NPD: Gamers don't know what they're buying

PALGN News | 43% of DS owners and likely purchasers don't know about the touch screen.

Market research group NPD recently conducted a survey into the attitudes, awareness, and purchasing intent of individuals who have bought or are about to buy current consoles including the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS. The results are not only surprising, they're arguably downright scary for manufacturers and advertisers. Owners and those with an intent to buy apparently have massive gaps in their understanding of what features come with the console they've purchased or are about to purchase.

Gamasutra reports that a staggering 42% of owners and likely purchasers were unaware that the Nintendo DS had a touch screen. 47% were unaware that it has two screens, and 51% were unaware that you used a stylus. While those results are not mutually exclusive, they do suggest very strongly that a significant percentage of buyers are probably not buying on the features whatsoever - instead, they're highly likely buying based purely on the games available or based on word of mouth from those they trust.

Lest anyone make a crack about Nintendo purchasers, it's not limited to the Nintendo DS. 48% of PSP owners and likely purchasers were unaware that they could use their PSP to watch movies and 51% were unaware that they could listen to music on their PSP. 69% of owners and likely purchasers of the PlayStation 3 were unaware that the PlayStation 3 is backwards compatible with the PlayStation 2, despite 71% of respondents rating it as the single most important factor to them behind their decision to purchase a PlayStation 3 or not. Additionally, while PlayStation 3 owners download content as often as Xbox 360 owners do, the majority of PlayStation 3 owners weren't even aware that it was possible.

The Wii's motion sensing controls were ranked as the most important feature, with more "basic" features such as GameCube compatibility and Internet compatibility following close behind. Overall, the results apparently broadly indicated that purchasers and likely purchasers are highly interested in functionality that directly supports their ability to play games.

Speaking of the survey, Industry Analyst Anita Frazer said, "This study verifies what many of us already know: features related to playing games are by far the most important to consumers of video game systems. While systems’ capabilities of providing owners with additional features may become more important in the future, currently the importance of these features and the awareness among consumers of these features is far from universal. To make headway in this ‘next-gen’ race, manufacturers still need to be primarily concerned with the quality and entertainment value of the games themselves."

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10 Comments

arbok

4 years ago

Evan wrote

NPD: Gamers don't know what they're buying by Evan

PALGN News: 43% of DS owners and likely purchasers don't know about the touch screen.

[View Article]

100% of the 42% who don't know there's a touch screen on the DS are also Soccer mums

Dracusis

4 years ago

69% didn't know that they could play PS2 games on the PS3, but 71% said that's why they got it?

Obviously the survey only included a very small percentage of actual PS3 owners, as the 71% that bought the console must make up only 31% or less of the survey, so the results don't really make an apples to apples comparison of the different types of questions asked.

I'm not surprised that the majority of PS3 owners didn't know about the PSN or that you could download stuff with it though. A few friends of friends who have them didn't know you could go "online" with it at all until I told them.

Rob_Jedi

4 years ago

I could make a crack about people that would actually buy a local PS3, or that you're lucky if it plays the PS2 games you have anyway.

I agree with arbok though, seems the only people that will stop to take a survey are bored soccer mums anyway. Don't know any gamers that would waste their time in a mall doing it. If it was online that would be different.

Emuaust

4 years ago

When you have large ignorant retail chains gaing more of a monopoly all the time
what do people expect?

As a small indie retailer it gets more and more difficult every day to compete with the monopoly
and I like to regard myself as an informed reseller that is more then helpful in filling you in
with any information that you may need regarding you purchase.

What happens when the big chains have it all? these numbers more then likely go up.

littlemo

4 years ago

lol, these numbers are so funny

How do 47% of people not know a DS has two screens? Are they blind?

Oh that's right, this "expanded audience" are all over 70...

BC is important... strange, I recall MS making earlier comments about it being a niche thing...

Statistics are great.

Nev

4 years ago

dracusis wrote

69% didn't know that they could play PS2 games on the PS3, but 71% said that's why they got it?

It sounds a little like that at first...

"69% of owners and likely purchasers of the PlayStation 3 were unaware that the PlayStation 3 is backwards compatible with the PlayStation 2, despite 71% of respondents rating it as the single most important factor to them behind their decision to purchase a PlayStation 3 or not."

In other words, backwards compatibility is very important to people considering buying the system, but they haven't yet checked to see whether it is or not. (Most of them probably wouldn't be seriously considering getting one for a year or two).

article wrote

Additionally, while PlayStation 3 owners download content as often as Xbox 360 owners do, the majority of PlayStation 3 owners weren't even aware that it was possible.

This is what's concerning for Sony (and Microsoft), and digital distribution in general. They could have hundreds of awesome games available online, but your general consumer will glance at the store shelf and see 2-3 times as many Wii games as are out for PS3. They either need to release games both on disc and online, or really step up their marketing to make consumers aware of the games that are available on the network.

How many PCs would be sold every year if 71% of consumers were unaware of the internet?

Eyce

4 years ago

"48% of PSP owners and likely purchasers were unaware that they could use their PSP to watch movies and 51% were unaware that they could listen to music on their PSP."

cue hilarious fanboy joke And 98% of purchasers were unaware that the PSP plays games.

?oe?oe

4 years ago

Ha, stupid Americans. Gotta love 'em.

Marlor

4 years ago

Nev wrote

article wrote

Additionally, while PlayStation 3 owners download content as often as Xbox 360 owners do, the majority of PlayStation 3 owners weren't even aware that it was possible.

Also, plenty of people don't want to connect their console to the internet. Three of my family members have 360s, and none of them have them connected to the Internet. Even if they wanted to connect their 360 to the Internet, they wouldn't have a clue how to.

A few months ago, I offered to connect my cousin's 360 to his ADSL router, but he didn't want me to, because he was worried that it would chew through his 2GB download limit too quickly.