Game consoles were rated as the most used connected consumer electronic (CE) devices in North America to stream Netflix content, according to two recent survey reports by ABI Research.
On average, CE devices were used for seven to eight hours a week for watching online video, survey respondents said.
Digital home senior analyst Michael Inouye said companies such as Microsoft and Sony in particular are pushing to make the consoles more central to the digital living room.
"Nintendo is not as aggressive in this regard yet, but with the Wii U they might try to make a bigger push into the over-the-top content delivery market," Inouye said.
Western Europe (37.3% in the UK, 31.8% in France and 20.6% in Germany) and the US (38.7%) have a high connect rate, compared to Asia Pacific (13.1% in China, 10.9% in India, and only 6.3% in South Korea).
China’s low numbers can be attributed to the fact that game consoles are largely banned, while South Korea’s piracy issues and penchant for online and PC gaming limit the demand for consoles.
Digital home practice director Jason Blackwell said some industry insiders have started to envision the demise of game consoles – an end expected to come at the hands of mobile devices.
"But we feel this market still has plenty of life. While mobile devices might soon match the processing power of game consoles, there are a number of issues such as storage and portability that could hinder the transition to mobile," Blackwell said.
"The game console has a higher degree of persistence in the living room, giving more household members access to the device at any time of the day, whereas most mobile devices are designed for portability and a more personal experience."
