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Nielsen: gaming takes back seat on PS3

New study from research group finds PlayStation 3 owners in US in 2012 spent majority of their time with video services, not games.

PlayStation 3 owners in 2012 spent more time with non-gaming media services than they did actually playing games, according to a new Nielsen study based on responses from more than 2,500 consumers in the United States.

The research group found that video-on-demand and streaming viewing through PS3 jumped from 15 percent to 24 percent for the year. Add to that time spent watching DVDs/Blu-rays (15 percent), watching downloaded movies/TV shows (4 percent), and all other uses (8 percent), and PS3 owners in 2012 actually spent most of their time not playing games through the console.

The study found PS3 gamers spent 28 percent of their time playing offline video games and 18 percent playing online games. Overall, PS3 owners spent 46 percent of their time in 2012 playing games and 54 percent with non-gaming media services.

Video streaming was most popular on Wii, accounting for 32 percent of time spent on the platform. Microsoft came in last for video streaming, with users spending 13 percent of their time watching on-demand content through the system. The PS3 was the only platform to see gains in video-on-demand viewing.

Overall, video-on-demand and streaming viewership across Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii stood at 22 percent, up from 19 percent a year earlier.

Eddie Makuch
By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.

200 comments
Bellum_Sacrum
Bellum_Sacrum

This is what Sony wanted to accomplish from the very beginning, apart from promoting the bluray format. It didn't go exactly as planned apparently but in the end they made it.

St0Ne4Ge
St0Ne4Ge

I can't remember the last time I played a game on my PS3 but I use it to stream videos from my PC to my TV all the time, it works great for that.

NoelXYeul
NoelXYeul

Sony doesn't care, as long as people are still using the system. I use it mainly for gaming and the rare movie/TV episode during downtime. But it's still probably the best gaming system since... well, the PS2.

squidbilly22
squidbilly22

iv'e never streamed anything with my PS3 .i use my PC for home theater....

SavoyPrime
SavoyPrime ranger like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 3 Like

2,500 consumers isn't a very good sample size for a study when you look at the total amount of PS3 owners in the United States.

Red_Jester
Red_Jester like.author.displayName 1 Like

PS3 owners obviously don't make a habit of playing mediocre online shooters that are about as complex as a PC shooter that came out in 2000 every single day. (Halo, Call of Duty)


Also, Blu-Ray player. That's why a lot of people initially bought a PS3 to begin with. Then you factor in the fact that the year is currently 2013. PS3 owners don't use ancient technology to watch movies anymore. They use the Blu-Ray player that came with their game system.

somebody337
somebody337

I mostly use my PS2 for gaming and PS3 for Netflix.

bksonic123
bksonic123 like.author.displayName 1 Like

Maybe it's because 8-year old 360 owners spend the other 87% of the time playing Call of Duty.

R2C25
R2C25

@bksonic123 The best selling ps3 softwares are call of duty series unlike Xbox's.

SgtStrungOut
SgtStrungOut

@R2C25 @bksonic123 The 360 version is still selling more than the PS3 version. PS3 gamers just play more of a variety and that makes up for it even if noob friendly casual FPS COD is the top seller.

billOriley
billOriley like.author.displayName 1 Like

So this statistics is based on around 2,500 people? What about the other 70 something million other users? this article is trash. 

NightDrifter05
NightDrifter05

All this tell's me is that the PS3 has the better streaming services so most likely other console owner's may have bought it due to that. I have a nearly full friends list and everyone of them that gets online regularly is always playing a game so you would think if it was 46% that out of nearly 100 people a couple of them would be watching something every now and then. 

They also need to tackle the question, when watching movie's is it when a game you want to play is out or is it only after you've finished playing the game's you want. I know I stream alot of stuff on my PS3 but it's only during the slow season when nothing is coming out and only after I've completed my backlog. I think since with streaming always having something to watch year round and gaming only having major title's for in the start of the year and end of the year it leaves that huge gap in between that is filled with mostly streaming stuff unless you have a broad taste in games or like playing older games or possibly replaying completed title's.

