The power of online gaming!!
 

Just saw the article below over at IGN. It's pretty amazing that online gaming is having an affect on broadcast TV ratings. I'm sure it'll just get worse with the next generation of consoles when more people will jump on the online bandwagon. I'm sure PS2 online combined with XBOX online is making a big dent in advertisers' "target demographic". Hopefully this wont mean we'll start seeing ad's in the next gen of games. Product placement I can take but ad's or pop-ups would be too much! :)
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March 04, 2004 - One of the most popular new shows on TV is not a sitcom, but SOCOM II: U.S Navy SEALs. Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. announced that the North American online PlayStation 2 community has grown to 2.6 million people. To make matters worse for the broadcast networks, a majority of the gamers were online during prime time hours.


As reported in Sony's own analysis of the online gaming community, the most popular hours for playing online in the month of February were between 5 and 11 p.m., enveloping the entire prime time slot. With 65% of these gamers being males between the ages of 18-34 playing during prime time in a sweeps month, online gaming could be a growing problem for broadcast television.

So what have all of these gamers been playing? The resounding answer is SOCOM II. The average SOCOM II online gamers spend an average of 4.2 hours a day in online games. In the first 100 days of SOCOM II being online, the game logged a total of 31.5 million player hours.

Beyond just SOCOM II, there have been 42 titles that have come out for the PS2 in the past 12 months that have online capabilities. Before this year is out, SCEA plans on doubling the library of online PS2 games.

The effect of a decrease in television viewing is already being felt in the industry. Back in September, Nielsen Media Research reported an 8% decline in the male 18 to 34 audience. Industry analysts have been speculating that online gaming is one of the root causes in this decline.

"When people go looking for their favorite entertainment, some are turning to online gaming with PlayStation 2 instead of tuning into broadcast television," said Andrew House, executive vice president, SCEA. "We believe the compelling content we offer online gamers will continue to drive the growth of our online platform, far outpacing other online gaming destinations and potentially rivaling the popularity of more traditional entertainment mediums like television."

TV sucks. Maybe that's the "problem?"

No mention of Live?

Live doesn't have anywhere close to 2.6 million users unless there has been a dramatic jump somewhere.

When there is no more room in Hell...






THE NERDS WILL WALK THE EARTH!

All thanks to PS2 and X-Box for inventing online games. :)

I hear that now they even have online games for the PC.

Well it was bound to happen eventually...

I'm sure the PC Game developers are now desperately scrambling to play catch-up.

Oh, I doubt that. Where's the online potential for "Solitaire" and "Mind-Sweeper"?

C'mon now.. a multiplayer version of Minesweeper would kick ass.. just add in little powerups like Bomberman or effects that hinder the other player when you uncover so many blocks, etc like Tetris or Puyo Puyo.. mmm.. man, the possibilites of these games being online if it weren't for the fact that all anybody wants to do now is fire a gun.

:(

PC games are in a rough market right now. Small studios are closing down and revolutionary games are being dropped in favor of proven sucesses. The PC game business is drying up in favor of consoles. I feel bad because a friend of mine is trying to enter the industry and is having a hard time finding a place to start. Consoles are the future of gaming and piracy has a large part of that.

Re: The power of online gaming!!
 

are they serious???? 4.2 hours average seems ridiculously high.

What an megalomaniacal ass your friend is.

I disagree that the PC gaming world is "drying up." I've been playing PC games since before some of y'all were born, and it's still going strong.

Re: Re: The power of online gaming!!
 

I once spent 4.2 hours just trying to get a "sow" in Everquest.

Personally I've never seen the PC as a huge gaming platform myself. My tastes have always been "Japanese" for games and that's non-exsistant in the PC world. The one advantage I've always thought the PC had (playing online) is now being brought to the console world.

Piracy is a huge problem for both markets though, it's just (usually) MUCH easier to pirate a PC game.

I feel that if Direct X hadn't come along, PC gaming would've died long ago due to the troubles of programming/supporting such a wide range of hardware.

Anyway, just random thoughts.. pay no heed. -wink-

I still see around 500,000 Live subscribers touted in most media articles on the topic.

No kidding. I watch a lot less TV than in the past, and I don't online game at all. I'd just rather go out and do something, watch a movie, read, etc. than watch 99% of the crap on TV.

That's the main reason for me as well. The genre's the PC excels at (FPS, RTS, american style RPGs, PC adventure games etc.) are just not my cup of tea.

Re: Re: Re: The power of online gaming!!
 

I can't tell if your joking or not heh. I have seen people sit there asking for a sow for about an hour before, when they would have made it to their desitination in that time frame. Nothing you can do but just smack your forehead and move on after seeing that.

actually, it is now 750,000+

here's one source.
http://www.gamepro.com/microsoft/xbo...ws/33011.shtml

Whoops... I meant "enter". Sorry about that. *Fixed*. Drinking this early in the day seems to mix some signals.

Re: Re: Re: The power of online gaming!!
 

oh, i've had single sessions that lasted a while (although, even then, not more than 2 hours probably....)

but, an average of 4.2 hours a day = 29.4 hours a week (is my math right?) that just seems really high to me. 2.6 million people who play 30 hours of online games a week seems really unfathomable.

