Number of US gamers in 2012 declined by 5% - NPD report

NPD Group has released a report citing a decline in the number of gamers in the US during 2012.

According to the firm's Gamer Segmentation 2012: The New Faces of Gamers report, there are currently 211.5 million gamers in America, which is a 5% decline year-over-year

The report segments six types of gamers and the only segments to show an increase in gamers were the Mobile and Digital Gamer segments. Mobile Gamers are up to 22% and Digital Gamers are up 16% year-over-year.

Mobile Gamers also represent the largest segment, ahead of Core Gamers, which in 2011 was the largest segment.

"Given the long lifecycles of the current consoles and the increasing installed base of smartphones and tablets, it's not surprising to see a slight decline in the Core Gamer segment," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "It's the revenue contribution of the Core Gamer segment that continues to outpace all other segments, and remains vital to the future of the industry.

"While this study segments the gaming audience based on a number of key variables and attributes, looking across the total gaming audience we see a tremendous impact from mobile gaming, particularly on smartphones and tablets. Because of this, our next study, which will be released later this month, takes a deeper look into the area of mobile gaming."

The Family+Kid segment had the most significant decline of all segments with 17.4 million gamers less than in 2011.

Thanks, GI International.