Nathalmighty1
Nathalmighty1

I hate this article! How is 46% of its entire usage taking a back seat? When compared to absalutely everything else the console does it falls slightly below the 50% mark. But when compared to each thing individually it is the biggest individual number. It's just plain silly!

yearssomuch
yearssomuch

Most people are looking at this as a news article that says 'Hey, Xbox is the casual-friendly one, but look! PlayStation owners play even less games!', which is a bad perception, to say the least. The only thing this proves is that PlayStation provides better streaming services than their competitors. I tend to do all of my streaming, be it YouTube or Netflix, on my PS3, for two reasons.

One, the UI doesn't completely suck. Xbox's new Kinect-friendly UI across ALL apps is so atrocious it makes me want to puke. The crappy A-to-Z on-screen 'keyboard' would be fine if they, like PlayStation's YouTube app, made it so that it provided some sort of recommendations based on the letter you just pressed.. but nope. Microsoft really wants you to buy a Kinect, so they make doing everything with a controller unbearable. Ugh.

Two, any time I use any streaming service, it looks miles better on my PlayStation, and seems to use no more bandwidth than my Xbox would. This holds true across every app that is available on both consoles, at least from my perspective.

HOWEVER, does any of this mean I don't PLAY GAMES on my PLAYStation? Absolutely not, I know for a fact that I spend more time gaming on my PS3 than my X360.

Weatherby_
Weatherby_ like.author.displayName 1 Like

While 360 fanboys will be quick explain this as, "PS3 has no gaems!", all it really means is that Sony is accomplishing one of Microsoft's own goals, which is to become an entire living room entertainment hub and not just a gaming console.

Carpe_Noctum
Carpe_Noctum like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 3 Like

Hate to say it, but my PS3 has been a Blu-ray player since I finished Uncharted 3. Almost all of my gaming is on 360 with PC far behind that. Very much looking forward to The Last of Us though.

trdrstv
trdrstv like.author.displayName 1 Like

@Carpe_Noctum I know I'm an anomaly but my PS3 is pretty much a movie machine, my 360 is my "Rock Band player", and I've been getting just about daily use of my Wii.  Part of that equation though is my fiance and 5 year old also play it.

Weatherby_
Weatherby_ like.author.displayName 1 Like

@Carpe_Noctum  

See, I'm the opposite. I do all of my third-party gaming on PS3. I haven't touched my 360 in months.

tightwad34
tightwad34 like.author.displayName 1 Like

Well I am not one of those. In fact, the first time I have ever watched a DVD on my PS3 was when I popped in Game of Thrones Season 2 about 2+ weeks ago. The only other thing I use it for besides games is watching por.....cupines.

steelmouth
steelmouth like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

this explains the very low sales of PS3 exclusive and many many ps3 fanboys always in GS taking shoots at MS articles and not buying and playing games

DiscGuru101
DiscGuru101 like.author.displayName 1 Like

@steelmouth -He's right. 

PS3 just happened to be the most soul-less console this gen. It had to happen to somebody. Plus, there was that other study that showed PS3 owners were more likely to "rent" games.

Setzera
Setzera like.author.displayName 1 Like

Figures that Netflix is being used on my PS3 right now, but normally it's only on for games.

inaka_rob
inaka_rob like.author.displayName 1 Like

This is old news! Study after study has shown more games are actully played on the 360 than the wii or ps3. Just look at the NUMBER 1 gamers on Xbox live vs ps3. On xbox they have around 30,000 achievments. on ps3. only around 15,000. Even the top gamers game more on xbox. 

Vodoo
Vodoo like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

It's funny... Microsoft is the one investing the most in non-game content and they're the ones with the least amount of people using those services.

Thanatos2k
Thanatos2k like.author.displayName 1 Like

I love people bragging about how THEY only play games on their consoles.  It's like those assholes you know at work who brag about how they don't watch TV and never let their kids use the internet.

Thanatos2k
Thanatos2k

This isn't surprising.  I too spend more time using my PS3 to stream anime or whatever from a media server being run on my PC.  Can't do that on the 360.  Can't do that on the Wii.

