Extreme gamers play nearly 50 hours per week
Research from The NPD Group suggests 4% of US gamers play for almost 2 full days per week
New research from The NPD Group suggests that almost 4 per cent of the total US gaming population play videogames for over two full days per week.
According to the research firm - which also collates the official monthly hardware and software sales data for the region's industry - "Extreme" gamers spend 48.5 hours at their hobby, while overall, those aged 2 years and older play for 13 hours per week.
That's up from 12.3 hours in 2009, with console gaming hours rising 9 per cent and PC hours rising 6 per cent - although portable games play fell by 16 per cent.
The average age of gamers also rose again, from 31 last year to 32 this year, suggesting that current gamers are continuing to play as they get older.
In terms of age, the oldest segmentation of gamers were "Avid PC Gamers" and "Offline PC Gamers" - taking 11 and 8 per cent of the total population respectively - and clocking in at an average of 42 years old.
"With these kinds of shifts in the composition of the gaming consumer and changes in gaming behaviour, it’s clear that the need to understand gamers and their purchase patterns remains critical information to those that develop, market and sell games," said Anita Frazier, analyst with The NPD Group.