NPD Group has released interesting insights on the “new normal” in gaming

NPD is a global market information company based in New York, which offers data, industry expertise, and prescriptive analytics to help clients understand today’s retail landscape. On social media, NPD shares various insights on topics such as the retail trends in different countries and how they have evolved through time.

Most recently, the company revealed some data regarding the gaming industry and its comparison with the pandemic years.

Despite U.S. consumers returning to in-person activities and experiences, gaming engagement remains close to 2020 highs. Take a closer look at the latest insights across gamer segments from our 2022 Gamer Segmentation Report 👇 https://t.co/4l58AGt1VH

— The NPD Group (@npdgroup) September 28, 2022

Here are the conclusions NPD shared on this matter:

Despite U.S. consumers returning to in-person activities and experiences, gaming engagement remains close to 2020 highs.

• Player Count and Average Engagement Approach 2020 Highs.
• Consumers play video games for 13 hours per week, on average.
• 73% of consumers engage with video games.
• Gamers aged 45+ grew by over 4 million since 2020, increasing to 87 million.
• However, the gaming audience across teens and young adults (13 – 24) and mid-adults (25 – 44) fell from 2020 highs. This accounts for 36% of the total player base.

It’s intriguing how the gaming community peaked during the lockdown. And surprisingly enough, the “new normal” didn’t bring down these numbers. Instead, the gaming community keeps growing nowadays even though worldwide financial and cultural issues have targeted video games as an enemy more than an ally.

This information helps to understand where the industry is today and where it might head. There is still a new market in gaming that has the potential for so much more cultural and financial impact than just selling remakes and expensive consoles. But that’s just somewhere in the distant future.

And you can’t deny that the growth in gaming audiences that aren’t just Gen Z is fascinating!

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comment section!