Video Game Consoles

22.5% of respondents have never owned a video game console (e.g., Xbox, PS3, Wii), representing the fifth smallest untapped market of any of the 16 devices studied, according to a Researchscape survey of 1,000 consumers.

Purchase Interest

47.8% of respondents were “very interested” or “extremely interested” in purchasing a video game console. People interested in video game consoles are most likely to also be interested in handheld game consoles (0.508 correlation), smart TVs (television sets with Internet access, 0.353 correlation) and smart phones (cell phones with Internet access, 0.281 correlation). They are least interested in feature phones (cell phones without Internet access, -0.161 correlation).

Video game consoles are a category that doesn’t benefit much from device substitution: 2.0% of respondents would replace a broken device from a different category with a video game console (e.g., 0.7% would replace a handheld game console with a video game console).

9.8% of respondents without a video game console said it was the device they didn’t own that they were most interested in purchasing. Of all respondents, 4.1% identified video game consoles as the device they were most interested in purchasing, the eighth highest interest level. Unsurprisingly, the primary reason that people are interested in video game consoles is for gaming – but new applications are emerging: streaming videos, playing Blu-ray discs, and accessing the Internet, for example.

For game playing (mentioned by 30 respondents):
- “I’ve been wanting an Xbox for a while. I really want to get back into gaming.”
- “Because every one has an Xbox or PS3, and they are gaming online and I am missing out.”
- “I have heard so much about these and I love games, so I think it would be fun owning one of them.”
- “I am great fan of video games, so I would like to buy one of the consoles, like Xbox, PS3, Wii.”
Streaming video (mentioned by 5 respondents):
- “PS3, for its Netflix capabilities.”
- “Because my husband wants one, and so that I can watch Netflix through it.”
- “Had one before, had to sell it. Use for some gaming and streaming.”
- “I would like a PS3 to handle both gaming and streaming to one of my TVs that I use separately from my desktop computer.”
- “I would like to play video games, and also stream movies/TV shows.”
As a Blu-ray player (mentioned by 4 respondents):
- “I am interested in buying this device because sometimes I wish I had a way of watching Blu-ray movies in addition to playing video games.”
- “PS3 – Because I have been considering purchasing it for a while, so I can play Blu-ray movies and have a multimedia center connected to my TV that has no Internet access.”
- “My handheld gaming device is old (Gameboy Color), and I wish to play games. Also, many of them are multi-use (have Blu-ray/Internet access).”
Exclusive games (mentioned by 3 respondents):
- “I’d really like to have a PS3 so that I can finally catch up on the exclusive games I’ve been missing.”
- “Video games unavailable on PC.”
- “I want to play Mortal Kombat 9.”
For Internet access (mentioned by 3 respondents):
- “I would like to buy a gaming console that has Internet access.”
Current device is broken (mentioned by 2 respondents):
- “My PS3 broke a year ago, and I’m looking to replace it.”
- “I do not own a Wii, because my old Wii was damaged in a lightning storm. I will likely replace it eventually.”
Other noteworthy comments:
- “It’s hard playing on a laptop since they overheat easy without something like a water cooling system; my desktop is an old Athlon XP. So a PS3 would be fun.”
- “All my friends have an Xbox 360; I’d like to play on Live with them.”

There were 10 mentions of PS3 (Sony PlayStation 3), 6 mentions of Microsoft Xbox and 2 mentions of the Nintendo Wii. (Each were used in the question prompt as examples.)

Current Ownership

58.4% of respondents currently own a video game console, the sixth highest ownership rate of the 16 devices studied.

14% no longer use the device, giving it an average rate of lapsed use. Exactly half of owners reported frequently using their video game console.

In a separate survey of 400 consumers, we asked respondents a hypothetical question: which devices would they purchase if they had lost all of their devices in a robbery and new purchases were covered by insurance? 61.5% of current owners were “very interested” or “extremely interested” in repurchasing a video game console, the sixth highest interest level in repurchasing.

Video game consoles are the sixth least valued of devices: 16.3% of owners said it was the device that they were least interested in replacing if it broke.

Past Ownership

19.1% of respondents have owned a video game console in the past but no longer do so, the 6th highest rate of past ownership. This represents 24.7% of the group of current and former owners – surprisingly, such respondents are less likely to own a handheld game console than consumers in general and less likely to own tablet computers as well.