MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
39 per cent of UK internet users now play online games, making it the most popular form of media consumption in the country, according to a new Ofcom report entitled ‘The Communications Market 2010 (August)’.
That figure is up one per cent on Q1 2009 and takes online gaming ahead of downloading film and music at 38 per cent. For 15-24 year olds the figure for both stands at 55 per cent.
Consoles are also playing an increasingly important role in the modern multimedia-centric UK. Nearly one in ten households that own a console used it to access the BBC iPlayer, which is available on both PS3 and Wii.
In February alone the PS3 accounted for six per cent (4.9m requests) of all iPlayer traffic and the Wii four per cent (3.2m requests). By comparison, seven per cent of requests came from Mac users.
As for additional console usage, 22 per cent of owners use their devices to watch DVDs or Blu-rays while 20 per cent use them for online gaming, 12 per cent for web browsing and five per cent for live AV content.
Ofcom’s report shows that the popularity of games continues to increase, with downloads of games surpassing that of music and films,” TIGA CEO Richard Wilson stated. It also shows that consoles are providing a door to the internet.
The widespread downloading of games also confirms the importance of digital distribution. TIGA’s research shows that on average, 62 per cent the games created by UK developers are online or digital products, as opposed to physical products. TIGA will continue to support developers looking to distribute their games digitally over the coming months.”
