Interest in Video Game Consoles Driven by More Than Games

According to a Researchscape survey of 1,000 consumers, 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. 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 everyone 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.”
• Streaming video (mentioned by 5 respondents):
  • “Because my husband wants one, and so that I can watch Netflix through it.”
  • “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.”

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Author Notes:

Jeffrey Henning

Jeffrey Henning, IPC is a professionally certified researcher and has personally conducted over 1,400 survey research projects. Jeffrey is a member of the Insights Association and the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers. In 2012, he was the inaugural winner of the MRA’s Impact award, which “recognizes an industry professional, team or organization that has demonstrated tremendous vision, leadership, and innovation, within the past year, that has led to advances in the marketing research profession.” In 2022, the Insights Association named him an IPC Laureate. Before founding Researchscape in 2012, Jeffrey co-founded Perseus Development Corporation in 1993, which introduced the first web-survey software, and Vovici in 2006, which pioneered the enterprise-feedback management category. A 35-year veteran of the research industry, he began his career as an industry analyst for an Inc. 500 research firm.