Every week, there’s a new statistic about gaming that interests or amazes me.  It feels like records are being smashed all the time, or gaming has managed to breakthrough into yet another new area.  Whilst I’m sure that isn’t completely true, it is gratifying that games are more big business and mass interest than ever.  Here are my top 5 recent stats:

• 82% of PC gamers felt that games were just as enjoyable with ads as without
  Survey of 1,300 PC gamers by Nielsen BASES and Nielsen Games regarding in-game advertising, i.e. real-life brands on posters in the game
• Gaming is now the most popular leisure activity for people aged between 16 and 49 across Europe
  Video Gamers in Europe 2008 report from ISFE-Nielsen
• Grand Theft Auto IV sales: First day: 3.6 million ($310m) - First week: 6 million ($500m)
  To put that in context: Biggest single day for a movie in US = $60m (Spiderman 3)
• The average Wii spends half an hour on the shelf in US
  
• In Europe, 23% of people 6-55 play games; of these, 41% were women in 2007 (up from 36% in 2006)

Stats are great.  Apparently, 8 out of 10 blog readers prefer them…

Tags: games, records, statistics, survey, top, top 5