48.5 hours, or slightly more than two full days a week playing games

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According to “Gamer Segmentation 2010,” the most recent report from market research company The NPD Group, the “extreme gamers” segment, which represents four percent of the total U.S. gaming population, spend 48.5 hours, or slightly more than two full days a week playing games. Overall, U.S. gamers ages two and older spend 13 hours per week playing games, up from 12.3 hours in 2009, the report found.

When looking at the number of hours gamers spend per week playing video games, hours spent playing both console and PC games showed a marked increase over last year's study, with console games increasing nine percent and PC games increasing six percent. The number of hours gamers spent playing portable games saw a decline of 16 percent. The average age of gamers increased slightly over last year from 31 years of age in the 2009 study to 32 years in this year’s study, the report found. NPD said avid PC gamers and offline PC gamers, comprising 11 percent and 8 percent of the gaming population, respectively, are the oldest segments with an average age for both of 42 years.

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• Extreme video gamers play 48 hours per week (games.venturebeat.com)