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NPD shares their definition of "core gamers", estimates 34 million in the US
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Wouldn't this NPD number also be useless when it comes to measuring core gamers since it includes enthusiasts as well?
AcademicSaucer
Member
Nintendo gamers non-hardcore confirmed
Coffee Dog
Banned
You're an enthusiast, a niche so small it's barely even worth recognizing. Congratulations.
CassidyIzABeast
Member
hardcore gaffer, casual gamer
chickdigger802
Banned
i feel like the only game i can do this are open world ones these days oddly enough... or a jrpg that i really care for.
It kind of is. Fire Emblem tho? Well they did add a "casual" difficulty to the last one!
They did. The "core" gamer demographic is shrinking, according to NPD's definition. Along with the now obvious Nintendo exclusion, this is the most important take away from this data, if we take anything away at all.
You can join the rest of us in the camp of casuals, alongside those who play on their iPhones on the way home from work and dudes who play Madden for a couple of hours a week.
Might need to hand in my Neogaf membership card, I'm not core enough. Sorry to all you guys who spend all your time on your Vita as well, guess you need to find a new home.
At least fighting games got a mention somehow.
SeventhSon
Member
Bro gamers count, Nintendo gamers don't? Did I read that right?
DragonSworne
Banned
The number of Nintendo only gamers than can be considered core gamers that don't overlap with PS/Xbox owners is probably too low to care.
I put in tons of hours in on my 3DS, but I also have a PS3 and Xbox 360 so I covered in the survey.
I put in tons of hours in on my 3DS, but I also have a PS3 and Xbox 360 so I covered in the survey.
Some Nobody
Junior Member
I'm not core enough right now, under either definition. (22hrs or 5). Ask me again after a game I care about is on the market.
flatearthpandas
Member
So RPGs are hardcore, but RPG beast systems are not hardcore?
Spieler Eins
Member
I don't think you could even have a proper conversation about videogames with quite a big chunk of these 34 mil.
Melchiah
Member
I guess I'm not a core gamer then, as I often keep weeks, sometimes even a month, of gaming breaks if nothing of interest is released. Just now I've been on a break for two weeks. Although, when an interesting and lengthy game is released, I often play 5-7 hours per evening, for several days in a row.
Could be it that the demographic shrunk mostly/entirely due to Nintendo's exclusion?
fredrancour
Member
NPD's job is to give businesses useful information. If the people who make CoD wannabes or GTA wannabes feel that they have a decent shot at selling to intense madden fans, it's in everybody's best interest to count them.
The stereotypical fifa/madden/etc player in Gaf's imagination is somebody who really likes the sport and buys the game mainly out of love for the sport but shelves it quickly, or resells it to rot in bargain bin hell when the next year's game comes out.
This is probably not true, because the people who do this are probably excluded by the criteria's time-commitment metric.
The 3DS was the best selling platform last year. Even if numbers are dwindling they are far from "niche", Nintendo's and handhelds exclusion make no sense.
The_Darkest_Red
Member
Just look at this thread. GAF is so casual it's downright embarrassing.
Why?
ScottSullivan
Member
5 hours a week actually seems like a pretty reasonable cutoff. I'd consider myself a "Core" game I guess, but I've been so busy lately I haven't been hitting that mark, and I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of games
Wreck-It Ralph
Member
I don't know if I spend 5 hours playing games every week, but I sure spend at least that much time talking about them on the internet. Does that count?
Coffee Dog
Banned
Just because you're not a core gamer doesnt make you a casual gamer.
Siglemic, and other people who dedicate that much time to the hobby, are an enthusiast niche that is almost entirely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
I don't believe in restrictions of platforms, games or genres that could define core gamers. If you play a game supposedly developed for casual gamers, but want to collect everything, reach max levels and play that for, say 5 hours a week, I still think those people could fit into a core audience.
The_Darkest_Red
Member
Depends. Are you discussing Nintendo games?
I wonder how much that number would go up if they included Nintendo platforms.
If that's mostly on handheld, then no you are not a hardcore gamer. Sorry broski.
Nintendo home consoles don't count either, apparently.
In March of 2013, NPD released this report which states that there were 37.5 million core gamers in the U.S. This is the definition of core gamer that they used:
Ok, as a Mac user (it's one of the reasons I game on consoles 
), I find it amusing that Mac is included in the definition but not Nintendo.
Honestly, sadly enough, I bet anything that they just simply forgot about Nintendo than purposely excluded them (either way that's pretty sad for Nintendo. Actually, that's worse for Nintendo cause it really shows how irrelevant they've become when a company trying to define your usual gamer simply forgets they exist when they are the only company that is dedicated to gaming of the ones listed. And one of those companies was dead set against their computer being a game machine *cough* Mac/Steve Jobs *cough*).
), I find it amusing that Mac is included in the definition but not Nintendo.Honestly, sadly enough, I bet anything that they just simply forgot about Nintendo than purposely excluded them (either way that's pretty sad for Nintendo. Actually, that's worse for Nintendo cause it really shows how irrelevant they've become when a company trying to define your usual gamer simply forgets they exist when they are the only company that is dedicated to gaming of the ones listed. And one of those companies was dead set against their computer being a game machine *cough* Mac/Steve Jobs *cough*).
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Wait, what the fuck? Ninty doesn't count?
I guess I'm casual
I guess I'm casual
I'm lucky to average 5 hours a month anymore.
As for 22 hours a week, I blame those damn 12-year-olds and their CoD.
See, that's the thing.
Personally I think "core gamers" shouldn't be defined by how much they play, but instead how much they know about the world of gaming. People who can name who the developer of a specific game is. People who can sum up the gaming news of the week. People who talk about gaming on the internet every day. THOSE people I would call "core gamers" regardless of how much they play.
I'm actually not sure if that's an unpopular opinion. It probably is. I just don't see someone who only plays COD and the occassional EA sports game every now and then as a "core gamer" if he doesn't know much about what's happening in the industry.
Platformers are my favourite genre, I do most of my gaming on a vita (where I mostly play the platformer Spelunky), I also play Nintendo systems, I don't play on Microsoft consoles or PCs/Mac at all, I don't usually reach 5 hours a week on my PS3 and it's extremely rare I play for 22 hours a week.
I'm either the lowliest casual or have ascended beyond being a mere "core gamer" to a become a higher being.
I'm either the lowliest casual or have ascended beyond being a mere "core gamer" to a become a higher being.
Nah, I'm sorry but thats silly. Maybe if you want to define who is a "hardcore gamer" for your own purposes thats ok, but for what NPD is trying to achieve with their definition, that'd be silly.
Graphics Horse
Member
I prefer to avoid the term altogether, but I don't think a knowledge of the industry should have anything to do with it. I'd call that a videogame industry enthusiast, of which there are many here.
Yeah, what Llama said. The thing some of you are forgetting is that this is for business purposes. They're trying to identify and number a market of consumers.
As some of you are very well aware, a lot of the Nintendo fans don't exactly consume third party products voraciously, nor does Nintendo itself exactly court them. The more I think about it, the more and more their definition makes sense for their purposes.