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Nielsen GamePlay Metrics Out

Filed in gameplay metrics, in game ads, news, nielsen, July 29, 2007, 7:03 pm by Jeff

Nielsen has released its first set of “GamePlay” metrics [pdf]. Here’s a quick summary of what they included:

Console Usage Report Trend – June 2007

 

June
Console % of Total Mins Used # of Sessions During Days Played Avg Minutes Per Session
PlayStation 2 42.3 1.95 62
Xbox 17.0 2.17 62
Xbox 360 8.0 2.21 61
GameCube 5.8 1.76 55
Wii 4.0 1.78 57
PlayStation 3 1.5 1.95 83
Other 21.3 1.84 62
All 100.0 1.99 62

Console Usage Report Trend – May 2007

 

May
Console % of Total Mins Used # of Sessions During Days Played Avg Minutes Per Session
PlayStation 2 45.7 1.95 58
Xbox 15.1 2.03 53
Xbox 360 12.1 1.93 68
GameCube 6.9 1.71 57
Wii 3.0 1.70 52
PlayStation 3 1.3 1.66 58
Other 15.9 1.76 56
All 100.0 1.89 58

At first, these numbers were really surprising to me. I didn’t expect to see PS2 and Xbox so far ahead of the 360. But a quick check of console sales records at VG Chartz shows this is probably to be expected. PS2 has such a mammoth install base, that it’s only natural for that platform to have so many minutes.

But, let’s look at the other consoles as well. The most recent data on VG Chartz is from March, so it’s not ideal to compare the two, but it’s the best we can do for now. Here’s the American sales data from March next to the Nielsen data from May:

Console Mar-2007 Life to Date (LTD) Sales (America) May-2007 % of Total Mins Used
PlayStation 2 47.68M – 55% 45.7%
Xbox 16.42M – 19% 15.1%
Xbox 360 6.96M – 8% 12.1%
GameCube 12.81M – 15% 6.9%
Wii 2.37M – 3% 3.0%

LTD percentages are calculated against only the five consoles listed.

The Xbox 360 and GameCube differences are interesting. Why is the comparatively small install base of Xbox 360 responsible for twice as many gaming minutes? Does Nielsen monitor too few GameCube households? Was there a surge of 360 sales in April/May? Are Xbox 360 games more engaging? Did GameCube owners transition to the Wii during April/May? These and other explanations are plausible… It’s impossible to know exactly why this is.

What I’d like to see are console #’s in the Nielsen report. This would help us understand if oddities like this are a result of a skewed console distribution.

Sources: