According to a new NPD report, gamers spend the most time online via the Xbox 360 compared to rival consoles, averaging 7.3 hours per week.
PC gamers came in second at 6.6 hours per week, and the PS3 came third at 5.8 hours per week.
Overall, hours spent weekly on online games has increased 10 percent year-on-year, from 7.3 hours in 2008 to 8 hours in 2009.
Additionally, 20 percent of all games bought by online gamers were digital downloads, up from 19 percent in 2008.
Adds NPD Group industry analyst Anita Frazier: “The installed base of video game systems continues to grow, the platforms available to play games continue to expand and the options for content acquisition have never been greater, especially online. And yet, effective monetization of many forms of online gaming continues to be a topic of much debate and discussion within the industry.”
The data was collected from 18,872 online gamers.
Result for: industry analyst
Video game industry analyst Michael Pachter has said today that he expects the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to receive price cuts again this year, which will lead to the Wii being forced into a price cut as well, in order to keep the remaining price advantage it has over its rivals.
“The Wii enjoyed a $350 price advantage over the PS3 at launch, and a $150 advantage until September. Now, the gap has narrowed to $100, with the feature-laden PS3 a tempting purchase for prospective console households,” says Pachter.
“The holiday Wii sales boost was primarily attributable to a $50 gift card promotion offered by Wal-Mart; while we expect similar promotions at holiday next year, we expect the other consoles to be lower-priced by then, further eroding the Wii’s competitive price advantage.”
Pachter also says that the DSi handheld is most likely overpriced, compared to the iPod Touch, which offers a plethora of free apps as well as better music and video playback capabilities.
“It appears that piracy in Europe and some substitution of iPod Touch games has impacted DS software sales more than we expected, and we have adjusted our estimates for FY:11 to account for further pressure,” said Pachter, noting that guidance had to be reduced for DS software.
Result for: industry analyst
A new plug-in for Skype being marketed by Startup Vivu brings multipoint videoconferencing to the Skype software; adding functionality that has been absent so far from the service. Failing to deliver multipoint videoconferencing has been viewed as one of Skype’s biggest shortcomings, and Vivu is hoping to capitalize on the vacuum. “The flaw in Skype’s video strategy right now is that it’s point-to-point only,” said Irwin Lazar, an industry analyst with Chicago-based Nemertes Research.
The VuRoom plugin allows several people to take part in a video call using Skype, which the number of participants limited by available bandwidth. Vivu CEO Sudha Valluru said that the service will allow for up to 8 participants for broadband users before a degradation in quality would become a problem. The participants’ feeds will be shown in a browser window that will pop up when the call begins.
The plug-in will cost a user US$9.95 per month for unlimited use. Not all participants in a videoconference need to buy the plug-in; only the user who initiates the call. For other participants, the requirements are just Skype, a webcam and a browser. The plugin also allows participants to show PowerPoint presentations on screen, or to stream their computers’ desktop.
Given that the vast majority of Skype users don’t pay for any service from Skype, the VuRoom plug-in will have a tough time finding customers who are willing to pay the monthly fee. There is also another big risk; Skype may add multipoint videoconferencing at any time to the software, Vivu’s product obsolete. Indeed, many analysts do expect Skype to add the functionality eventually.
