NPD: 174 million gamers in the US

We knew it was high, but we probably would not have guessed that the NPD Group’s total tally for gamers the US was as high as 174 million. This number would represent half the population of the US as of July 2008, which means that every household probably has a gamer or two in it. 

The NPD Group also used their data to break those 174 million gamers into 7 different groups:

• Extreme Gamers: 3% @ 5.22 Million
• Avid PC Gamers: 9% @ 15.66 Million
• Console Gamers: 17% @ 29.58 Million
• Online PC Gamers: 14% @ 24.36 Million
• Offline PC Gamers: 15% @ 26.1 Million
• Young Heavy Gamers: 22% @ 38.28 Million
• Secondary Gamers: 20% @ 34.8 Million

The largest group, Young Heavy Gamers, prefers portable consoles. And Extreme Gamers? They’re the ones who play console games more than 22 hours a week, and have purchased nearly 24 titles across all their systems in the past three months.

I wonder if all of those 5 million Extreme Gamers read Destructoid. They probably don’t have time!

[Via GAF]