This is why the PS3 is the best console and was never overpriced - it does so much more than games.

o016945
o016945 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

@Thanatos2k  Ummm...you can do that on 360. It was the only way I could play Hulu on my 360 before Microsoft released the Hulu app. You can stream movies and music right off your PC, and you can use media servers like "Playon" to stream any content you wish on your 360 and PS3. It may be more restrictive on 360..I don't really know, but it is obvious you know very little about what the 360 can do.

yearssomuch
yearssomuch

@o016945 @Thanatos2k Yeah, I use PS3 Media Server, and while it can work on Xbox 360, it's a little buggy since the Xbox UI isn't meant to be used for that particular program. Though I'm pretty sure there are other media streamers. I just prefer to do it on my PlayStation, but maybe that's due to my bias to a particular program. :P

ciphfer
ciphfer

@o016945 Thanks for setting the record straight. 

o016945
o016945

@ciphfer @o016945 Yeah, when I discovered Playon a few years ago, I completely disconnected my basic cable. I bought the service for 20 bucks lifetime, and every single app and channel is pretty much represented. People have done amazing things with Playon. I'm sure there are similar services out now, but I discovered 3 years ago.

Leboyo56
Leboyo56 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

This is sad to hear for me. Almost all of my friends on PSN hardly play games, most of the time they're on Netflix. I'm the only one I know of who hasn't used gaming consoles for anything but games. Not even movies.

Jyakotu
Jyakotu

@Leboyo56 Now I will say, thanks to my PS3, I can also use it as a Blu-Ray player. It's kind of like how my PS2 is mostly now used as a DVD player in my house, but I still try to make sure to play some of my old PS2 games on it from time to time.

Leboyo56
Leboyo56

@Jyakotu @Leboyo56 I still use my PS2 to play Crash, Bomberman, Burnout, Shadow of the Colossus, and Kingdom Hearts. But most importantly Scooby Doo: Night of 100 Frights, of course. I've completed that to 100% already in less than two hours, and it's still fun when I replay it, especially when finding glitches that let me jump out of the map and on top of it. Might have to re-purchase Mystery Mayhem, but that wasn't nearly as awesome, since it was less of a pure platformer and more of a Luigi's Mansion clone.

beavisj
beavisj

Cinavia ruined media playback (on uploaded videos)

sonyfreak456
sonyfreak456

is it me or is Sony skin colors for the PS3 actions exactly like when Nintendo came out with all does colors for the N64? 

KimCheeWarriorX
KimCheeWarriorX

although netflix isnt the top used device on my friends list according to my xbl beacon stats (black ops ii would have that honor) it does come in second and even before bo2 came out, its always consistently ranked 1 or 2 on the list. i wouldnt be surprised if most people that own only wii's primarily use their console as a means to stream netflix content as well.

Darkwrath016
Darkwrath016 like.author.displayName 1 Like

I primarily use my ps3 as a netflix device while I don't use my xbox anymore at all.

93ChevyNut
93ChevyNut

@Darkwrath016 That's a sad state of affairs for someone who checks out a gaming website.  I hope you find your way soon.

Darkwrath016
Darkwrath016

@93ChevyNut @Darkwrath016 Lol. It's not as bad as you think though. I still play games but just not as much as I used to. And there aren't any games on the Xbox save for Halo and Gears that I already can't get on my ps3

SiLenTWarrior29
SiLenTWarrior29

@sonyfreak456 @Darkwrath016 @93ChevyNut same goes for me too... not much as a game freak as I used to be but if i do decide to get my game on... PlayStation is the only way for me. And they have the better choices for video content wise.. the next gen better breath in new life into this fps era. WE NEED VARIETY AND GAMEPLAY

slycoon6003
slycoon6003

that's the main reason i sold mine it was all i had at the time i don't think ill get another one till the psn is offline i always found my self worrying about syncing trophy's and netflix hardly ever updates there stuff i just got tired of it

OldSnakePS3
OldSnakePS3 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 4 Like

ps3 is the No1 most used netflix device in the world and the only console to have Bluray the hd standard so this can be expected 



Defender1978
Defender1978

Since we mainly use it for media and blu-ray I suppose that there would be no justification for me to purchase a PS4. 

pc-ps360
pc-ps360

not true, cows spends there majority of the time in system war talking about games they pretended they played

Mr_Q_Oz
Mr_Q_Oz

Sounds right to me. I bought mine as a bluray player and that's still its main use. I play plenty of games, but on the Xbox or PC. A bunch of my friends bought PS3s after one of the big price drops and many of them don't even own games for it.

Phazevariance
Phazevariance

Well, they did try to sell PS3 as a media device over gaming at the begining of the generation.  Similar to what MS will probably do with the next xbox.  Sony id going 'games' on PS4 but I think they still want it to be a media center for the living room. 

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