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Games Entertainment

A Third of Console Owners are Adults 100

Posted by Zonk from the just-a-third dept.
A Reuters story points out something that's probably not much of a shock to readers here: almost a third of console owners are 'adults'. This, from a study done by Nielsen, indicates that 37% of adults who go online own a videogame console. 16% own a portable game console. These aren't basement-dwelling rejects, either. Most of these individuals are married, and a full 66 percent have a child. The article suggests the increasing sophistication of the systems, as well as their new role as media center components, has added to the cachet of the console. "Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. are positioning their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles as entertainment hubs for gaming, music and photo viewing amid a fierce battle for dominance in the $30 billion global video- game market."
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A Third of Console Owners are Adults More

A Third of Console Owners are Adults

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  • Umm, no. (Score:5, Funny)

    by geoffspear ( 692508 ) on Thursday March 15, 2007 @11:41AM (#18363919) Homepage
    A survey recently found that 100% of adults who go online breathe oxygen. Therefore, 100% of oxygen breathers are adults.

  • The article suggests the increasing sophistication of the systems, as well as their new role as media center components, has added to the cachet of the console.

    Media center components? New role? Games are media. Consoles are components. The person who wrote the article is an asshat.

    And in any case, that is a SERIOUSLY new role, unless you're talking about using them as a DVD player, and otherwise doesn't even bear mentioning - and isn't a new role either, considering how old the PS2 is now.

    • Media center components? New role? Games are media. Consoles are components. The person who wrote the article is an asshat.

      Are you sure they aren't a rectal-cranial-covering synergistic value-add?
      • I hate you.
        .
        .
        .
        you just proved I've been in the industry too long as I was able to read that without any form of parsing.
        Now I have to burn down my building and get a job with the construction/cleanup crew.
        -nB

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by amuro98 ( 461673 )
      Sony has been plugging the PS3 as a blu-ray player, and Microsoft offers a HD-DVD add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 in addition to its ability to act as a streaming client if you're running the proper version of Windows on your PC.

      Basically, both Sony and Microsoft want you to use your game console for more than just games.

      • Sony has been plugging the PS3 as a blu-ray player, and Microsoft offers a HD-DVD add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 in addition to its ability to act as a streaming client if you're running the proper version of Windows on your PC. Basically, both Sony and Microsoft want you to use your game console for more than just games.

        The PS2 and Xbox are both DVD players. So tell me again in what way this is new. Hint: it isn't. Only the resolution (and price) has (have) changed.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sqlrob ( 173498 )
        Basically, both Sony and Microsoft want you to use your game console for more than just games.

        And that's been one of the factors in my decision to give up on this generation. Sorry, I care about games on it, anything else is a liability, or at the very least not considered.

    • Re:Buh? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by moonsammy ( 65351 ) on Thursday March 15, 2007 @12:03PM (#18364349)
      The notion that the increased sophistication and "media center" uses of new consoles are driving factors in larger numbers of adults owning them is silly. The reason more adults own consoles is the inevitability of aging - I loved playing console games as a kid, and now I'm an adult. I didn't suddenly start buying them because they got to the point of being fancy enough, I kept buying them as I got older.

      It's like saying in the mid-fifties that most rock and roll listeners are kids / teens, and then acting surprised when 10 years later the audience for rock and roll is "suddenly" composed of more adults, many of whom even have kids! Shocking!
      • Sort of like being shocked that my 75+ year old dad likes recordings of old radio shows from when he was a kid. Absolutely shocking!

        I sometimes like playing old Apple games on emulators. I'm waiting for the "Adults playing on emulators" article.
      • The notion that the increased sophistication and "media center" uses of new consoles are driving factors in larger numbers of adults owning them is silly.

        In no way is that silly. That's actually insightful. I'm one of those adult console owners who actually uses my PS2 (PS3 is coming this weekend) as part of my "media center". I use my PS2 for movies, music, AND games. That's part of the reason I would never buy a Wii (no DVD or audio CD playback at all) or an XBox (crappy DVD playback).

        • Re:No way (Score:4, Insightful)

          by 7Prime ( 871679 ) on Thursday March 15, 2007 @12:47PM (#18365065) Homepage Journal
          Wait a minute... let me get this straight, you already have a DVD player that you love (PS2), but you won't buy a Wii simply because it won't get you ANOTHER DVD player? Now I'm very confused.

