this a victory for the videogame industry… even if their articles did not elaborate as much on their opinions of what the study actually means.

While I hate to be the one to poo-poo the worth of this study, I do want to point out that this study only shows the results of the comparison between games and movie theaters. What is not factored in are the sales of DVDs and the number of other streams of revenue for the movie industry that contribute to the overall number of people watching movies.

In this study games benefit from the inclusion of digital download numbers and free-to-play game populations- one of the biggest divider between the movie industry and the games industry. If you read my first post on this site, then you may just remember that a big problem the videogame industry has is that games have to make their money within the first few months while movies have the sales of DVDs to boost their bottom line into perpetuity.

This study was also over the last six months… which means that it conveniently leaves out the busy summer blockbuster season.

Again, I am not trying to throw crap all over this report. I do, however, think that it is important for the videogame industry to not get too pleased with itself. This is a good number for the industry, but it must also be understood what this study really means, not just what it implies.

By the way, the study also mentions that 94 percent of people listened to music. That is a great number for the music industry, but I am pretty sure if you were to conduct the whole study on those terms then the number of people who have watched a movie would have been closer to 94 percent than 53 percent. I also think that if game publishers took a longer term strategy with their products then we may see more titles like Mario Kart or Wii Fit, that seem to be permanent fixtures on the top of videogame sales charts.

This study is a bit misleading, but it is still an interesting read. I really think it does more to remind people about the NPD Group than it does to inform us of any actual trends taking place.



References

http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_090520.html

http://kotaku.com/5263535/more-ameri...-to-the-movies