PC gaming’s not a fringe activity anymore, according to the latest figures from NPD, based on a survey of over 6,000 people. The information firm’s latest report, Understanding PC Gaming: 2014, shows that 37 percent of the US population over the age of 8 plays PC games for an average of 6.4 hours per week. The report identifies three segments of gamers based on the types of games they play and the number of hours played: Heavy Core, Light Core, and Casual. Heavy Core gamers play core games for five or more hours per week, while Light Core gamers still enjoy core games, but do so for less than five hours a week, and Casual gamers only play non-core games. (In order to qualify as a core gamer, respondents had to currently play Action/Adventure, Fighting, Flight, Massively Multi-Player (MMO), Racing, Real Time Strategy, Role-Playing, Shooter, or Sport games on a PC/Mac.)

Casual gamers are the largest segment with 56 percent, while light core gamers are at 24 percent and core gamers are at 20 percent. As you might expect, the core gamers not only spend far more hours playing games, they also spend more money – roughly twice as much money in the past three months on games than the casual PC gamers.

“As with gaming consumers across all platforms, the PC Gamer is not a ubiquitous group, making it critical for anyone in the PC game space to understand the consumer segments and their respective behaviors,” said Liam Callahan, industry analyst, The NPD Group.

NPD reported that PC gamers are just as likely to be men (51 percent) as they are women (49 percent). They tend to be older, with an average age of 38 years, and affluent, with an average household income of $69k. Gender differences become apparent by type of gamer: Heavy Core and Light Core are comprised mainly of men while Casual PC gamers are overwhelmingly female.

Over the past year, 46 percent of PC gamers have visited a site to make a digital purchase. Interestingly, gamers buying digital games are far less likely than those buying physical games to pay full price for a title. In fact, half of all PC gamers have grown accustomed to waiting for a sale before making a purchase. Those Steam sales seem to be having a noticeable effect on what consumers are willing to pay for games.

“Consumers’ expectations may be the greatest barrier to maximizing spending in the PC gaming space,” said Callahan. “Since half of PC gamers who play digital and/or physical games on the computer are expecting there to always be a sale right around the corner, publishers and retailers alike need to better manage these expectations,” said Callahan.

Source: NPD