          Simply sounds like you've got hate in your heart, so let it all out: these are the things I can do without.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by DogDude ( 805747 )
            Well, the whole thing is that I need one device that does everything. When I get the PS3, the PS2 is probably going away for good. Real estate is very pricey around where I live, so if I can have one box that takes the place of 3 boxes, that's a really good thing. Space is tight. And of course, there's also the simplicity aspect. Most people have 14 different remote controls, and you have to use about 5 of them just to get the TV on, switched over to aux input, switch the stereo over to aux 2, yadda, y

            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              by prockcore ( 543967 )
              A Wii and a DVD player take up less space than a PS3. By far. And you need a controller + remote anyway. Controlling DVDs with a PS2 controller is tedious and my wife can't do it.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by 7Prime ( 871679 )
                Agreed. I use a PS2 for playing back DVDs, and I'll admit, "it works", but not very well. It's combersomb as hell. I love going and watching movies on my friends' 360, because it has a really nice DVD playback system, that doesn't require you to memorize strange button fuctions, and is much more flexible to use. Now, I have no doubt that the PS3s DVD playback system kicks the shit out the the PS2s, but I'm not about to pay $600 for it.

                I can't wait until Nintendo finally puts DVD player software on their onl

                • Re: (Score:1)

                  by nbehary ( 140745 )
                  Has something changed? From what I've read, Nintendo has always said that they will not offer a software DVD player for the Wii. Only that it may come in a future hardware revision. (i don't see either why it can't now. It may be the drive has now way to swtich modes to read a standard DVD rather than the funky GC and Wii discs)

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by 7Prime ( 871679 )
                    Except that Wii discs are DVDs, as GC discs are simply mini-DVDs. They're not like a GigaDisc, or some kind of wholy propriatary format. It's more like PlayStation CDs or PS2 DVDs... same format, just with a little tag on the beginning that basicaly says "I am not a CD-R".

                    If I remember correctly, with the PS1/2 this was done by putting a series of little gaps in the track near the inside edge that, when read by a normal CD/DVD player, appeared to be deep scratches. You could copy them just fine (by turning

                    • Re: (Score:1)

                      by nbehary ( 140745 )
                      Thought I replied to this long ago, but see now that I haven't......it isn't spun backwards, they are read out-to-in instead of in-to-out.......otherwise, yes, the discs are identical.....the trick is getting the drive to "read" backwards.......

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by macwhiz ( 134202 )

              ...or you just get a decent universal remote, like a Philips Pronto [philips.com], and make your life simple without sacrificing quality...

              They aren't cheap, but good things never are. I have an early model Pronto, and it works great. You can program it for pretty much anything, and because it's a touchscreen there's no worry that it won't have the buttons you need.

              Best part is that you can set up macros. My Pronto's main screen just has a list: Watch TV, Watch DVD, Play PS2, Play Wii...

              When I touch "Play PS2"

      • It may not look like big news to you or me, but look at how many people act surprised that an adult can play video games even on Slashdot. People grew up with the notion that video games are for kids, and some just don't want to let go of that notion.

        Plus, western culture -- and indeed any culture -- has certain age-roles that an upstanding member of society must fit. You're supposed to do something from age X to age Y, then something completely different between ages Y and Z, and then change your interests

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Omestes ( 471991 )

          Plus, western culture -- and indeed any culture -- has certain age-roles that an upstanding member of society must fit. You're supposed to do something from age X to age Y, then something completely different between ages Y and Z, and then change your interests completely again at age Z. E.g., ou're supposed to grow up on, say, hopscotch and cowboys-and-indians, then suddenly shun them when you reach a certain age, just because you're told it would be soo unfashionable to be seen doing that as an adult. So

    • The article is from Reuters. For tech and especially video game reporters "asshat" and "clueless" are part of the job description.

  • kids can afford consoles? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by darkuncle ( 4925 ) <darkuncle@darkun[ ].net ['cle' in gap]> on Thursday March 15, 2007 @11:42AM (#18363941) Homepage
    I'm scratching my head over the two-thirds of console owners that _aren't_ adults - what kid can afford $150-$500 for a console? I suppose if you define "owner" to include "recipient of a gift paid for by someone else", I could see those numbers being fairly accurate. I know when I was a kid, it would have taken almost 6 months' worth of allowance to acquire even a previous-gen console (PS2, Gamecube, Xbox), not to mention games and accessories. Even when I had a "real job" in high school, by the time I got done paying for gas and car insurance, it would have taken a lot of saving to come up with a console.

    • I'm scratching my head over the two-thirds of console owners that _aren't_ adults - what kid can afford $150-$500 for a console?
      My son saved up for almost two years to buy a PS2. He started when he was six and got it just after his seventh birthday.

      His allowance, BTW, was $6 per week.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by kennedy ( 18142 )
        $6?!?!

