The survey was based on responses from 498 U.S. gamers, aged 14 to 26 years old, plus two separate focus groups of hardcore gamers divided into one group of 14 to 18 years old and another aged 19 to 26.
Highlights of the survey results include the following:
* Heavy gamers tend to be males between 14 and 17-years-old who describe themselves as innovators or early-adopters when it comes to purchasing video and/or computer game hardware and software. They represent about 25% of youth gamers. Most (55 percent) have played video and/or computer games for 10 or more years and, on average, spend about 23 hours per week playing games.
* Light gamers tend to be older females, between the ages of 18 to 26, who largely fall into the late majority or laggard categories. They have played video and/or computer games, on average, for about six years and spend about eight hours per week on this activity.
* Teen and young adult gamers are satisfied with the current state of the video game market, rating the video game market, on average a 7 out of 10; however, only about two-in-five youth gamers (39 percent) gave a score between '8' and '10' on this scale, suggesting that there's substantial room for improvement.
* Youth gamers most appreciate the high-quality graphics featured in today's games. When asked about positive market trends, graphics, in some form, was mentioned the most.
* The growing variety of games ranked as the second highest positive trend; however, the variety for male gamers was clearly higher than for female respondents as 'lack of variety' by the older, female gamers still ranked near the top of the list of gamers' complaints.
* Early teens are still more likely to own a GameCube than mid-teens or young adults; however, younger gamers in Zanthus' focus groups proclaimed they would never purchase a Nintendo GameCube because they considered it "geared for little kids." This group uniformly regarded the PlayStation 2 and Xbox platforms as "more grown-up."
* Online gaming holds substantial appeal among youth gamers, but so far, few have pursued the option with any seriousness. Only 5 percent of the youth gamers surveyed currently subscribe to an online game that requires a monthly fee; however, 21 percent reported an interest in subscribing in the future.
* A substantial portion of youth gamers expressed an interest in potential future services. Sixty-one percent expressed interested in video-on-demand via a console and cable TV connection, and another 23 percent expressed an interest in a pay-to-play game service over the Internet.
