Survey of the Game Industry

[01.28.03]

IDSA Report Sheds Light On Game Purchasing Habits

The Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA), released results of a recent poll that shows that consumer spending will probably keep the game industry growing throughout 2003.

According to the poll, which was conducted this month for the IDSA by KRC Research, 41% of all Americans, and almost two-thirds (63%) of parents, said that they plan to purchase at least one game this year. In addition, a majority of Americans (56%) under the age of 45 plan to buy at least one computer or video game this year; while 37% of 45 to 54 year olds, and 26% of adults ages 55 to 64, also plan to buy at least one game this year.

The IDSA report peered further into NPD’s recent year-end industry report, revealing that sales of console games in the U.S. totaled $5.5 billion (80% of the market) while PC games accounted for $1.4 billion in sales. According to Doug Lowenstein of the IDSA, console sales accounted for 65% of all game sales just five years ago.

When analyzing game ratings, games rated "E" for "Everyone" were the most prevelant (55.7%), followed by "Teen" (T) rated games (27.6%), and by "Mature" (M) rated games (13.2%). Of the top 20 best-selling console games, 80% were rated E or T, while 90% of the top 20 PC games were rated either E or T.

Hot console games genres were action (25.1%), sports (19.5 %), and racing titles (16.6%), followed by edutainment (7.6%), role-playing games (7.4%), fighting games (6.4%), first person shooters (5.5%), and adventure games (5.1%).

Hot PC game genres were strategy games (27.4%), children's games (15.9%) and FPS games (11.5%), followed by family entertainment titles (9.6%), role-playing games (8%), sports titles (6.3%), racing (4.4%), simulation (4.1%), and fighting games (0.1%).