Wii Owners Play Console Least, Says Nielsen

[John Funk]

Wii Owners Play Console Least, Says Nielsen

A Nielsen survey has found that the Wii is the least played console not only of this generation, but of the two most recent generations.

Sales may be in a slump thanks to that pesky recession thing I've been hearing about lately, but just because gamers aren't buying games doesn't mean they're not playing them. In fact, a report by Nielsen Games (via IndustryGamer [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/wii-has-fewest-percentage-of-active-users-says-nielsen/] indicates just the opposite - gamers are playing more games this summer than they did last year, with June seeing a 21% year-on-year increase in minutes played.

The official chart, on the other hand, is rather interesting, showing the percentage of use that every console gets. Unsurprisingly, the Xbox 360 is in the lead, followed by the PlayStation 3. What is surprising at first is how far the current market leader - that is, the Nintendo Wii - is behind the pack. Percentage-wise, fewer people spent time with their Wii than they did with the original Xbox, the PS2, or even its own predecessor, the GameCube.

Kind of boggles the mind for a moment, right? On the other hand, think about it - it's a percentage, and by this point practically every gamer's mother has a Wii. A low percentage doesn't necessarily mean a low amount of total minutes played, especially given the massive install base that the Wii enjoys. Take a look at this chart [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/images/display/59083], which breaks it down by gender, and we see that the Wii has many more total minutes played than the GameCube, Xbox, and PS3, while roughly equaling the 360 and PS2.

Nielsen's report indicates that what was once the next generation is now entirely the current generation - the PS3, 360, and Wii accounted for 50% of all minutes played, the last generation consoles (PS2, Xbox, GameCube) made up 31% of the total, and older consoles (SNES, PS1, N64) filled in the remaining 19%.

(Via VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2009/08/11/nielsen-says-wii-has-fewest-percentage-of-active-users/])

Permalink

 

[Da Joz]

Maybe nintendo will give up gimmicks and start concentrating on making more than just a handful of top notch games?

 

[HardRockSamurai]

It figures. "Casual" and "Neglect" are two words with very little in common; that is, until Nintendo brought them together.

 

[Proteus214]

And it's so true. We've had a Wii in the apartment since launch and we use our Sega Dreamcast more often. It's pretty sad now that I think about it.

 

[Radeonx]

I think that the game developers that plan on making Wii games should add the option of using either a remote or a controller, instead of sometimes only working with a remote. I was turned off by a lot of games because of how irritating it was to spend hours flailing my arms around.

 

[Curtmiester]

This man is smart. And right.

 

[walls of cetepedes]

It figures. "Casual" and "Neglect" are two words with very little in common; that is, until Nintendo brought them together.

I'm laughing at that statement. Thank you.

What was that massive dip for the xboxes in may?

 

[Doug]

It figures. "Casual" and "Neglect" are two words with very little in common; that is, until Nintendo brought them together.

I'm laughing at that statement. Thank you.

What was that massive dip for the xboxes in may?

Not sure, but if you look, the PS2 and Wii have similar dips around the same time - something on TV, maybe? Or holiday season?

 

[hansari]

This man is smart. And right.

I thought this article was stating the obvious?

 

[walls of cetepedes]

It figures. "Casual" and "Neglect" are two words with very little in common; that is, until Nintendo brought them together.

I'm laughing at that statement. Thank you.

What was that massive dip for the xboxes in may?

Not sure, but if you look, the PS2 and Wii have similar dips around the same time - something on TV, maybe? Or holiday season?

I know they do, I was just wondering why the dips were that much bigger for the Xboxes.

 

[Doug]

It figures. "Casual" and "Neglect" are two words with very little in common; that is, until Nintendo brought them together.

I'm laughing at that statement. Thank you.

What was that massive dip for the xboxes in may?

Not sure, but if you look, the PS2 and Wii have similar dips around the same time - something on TV, maybe? Or holiday season?

I know they do, I was just wondering why the dips were that much bigger for the Xboxes.

To me, the PS2 drop looks almost the same, frankly. That said, given the XBox 360 was already at the top of the list, it might be that they had more time to cut back on for whatever reason.

 

[TheAmazingTGIF]

Well surprise, surprise.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Yeah well, it's a common held belief that the Wii is for casual players. And casual players play less. Therefore the Wii gets less use. Which I would join in the "told ya so"s, but fact is game and console makers don't get paid more if you play more. So pandering to the casuals is still a good business decision.

Also on an interesting side note that wasn't talked about in this article, girls spend twice as much time with the Wii as boys. So this means,

A.) Girls tire of casual games slower

0r,

B.) That girls play more casual games.

And it's kind of sad that the PS2 gets more play time than the PS3. But wait, the PS3 has more active users. Now I'm confused. Maybe if someone could tell me what an "active" user is I might understand.

 

[Kiutu]

And fish swim in water? Isnt that part of the definition of casual gamer? Casually playing?

 

[Curtmiester]

This man is smart. And right.

I thought this article was stating the obvious?

Doesn't mean it's not smart.

 

[celladoth]

Im not sure about that statistic, personaly I love that little white paperwate (as i say with moderate affection...because if i had said extream affection my sexual orientation might come into Question) but placing all jokes aside my oppinion is that the wii is a wonderful gameing system that attemts to re-introduce physical activity to a large population that is either supperglued to there seats or have little to no muscle mass and a direct result of with is with the players or said gaming system going out of the house more often than they did previously. either that or they are simply casual wii gamers and spend most of there waking hours playing other systems. Im realy hoping its the former but i cant say i would be too disapointed if the latter statement was more accuate.

befor you say it i am NOT a wii enthusiest nor am i trying to push it on anyone, i am simply long winded. but i do like the wii more than most others aside from the Play Station ver 1

 

[walls of cetepedes]

It figures. "Casual" and "Neglect" are two words with very little in common; that is, until Nintendo brought them together.

I'm laughing at that statement. Thank you.

What was that massive dip for the xboxes in may?

Not sure, but if you look, the PS2 and Wii have similar dips around the same time - something on TV, maybe? Or holiday season?

I know they do, I was just wondering why the dips were that much bigger for the Xboxes.

To me, the PS2 drop looks almost the same, frankly. That said, given the XBox 360 was already at the top of the list, it might be that they had more time to cut back on for whatever reason.

The PS2 drop is tiny... are you sure you're getting the colours right?

 

[BustaNinja]

If anything, the Wii has made people really notice good games. I got a Wii, thinking it would be the coolest thing under the sun, and I'm now an avid PC gamer, while me Wii sits dormant accept for when my sister wants to play Wii sports or my little annoying cousins want to make Miis. Its simply not a gaming system.

 

[PhantomCritic]

Figures. I never play my Wii anymore. Of course, that may be because I own all three consoles and play my new 360 the most. (Wii is oldest.)

 

[crooked_ferret]

yes, I have to say those numbers don't surprise me in the least.
Though I'm curious where pc would rate on that chart, I'm guessing around the ps3 level maybe more. While PC has a smaller audience right now than the xbox, I think the PC gamers are in general more avid spending more time online.

Just speculation but I figure the WoW players alone probably account for more than total Wii use.