Teens Losing Interest In Gaming?

Survey firm Piper Jaffrey has results saying that teenagers are losing interest in videogaming. From the Gamasutra article: "Interestingly, almost 80 percent of teens indicated that they intend to spend less time playing video games in 2006 and nearly 70 percent indicated that their interest in playing video games is decreasing." What do you think could be causing this drop in interest from young people? Sequels? Mature themes? Sequels?

Comments

Re:Are they being honest?

[The-Bus]

As is expected, this is a usual cut-and-paste from a press release with little to no analysis. As alarming as this may sound, I believe the parent poster is correct. I'm going to guess that a large majority of teens also "intend to" exercise more, watch their health, and do better in school.

Anyway, let's take a look at some past Piper Jaffray survey results:

Percent of surveyed student households that have at least one video game platform
Q1 2006: 81%
Q3 2005: 79%
Q1 2005: 76%
Q3 2004: 81%
Q1 2004: N/A

Percentage of students state who state they are occasional game players (playing at least monthly)
Q1 2006: 59%
Q3 2005: 58%
Q1 2005: 49%
Q3 2004: 54%
Q1 2004: N/A

Now, this is only over a two-year period, but correct me if I'm wrong, I'm seeing a (possible) slight increase in the number of occasional game players and a somewhat steady number of households with at least one video game platform.

I didn't look for their past surveys so I don't know what the mindset was in 2003 and earlier.

To me, it doesn't look like anything is moving. Also, bear in mind just because you spend less time playing games doesn't mean you're going to buy less games: it could just mean you're playing each game less.

Add all this to the fact that Piper Jaffray seems more interested in where teens are buying shoes that I am ready to write this off as non-news.

Card games syphoning time away?

[Hellboy0101]

I have a 9 year old (I know he's not a teenager) that would easily rather play Yugi-Oh or Vs than just about any game out there. I have been carting him to tournaments and events for the last six months or so to see crowds swelling from about 10 or 15 to 50 or 60 players. Not just kids either. By far the largest groups are 15-20 year olds, and not your stereotypical D&D or other tabletop type players either. The GenCon Yugi Oh event last year pulled in a few hundred players, and in Vs., you can win some big money playing the Pro Circuit.