Today's video game marketplace has continued to mature thanks to a large number of dedicated gamers and new interactive, online capabilities.

 

Research firms IDC (News - Alert) and IDG Entertainment have released findings from their latest video game marketplace research that indicates video games are increasingly being purchased in non-traditional ways, and have found unique characteristics of those purchasing the games.

 

According to research findings, subscriptions and downloads of games are increasing in popularity in the North American market.

 

Billy Pidgeon, IDC's program manager for games research noted, "By the end of 2007, over 31 percent of online capable video game consoles in North America will be in active online use by 14 million online console gamers. The increase in revenue derived from the online use of game consoles, including subscriptions (mostly Xbox LIVE), downloadable content, and advertising represents the largest growth in the console software sector. In North America alone, online console revenue will triple from $133 million in 2006 to $583 million in 2007."

 

Focusing more closely on the consumer sector, IDG Entertainment has also pointed to the fact that those consumers who are purchasing games today can be broken down into five key segments.

 

The segments, 'Core', 'Status', 'Social', 'Active' and 'Casual' gamers, each include unique social characteristics, purchasing habits and gamer levels.

 

These new findings and segment details offer a specific look at ways to best target gamers, especially as the holiday season nears.

 

IDGE's marketing director, Simon Tonner, commented, "As gaming becomes more interactive and mainstream, marketers need to understand what motivates these various gamer segments, how their tastes differ and what are they looking for when shopping for their next game or console."

"In the past 6 months alone, 'Status Gamers' have spent, on average, $296.20. On the opposite end of the spectrum, 'Casual Gamers' have spent $82.20 over the same time period."