James Brightman - November 28, 2008
As the video game industry dives headfirst into the all-important holiday shopping season, Penn Schoen Berland, a global research-based consultancy, has conducted an online survey of 1,049 American consumers from November 14-18 to examine the impact of the economic downturn on the video game sector.
On average, the U.S. consumer has set aside $500 for holiday spending, which is down six percent from 2007. Video games, however, are fourth on consumers' list of top 10 holiday gifts, and more importantly, video game consumers on average have budgeted about $200 more than the consumers in general, for a total holiday budget of $700. "While video game consumers are planning to spend more than general consumers, they too have tightened their checkbooks—by 5%," the firm further explained. "On average, video game consumers say they plan to budget about $100 for these types of gifts; 46% of video game consumers say they will spend $60 or less. Despite economic concerns, 3 in 4 video game consumers say they will spend at least as much money on video games as they did last year."
48 percent of video game consumers said they plan to purchase a console or handheld. So what video game systems will be in the most demand this holiday? Unsurprisingly, Nintendo's Wii leads the pack. 36 percent said they want to purchase a Wii and 28 percent picked the DS. The Xbox 360 also had strong representation with 29 percent saying they intend to pick up Microsoft's console. Sony's PS3, however, was way down at 19 percent, which was only two percent higher than PS2. The firm attributed this to the PS3's "heftier price tag."
It was also found that Nintendo systems resonate far better with the female audience, and those shopping for women are more likely to plan on purchasing a Nintendo system and much less likely to purchase an Xbox 360. Speaking of women, the survey also found that 39 percent of video game consumers plan to purchase games for women this holiday season. And of those who are purchasing for women, 57 percent said they will be buying games for girls under 13. This once again shows how the video game industry has truly expanded its audience.