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World of Warcraft, Playstation 2 Most Played in April 2009

2 minute read | June 2009

Nielsen Games released its April 2009 data for top console usage and PC game titles with Playstation 2 and the role-playing game World Of Warcraft topping their respective lists.

The Lord of the Rings Online cracked the Top 10 in April, rising to the #3 spot for total minutes played %. While the total share number was modest, the average number of weekly minutes played was a robust 891, the most for any game in the Top 10. The publisher, Turbine, had announced special promotional subscription fees for the persistent online game that runs from April-June, celebrating the two-year anniversary of the game’s release.

For console gamers, PS2 narrowly holds onto the top spot as most overall played console in terms of gaming minutes. With 21.6% of all minutes, PS2 held off Xbox 360’s 21.1%. Meanwhile, Nintendo Wii dropped down a full 3% (to 17.7%) since it’s high in January of 20.7%, perhaps suggesting the initial excitement of playing new Wii games or Wii consoles from the holiday season has begun to wane. Will the May release of Wii Punch-Out!! boost the May numbers? Stay tuned…

Top Game Consoles January 2009
Rank Console Usage

Minutes %

1 PlayStation 2 21.6
2 Xbox 360 21.1
3 Wii 17.6
4 PlayStation 3 10.5
5 Xbox 6.7
6 GameCube 2.6
7 Other 19.9
Source: Nielsen Games – GamePlay Metrics™

Usage Minutes % is the percent of all measured console minutes

“Other” consists of any other console systems found in the home

Top 10 PC Game Titles: April 2009
Rank Game Title Publisher Share Avg. Mins Played

Per Week

TMP%
1 World of Warcraft Blizzard Entertainment 12.154 614 43.910
2 Second Life Linden Lab 1.584 842 5.624
3 Lord of the Rings Online Turbine 0.600 891 3.559
4 Dark Messiah of Might & Magic Ubisoft 0.672 744 3.283
5 Half-Life 2 Vivendi Games 1.490 347 2.499
6 Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword 2K Games 0.804 526 1.957
7 Bookworm PopCap Games 3.339 137 1.905
8 Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Blizzard Entertainment 1.804 237 1.660
9 Chessmaster Challenge PlayFirst, Inc. 9.712 54 1.657
10 Sims 2, The: Mansion and Garden Stuff Electronic Arts Inc. 0.908 356 1.654
Source: Nielsen Games – GamePlay Metrics

Share is the percentage of the gaming audience measured that played the title.

TMP% represents the percent of total minutes played from the Top 100 non-casual/pre-installed PC games measured.

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