NPD August 2009

[Rolf N]

Huh, so can someone with more affinity to math calculate the actual total number of next-gen console owners in the US?

Wii+PS3 owners >= 3.44M
Wii+360 owners >= 7.00M
360+PS3 owners >= 2.86M

That's using 15.9M, 8.2M and 21.1M as LTDs for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii respectively.

The report doesn't disclose figures for triple ownership. The report doesn't even state whether or not triple ownership is included or excluded. Thus someone with a Wii and a PS3 and an Xbox 360 would count either towards all three dual-ownership groups (Wii+PS3, Wii+360 and PS3+360) or be not counted at all. That's why 1)you can infer only lower bounds from this data and 2)you should not start subtracting numbers from each other and expect to get meaningful results.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

This part is interesting and something I find mirrored in my personal real life experiences with PS3 and X360 households...

But there's something of a surprise on the Xbox 360, demonstrating Microsoft's all-ages push might be working: along with action/adventure games, Xbox 360's most popular offline genre is family-oriented gaming.

Not sure why but I find more X360 households with more focus towards family oriented gaming. Shooters and whatnot are still there, but quite a few use it extensively for family oriented gaming.

I'm don't know the reason for it. Parental controls? Does X360 have more family oriented games?

Regards,
SB

 

[makattack]

This part is interesting and something I find mirrored in my personal real life experiences with PS3 and X360 households...



Not sure why but I find more X360 households with more focus towards family oriented gaming. Shooters and whatnot are still there, but quite a few use it extensively for family oriented gaming.

I'm don't know the reason for it. Parental controls? Does X360 have more family oriented games?

Regards,
SB

I never knew this... if I had to guess, it's because of XBLA and the fact that you can have two tiers of service. One with online gaming (and the risks associated with your kids connecting with strangers on the internet) and one that disallows online gaming. Perhaps all the households using the XBox for family gaming are also silver members, who can still d/l inexpensive XBLA games without risking kids going online without being monitored.

 

[liolio]

It's also possible that xbox used for young family member are arcade/core. Ms may have succesfully manage to reach them as the arcade/core is the cheapest system available.
On top of it, bundles like the one I got offered may have helped too (I got, indiana lego + kun fu panda).
There were also Viva pinata ones and BK. But I would put the price as a more influencial factor.

 

[upnorthsox]

Licensed games, Guitar Hero, and Sports explains it all, anything else is just wishful thinking.

 

[AntShaw]

Licensed games, Guitar Hero, and Sports explains it all, anything else is just wishful thinking.

Every single one of those are multi platform.

Methinks it hinders on a combination of XBLA and the parental controls. Oh yeah, and cost of entry of console.

 

[Acert93]

Every single one of those are multi platform.

Methinks it hinders on a combination of XBLA and the parental controls. Oh yeah, and cost of entry of console.

Yet the 360 is a popular platform for multi-plat games.

 

[AntShaw]

Yet the 360 is a popular platform for multi-plat games.

OK. But why does that make 360's family oriented gaming it's biggest offline genre?

 

[AzBat]

I agree that the low cost of entry & pay for online-play has some merit for contributing to family oriented gaming. It does in my house. I'm the only one who has a Gold account. I don't have to worry about my kids getting online & chatting/playing with strangers. But the great thing about the 360 is I can create child silver accounts for my older kids & manage what games they play, how long they play, how they interact with people, adding friends, block out online purchases & how they view video content. There is a LOT of control. But the ability to not have a hard drive is the best barrier against them doing something they're not suppose to do. No hard drive, no live.

Tommy McClain

 

[AlNom]

I thought the sales of the rhythm games were heavily in favour of Wii.

 

[ErnstH]

But the ability to not have a hard drive is the best barrier against them doing something they're not suppose to do. No hard drive, no live.

Another raison d'être for the Arcade SKU.

 

[bbot]

Happy to see PS3 succeeding.

 

[patsu]

Parental control is separate from online subscription tier. They are orthogonal concepts.

You can disallow someone from playing a violent game (SP and MP) with parental control. There are 11 levels of parental control that maps to different rating systems in the world.