        Why back in MY day - allowance was $1/week! *grumble* damn kids today... if i were pulling in $6/week at age 6.... ;)

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by 7Prime ( 871679 )
          Yeah, but way back when you were a kid (1920s?), $1 was like $30 now! You spoiled little brat!
        • OT, but who cares?

          My kids get a dollar a week for each year of age. Six years old == six dollars. Out of their allowances, they have to pay for most school activities and supplies that other parents typically pay for themselves (within reason. Construction paper for a craft project? Buy it yourself. Field trip to the museuem? Pay or don't go. As an added bonus, for every dollar they put in the bank, I match fifty cents.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by kennedy ( 18142 )
            dude - i was just trying to be funny. hence the wink at the end of my post.

            you should uncomment out humord in your startup scripts. it'll make life that much better.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by @madeus ( 24818 )

            Field trip to the museuem? Pay or don't go.

            Secret option (c) move to a civilized country where you don't have to pay to visit museums? ;)

            More seriously, while this seems like a good way of teaching him how to manage money, the actual value of what you are giving them is really low given they have to use it to for things like day trips and paper for craft work - and that can be counter productive (I'm speaking from my own experience, where my parents judged pocket money very poorly so despite my parents being well off I got very pocket money so it w

            • You have some real good points.

              I know you were joking, but the museum and paper examples are not at all representative. Just the first things that popped into my head.

              More realistically, my boy gets offered a choice in most things. If he doesn't want to take his lunch to school (generally whatever he wants), he can buy it from the hot lunch caterer. I won't buy candy. At all. But he can if he wants to. That kind of thing.

              The fact that he saved up his money specifically for a PS2 for such a long time made

              • Re: (Score:1)

                by @madeus ( 24818 )
                The fact that he saved up his money specifically for a PS2 for such a long time made me quite proud.

                Yeah, that's pretty awesome.

                The most I manage to save for is typically about two months, fortunately I have a bunch of disposable income and that's enough for most gadgets, it's pretty pathetic for a grown up though.

                I'm an only child, and my dad has passed away already (in his 50's), my ultimate retirement plan is basically "inherit the house" (though I have my own place in London), which is not actually to
                • Okay, to get even more off topic...

                  I'm curious now as to how much houses go for in the UK. My elderly mother lives in a smallish-average size house about 50 years old, 1700 sq ft (160 sq meters), 3 bedroom. Real estate varies wildly in the US, but this is a small middle-class, suburbish town outside a major city and it would sell for about $350,000.

                  What's it like on your side of the pond?

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by @madeus ( 24818 )
                    Sounds maybe not unsimiler to my old mum's situation. She's in a modest three bedroom house, a bit over a hundred years old, (w/ dining room - couldn't be more accuate size wise), small garden, double garage (my dad used to like fixing cars). Location wise, it's 30 miles north or south to nearby cities (Aberdeen and Dundee (the origional ones! :-) - so both pretty reasonable sized cities for the UK, Some commute the 30 miles (hard to say if it's better or worse commute than in would be in the US, it's dual
        • WAAAAYYY back in my youth, I skipped my milk money to pad my allowance.. (so 1 dollar a week for allowance, plus 35 cents a day for milk).. Made quite a mint during Pre-K through 3rd. (by then my milk train was cut). But by then I was selling candy and other trinkets to my class mates and doing research for teachers. (sometimes I miss grade school).

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by amuro98 ( 461673 )
      Well, kids nowadays get much more in allowance, so it's not entirely impossible for them to buy larger ticket items by themselves.

      However, I think the study is assuming "ownership" to mean "primary user", regardless of who actually paid for the item.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Skadet ( 528657 )

      I suppose if you define "owner" to include "recipient of a gift paid for by someone else", I could see those numbers being fairly accurate.
      You posted quickly without thinking. How is being the "recipient of a gift" relevant? (by definition, a gift to you is something you didn't pay for)

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by darkuncle ( 4925 )
        I should have been more clear - "I suppose if you define 'owner' to include both those that purchased the item themselves and those that received it as a gift" ...

        --
        "That is a sort of errant pedantry up with which I will not put." -- Winston Churchill

    • It can be explained by the fact that slashdot editors can't fucking read or do math and Zonk somehow read "37% of adults online own consoles" as "a third of console owners are adults".
    • I suppose if you define "owner" to include "recipient of a gift paid for by someone else", I could see those numbers being fairly accurate.

      How the hell else would you consider a recipient of a gift paid for by someone else?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by 3247 ( 161794 )

      I know when I was a kid, it would have taken almost 6 months' worth of allowance to acquire even a previous-gen console (PS2, Gamecube, Xbox), not to mention games and accessories.
      Isn't that what birthdays are for (including birthday and re-birthdays of religious founders)?
  • 37% of adults who go online own a videogame console.

    So shouldn't the headline read "A third of all adults own a console"?

  • imho (Score:5, Insightful)

    by badenglishihave ( 944178 ) on Thursday March 15, 2007 @11:54AM (#18364197) Homepage
    This article might have more relevance if it was discussing the "primary users", not "owners" of consoles.
    • Considering that a whole third of them don't have kids, I'd say it's fairly safe to say that at least in those households there must be an adult who's using the console. I mean, if you bought and own a console, and you don't have kids of your own, then it's probably not for the neighbour's kid, right? The neighbours might get a tad nervous if their kid was at an adult's house all the time ;)
    • Well, a third of them have no children, and 16% own a portable, and are therefore likely "the primary user".
  • Do adults that have bought consoles for their children not consider themselves as owners of a game console? Are the children the owners? If 66% of the adults that have a console also have a child, I submit that those 66% actually bought it for their child. So, I'd say only about 13% of adults are console *users* (at least exclusively in the household). Anyway IMO all such studies are total rubbish and seem to rely on bogus phrasing to make total BS seem plausible.

    • If 66% of the adults that have a console also have a child, I submit that those 66% actually bought it for their child.

      Why? The Atari and Nintendo generation are now old enough to have kids. I have kids and I bought the console for myself, not them.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Sciros ( 986030 )
      Also, the study says that the Wii sells for $250, which is "half the price of the high-end Xbox 360." Bollocks it is. $250 is half the prices of the low-end PS3. The high-end 360 is $400 if you're lazy, and $300 if you buy it at Micro Center ($100 rebate offer that's been on-off for the last 6-8 months).

      This is really lame journalism.
    • My console is about 6 years older than my child. I can assure you that I didn't buy it for her.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sciros ( 986030 )
        I said 13% not 0%, or are you alone a representative sample of the internet-visiting adult population :-P
        • You got that 13% by assuming that every adult who owns a console and has a child bought the console for that child. I'm nopt claiming to be a representative sample, I'm claiming to be one counterexample which proves that your premise is a load of crap and your grasp of statistics is almost as lacking as Zonk's.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Sciros ( 986030 )
            Hehe well since I was just pulling numbers out my arse to make a general point I don't really care what you think of my grasp of statistics. I still claim that most of the adults that said they had children and owned a game console had the game console so that their children could [also] play it. Those with consoles older than the kids are likely a minority. Also, I don't know what sort of statistician Zonk is so I don't really understand your comparison of me to him.

            Not to mention that my 13% was me swag

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by miyako ( 632510 )
      There are also a lot of parents who buy the consoles "for their kids" but play them as well. Often times it's easier for the parent to justify buying it for the kid than forking over the money for a system for themselves (especially since an adult with kids might not have the time to play the conosle themselves to justify the cost of the newer gen consoles).
      I do agree that it seems absolutely nonsensical to think that there are parents who own game consoles, and their kids don't play the games at all.

  • A Reuters story points out something that's probably not much of a shock to readers here: almost a third of console owners are 'adults'.

    Another person probably beat me to this, but adults are the technical owners of the console since they bought it with their money. Unless a non-adult saved up enough allowance to buy one, it's usually the parent that buys the product.

    Most likely, the survey meant that a third of console users are adults - which isn't suprising anyway since there's bound to be a game an adu

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Skidge ( 316075 )

      Most likely, the survey meant that a third of console users are adults
      What it really means is that just over a third of adults who go online own a console. That's something completely different from what the slashdot headline says.
    • but adults are the technical owners of the console since they bought it with their money.

      I don't know about how it works with adult to child relationships where the adult is the guardian of the child. But your statement definitely isn't true about other situations. If one adult gives another adult a gift, then the recipient of the gift is now the owner of the item. For example, if you give someone a car one day just because you're happy then it becomes theirs. If a month later you decide you couldn't re
      • That depends on whether or not you can get judge judy to believe that it was a loan and not a gift. Many judges would be kind of skeptical when someone says they got a 2000 gift from a friend, and aren't giving the money back. If you took the person to court, said the gift was actually a loan, then you may actually get something back out or the situation.

  • One detail left out (Score:5, Funny)

    by Hoi Polloi ( 522990 ) on Thursday March 15, 2007 @12:05PM (#18364387) Journal
    But they also found that a third of these adults act like children online.

  • DUH (Score:4, Informative)

    by hurfy ( 735314 ) on Thursday March 15, 2007 @12:28PM (#18364749)
    Even tho that is not what the article says......

    Someone thinks all the people dropping $250 bucks or more at a time on entertainment are kids?

    Lies, damn lies and statistics

    37% of ADULTS who go ONLINE have a console. That says little about how many kids vs adults have a console or even how many adults have one for that matter.

  • The article doesn't say "a third of console owners are adults." It says "a third of adults who go online own consoles."
  • 'Scuse my french, but No Fucking Shit. I played video games when I was in elementary school, middle school and high school, and probably most of all college. Now that I have a real job and I can afford all the rockin' toys I always wanted as a kid but couldn't afford, why the fuck would I want to stop playing all of a sudden?

    Hell, me and my buddies will drive in from out of state to hang out all weekend for events like superbowl sunday just to play games together like Gears of War (2 vs 2) till our

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by 7Prime ( 871679 )
      Yeah, no shit. This is identical to the notion that Rock & Roll was for kids during the 50s, or drugs were for kids during the 60s. Now everyone listens to loud music and smokes weed, we all know that!

      No, but seriously, I think it's good that these statisics continue to penatrate the mainstream media, as it continues to break down the sentimates that video games are not a legitiment form of entertainment. There will always be nay-sayers, but their voices will become more burried when the masses realize
      • Continuing along those lines, that reasoning is basically why I feel that all those "when will society accept games as an artform" articles that /. has every few days are basically just gamers/developers masturbating their ego.

        It can be really hard to change a person's opinion about something within their deeper cultural identity or whatever. But society as a whole experiences constant rolling change, as people enter(are born, grow up) and leave (get old, die). Video games are an important part of the lives

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by 7Prime ( 871679 )

          Continuing along those lines, that reasoning is basically why I feel that all those "when will society accept games as an artform" articles that /. has every few days are basically just gamers/developers masturbating their ego.

          I don't quite understand your reasoning here... if anything, the more people that question the artistic merit of video games, the faster wide-spread acceptance will be. I think it's a really really good question and a really good sign that we're starting to see it popping up so much

          • I disagree. Acceptance of video games is not a function of convincing people that it's art. It's more a matter of people growing up with them and being comfortable with them.

            Some of the older people that I work with certainly don't believe that computers are bad or wrong or evil, but whether they're intimidated or confused or just disinterested...they're not going to take the time to learn them and become comfortable with them.

            That hasn't stopped computers from becoming ubiquitous, and taking a central role
  • So wait, all of us basement-dwelling rejects were not included in this detailed "study?"

  • Hey editor, RTFA (Score:3, Funny)

    by ucblockhead ( 63650 ) on Thursday March 15, 2007 @01:05PM (#18365287) Homepage Journal
    No, it does not say a third of all console owners are adults. It says 37% of all adults who are online have consoles.

    Jesus Christ, the article is barely longer than the summary...you'd think you guys could actually parse the damn thing.
    • Well, there's the issue that they got the entire target of the statistic wrong, and there's the issue that they apparently think 37% is "almost a third"... *whimper*...
  • I bought the Wii, xBox, and GameCube. My son bought a PS2 and some of the older consoles himself.

    We both use them - mostly the Wii nowadays, but sometimes the PS2 or xBox.
  • 1) The title doesn't even match the text summary. 1/3 of console owners are adults vs. 1/3 of all adults online own a console. Big difference. I was trying to figure out how they could find out that the kid "owns" the console rather than their parents.

    2) These aren't basement-dwelling rejects, either. Seriously, of all places, hasn't Slashdot moved way beyond this stereotype? I'd like to smack the person upside the head that wrote this. What next? Are you going to tell us women aren't dumb and shoul
  • Using the stats given on the "Everybody Votes Channel" for the Wii, I've been able to go back and figure out the percentage of people using male and female avatars for voting on that. It turns out that about 75% of Wii users are male and 25% are female [deadhobosociety.com].

    No breakdown by age though, but I think that's interesting in light of Nintendo's strategy of pulling in new gamers.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hal2814 ( 725639 )
      Looking at the avatars is a good way to judge the sex of the actual user because you're required by law to choose an avatar that matches your sex. Oh wait a minute...
      • I addressed that in the thing. With Miis, people are more likely to choose avatars that look like themselves, since the point of a Mii is to put yourself into the game. Besides, even if there were a non-random bias toward Miis of different gender than oneself, do you think it would inflate or deflate the percentage of women reportedly using the system? I think it would tend to inflate it, since in other online games, men play using female avatars. (Of course, one reason for this is to get "eye candy" while

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by hal2814 ( 725639 )
          You don't really address it in any verifiable way. You just brush the issue aside with conjecture based on personal opinion. That's the only reason I give you a hard time here.
  • Pick one: A) You must be new here. B) It's slashdot, you should be used to this by now.

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