The market research firm reports that there are an estimated 211.5 million people who at least occasionally play video games, down 5% from 2011. That's 12 million gamers who have stopped playing.
NPD reports that mobile gamers and digital gamers grew in the period. But all other segments, defined by NPD as Core Gamers, Family and Kid Gamers, Light PC Gamers and Avid PC Games, shrank. The biggest drop came in the Family and Kind category.
The research firm says there are now more Mobile Gamers than Core Gamers, the largest segment last year.
NPD estimates that gamers on average spent $48 on physical games and $16 on digital games in the past three months.
While 211.5 million is still a huge pool of gamers, the loss of some players at the margin suggest a maturing industry in transition. Players are shifting to mobile and social games away from consoles and PCs; the current generation of consoles are aging and in need of replacement. And there's another factor: I suspect some gamers are simply being distracted by other leisure pursuits, including Facebook and other social networking services. If you're tweeting, you might not be killing aliens.