I usually go on 6 hour benders when I get on SOCOM II Online. Usually from 8pm to 2am, but that only happens maybe once a week.

Re: Re: Re: Re: The power of online gaming!!
 

Averages can be thrown off by outliers (i.e. people far away from the norm). There's a lot of people obsessed with games like everquest and spend nearly every waking moment on them that probably skew the average.

The median (the exact middle point) would probably be a more realistic measure, for the same reason you see it used for incomes in states/countries (being that it's not sensitive to outliers).

:lol::up:

Until porn is allowed on mainstream television, I don't see this trend reversing. ;)

What do you expect when most of the TV shows are either triteful comedies, or overdone reality shows. I have so many better things to do than watch TV, not counting online (or offline) gaming.

This internet thing is just a fad i tell ya, a fad!

This article makes sense. I remember a few years back when they were writing all the articles about how Hollywood was finally realizing the fact that THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY had quietly surpassed the movie industry in terms of making money.

Anyway, I only watch TV at work :lol: and I've got no TV reception in my house because I don't want to spend money on cable. So either the TV is...OFF, being used to play games Online and off, or looking at DVD's.

Thank you.

Seriously, it's true. Prime time TV is such brainless crap, no wonder people who are looking for something more stimulating turn to games. Especially when playing online versus other humans offers an endless variety of entertainment.

LOL. This article is BRILLIANT. Is it a reprint of a Sony press release? If not, Sony should hire this guy. Basically, he's said nothing and pointed to no hard evidence for this claim, but the way he has juxtaposed certain facts makes you really think it must be the awesome power of a single online game that's driven down male viewership. I like how he refers to TV industry analysts speculating that it's due to gaming and then eschews any quotes from said analysts, but instead goes for one from a Sony vp! :lol: Or how "online gaming" must equate, of course, to SOCOM II.

I would not be surprised if gaming in general has drawn away male viewers, especially since console games these days play like PC games (ie, skewing to older audiences), but JUST online gaming? And just one game at that? Give me a break.

Actually, there are online multiplayer versions of both solitaire and minesweeper, although in somewhat modified form. They're available in the newest version of MSN messenger. The minesweeper is decent, but kind of slow paced. The solitaire version is pretty awsome though. For all practical purposes it's just a two player version of dutch blitz, if anyone is familiar with the game. There was a period about six months ago where I'd stay up for hours playing "just one more game" of the solitaire.

Granted this isn't a scientific study with a control group and placebos and all that, but their numbers are based on their real network usage. I mean you can't argue that the guys playing during that time weren't playing. You could argue that if they weren't playing online they might not have been watching TV either, but their numbers are valid.

I would also in general that I play games (online and offline) almost as much as I watch TV. Offline gaming they can't even track so I'm sure the numbers are much worse than they've listed in fact.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The power of online gaming!!
 

I agree but there are only so many hours in a week and there are outliers on both ends (those who hop on, only to get a phonecall or a nagging spouse causing them to play only five minutes). I would like to see the full statistics on this though, because average says a lot but it also creates more questions.


In response to the mention of online console gaming while shrugging off PC gaming: I think it's because these are people sitting in front of their TVs during Primetime tv and not watching a single ad (how long will that last though?). It's an impressive number, especially if you consider how many people are playing games that aren't online....

I'm glad something has pulled people away from watching crap TV and thank God it wasn't going outside or spending time with their families.

The title of this thread should include the words "compels you."

- David Stein

Their numbers are probably "real", but pay attention to what they actually show. They say there are 2.6 million in the community, not that all of them are active, let alone playing SOCOM2. And who knows how they count people who've only played a little bit? No one is ensuring that the stats are being tabulated properly. Or popular hours are 5-11 pm. When? What if they play 1 hour on weekdays at that time and 6 hours on weekends? That "5-11pm is most popular" stat still holds but the implication becomes different.

But most importantly, if they actually wanted to make a strong case, they could very simply have said "these are the average number of users online each night Monday to Friday, 5-10pm, and this how long they play for on those nights and this is what they were usually playing".

So I got a new pc game this week called Everquest, I heard its been out of PS2 for a while now but its brand new on pc. It's huge, there are already 7 expansions out while the ps2 version only has 1, very odd considering it's been around for so long compared to the pc version :rolleyes:

Incidently, what is ironic is while the ps2 was brand spanking new in 99 and the biggest game was Grand Turismo 3, people were already getting divorced and impotent playing games like Everquest and Ultima Online, it always amazes me how the media is so far behind the times and think that this is a new phenomena.

Again, I think the surprise is in how many people are sitting in front of their TVs but not watching primetime television (and, more importantly, advertisements).

thanks to TIVO i can watch prime time TV during the non prime time hours, on my schedule. perfect for Saturday morning or sundays where there's usually nothing to watch. besides the number of good shows have died down, nowadays its just reality shows..after Friends, all i have are..Simpsons....and yeah thats about it..i watch QUeer Eye & THe Apprentice, as well Sportscenter and I record music videos. besides with DVDs and video games, and TV, work, social events...there's just not enough time in the world!! i'm usually watching TV while eating or chatting online anyways.

I used to spend soooo many hours during my college days..Starcraft..Counterstrike..RTCW..