Apparently, people are forgetting about their PS3s. A new report by Nielsen has detailed that usage minutes for the Playstation 3 are down since last year, but usage of Xbox 360 has gone up. The PlayStation 2 is still the most played console, though its usage minutes have decreased quite a bit as well. The report notes, "Trending data suggests by the end of 2009, the PlayStation 2 will no longer be the most used console in the United States."
Nielsen used its network of TV-monitoring devices that they normally use to track primetime television to follow the videogaming patterns of 17,000 users over the year. It's actually a pretty interesting report, if you're willing to wade through its technical language. They found that:
- Xbox usage is down, but still about twice that of the PS3.
- Xbox 360 has about twice as many usage minutes as Xbox.
- Usage of the Wii has gone way up, along with GameCube usage, which is particularly puzzling. This could be tracking GameCube games played on the Wii, which would definitely make more sense than people suddenly feeling nostalgia for their purple cubes.
- The most active group of gamers is males between 12 and 17 years old.
- PS3 gamers are older than any other console gamers.
- Xbox 360 has the highest number of "average usage days."
- Wii/GameCube players use their consoles the least number of days per week.
Also, hilariously, Solitaire for Windows is the most played game, with 17 million users in December 2008.
Check out the full report here (PDF).
[ via Spong ]
