Gaming is King of Online Entertainment

A study done by the market research firm Parks Associates shows that online games are the biggest draw for internet-based entertainment. Online games, including MMOGs, casual games, and free-to-play virtual worlds, had a bigger draw even that social networking sites or YouTube. Some 34% of US internet consumers played online games at least once a week in the second quarter of 2007. "Furthermore, the number of people playing games online seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. Parks' research found that the year-over-year growth rate for frequent online gamers was 79 percent, which easily trumps the growth rate for users of social networking (46 percent). That said, the growth rate for frequent users of video streaming sites was a whopping 123 percent, and that 'could pose a significant challenge to the gaming industry in capturing the online leisure time of Internet users,' Parks cautioned."

Comments

Casual vs. MMO Gaming, Please.

[Rachel Lucid]

I want to see the breakdown between Casual Gaming (like Miniclip) versus MMO's (Warcraft). I don't see hardcore gaming being as big as Youtube, but a quick click game doesn't sound farfetched.

Re:Casual vs. MMO Gaming, Please.

[d0rp]

Well after just skimming over TFA, it looks like the study was time based, so of course MMO's are going to rank high, as the people playing them generally spend a lot of time doing so. People watching YouTube (in general) are not spending as many hours per day watching video clips as people are raiding to get their phat epic loots.

Seems questionable.

[Jartan]

That said, the growth rate for frequent users of video streaming sites was a whopping 123 percent, and that 'could pose a significant challenge to the gaming industry in capturing the online leisure time of Internet users,' Parks cautioned."

This comment makes me want to question the entire study. Sure everyone including grandma is watching youtube these days but it's not like people go there and watch 1 minute clips for hours and hours. It sounds like they ignored time spent on an activity completely.

I can't fathom how that would change the numbers but it seems like something they shouldn't of ignored.

Re:What about Porn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't believe the hype. How many people do you know whose primary leisure activity is porn? Do you, personally, spend more time looking at porn than playing video games, or reading books, or watching TV? Can you imagine the sheer boredom of watching porn for the 2-3 hours every single day that most people spend watching TV?

Sure, porn is big business... but the idea that it could be the most popular form of entertainment, even on the Internet, is flat-out silly.

It's all about money

[the dark hero]

I play an MMO (EVE) while browsing social networks, watching videos(myspace/youtube)and instant messaging my friends all at once...ad-free. Besides paying for the MMO or buying the latest expansion for my favorite online games, how do they plan to squeeze an extra penny from people like me?