You can also set the access level of a subaccount. e.g., My kid's account prohibits going online.

There is no money or subscription involved in both schemes.


As for family oriented games, they are certainly available on PS3 as well.

 

[AzBat]

Another raison d'être for the Arcade SKU.

Exactly.

As far as a selling point, I do see the family controls video being touted on amazon and whattheyplay but I have no clue if the majority of people actually use them. I would be willing to wager, no.

Agreed. But I believe the lack of hard drive on the entry model & requiring a paid subscription to play against strangers does have the interesting side benefit of being more kid friendly.

Parental control is separate from online subscription tier. They are orthogonal concepts.

You can disallow someone from playing a violent game (SP and MP) with parental control. There are 11 levels of parental control that maps to different rating systems in the world.

You can also set the access level of a subaccount. e.g., My kid's account prohibits going online.

There is no money or subscription involved in both schemes.

On both consoles a kid could create their own online ID, but with the Xbox there's the added barrier that they have to _pay_ to play online. If the parents don't pay for the subscription their kids are not getting online. There's then no requirement for a parent to actually go through the process of setting up the child accounts or restrictions. From a parent's POV there's a certain consolation in that.

Tommy McClain

 

[patsu]

On both consoles a kid could create their own online ID, but with the Xbox there's the added barrier that they have to _pay_ to play online. If the parents don't pay for the subscription their kids are not getting online. There's then no requirement for a parent to actually go through the process of setting up the child accounts or restrictions. From a parent's POV there's a certain consolation in that.

The kid can just buy an XBL pre-paid card himself right ? Money is not a good mechanism to restrict access.

Going through the process of setting up child account provides addition protection beyond online gaming. It is the proper mechanism for parental control. If it's broken, you can complain to the platform holders to fix it.

 

[AzBat]

The kid can just buy a Xbox pre-paid card himself right ? Money is not a good mechanism to restrict access.

Going through the process of setting up child account provides addition protection beyond online gaming. It is the proper mechanism for parental control.

I agree on both points. Though it may not be a good replacement for good parenting, it is still an added barrier that can't be ignored. It still requires a kid to have the money and then also requires that he/she actually go to a store and buy one. That's a lot a hassle that wouldn't be necessary on the PS3.

Tommy McClain

 

[obonicus]

I thought the sales of the rhythm games were heavily in favour of Wii.

Last year they were. Probably this year too.

But that sentence doesn't pit family-oriented (whatever that is) gaming against family-oriented gaming on other consoles in any absolute sense. It pits it against other genres within the limited spectrum of 'offline gaming', and even then the article only ties it to action/adventure (a ridiculously broad genre too). We don't even know whether 'family-oriented games' sell well on 360 (though you have to imagine they do).

Most of what we know is that the genre is more successful on 360 than PS3 (and even then we have no idea by how much), but given the price difference up until a month ago, it's sorta crazy to try and say the difference is because Live's non-free online is a positive to families, at least until we see a study saying that.

 

[patsu]

I agree on both points. Though it may not be a good replacement for good parenting, it is still an added barrier that can't be ignored. It still requires a kid to have the money and then also requires that he/she actually go to a store and buy one. That's a lot a hassle that wouldn't be necessary on the PS3.

Yes, suit yourself. There are free XBL points promos. Without the parental control, one can buy and/or watch R-rated movies from the eStore. I don't see setting up the parental control scheme as a hassle. It's a parent's responsibility.

I am using the parental control to lock him out. But I do allow him to go online selectively (using mom's account) because online can be beneficial to him as well.

 

[ShadowRunner]

Do you not still get a month free gold membership every time you create a new account? I used to create a new account each month instead of paying

Nintendo hasnt driven parents away because of thier free online, infact they actively encourage it in thier adverts like the mario kart one. Im sure if there was any evidence to say families prefer to pay for online nintendo would happily oblige

I would say its down to price primarily and possibly the size of the userbase. As the userbase grows it would naturaly skew away from core gamers towards casuals and families. At 10mil users hardcore gamers make the majority, at 100mil the more casual gamers / families will be the majority.