There are now fewer members of the gaming community in the US, new data reveals.

According to research firm The NPD Group in its Gamer Segmentation 2012: The New Faces of Gamers report, the US gaming community contracted five percent when compared to its size last year.

NPD says that for 2012, there is an estimated 211.5 million American citizens who play video games.

Nonetheless, it seems that mobile gaming is the segment that is on the rise. This trend is undoubtedly brought about by the popularity of mobile gaming devices such as smartphone and tablets.

According to the NPD Group, mobile gamers are now the biggest segment in the gaming community as they now account for 22 percent of all gamers in the US.

That is a 9 percent increase to their total share of the gaming community when compared to figures last year.

Digital gamers, on the other hand, have also increased by 4 percentage points to take a share of 16 percent.

According to the research firm, core gamers, avid PC gamers, light PC gamers, family gamers, and kid gamers declined for this year.

Image from gointernationalgroup on Flickr (CC)

About Solon Harmony Dolor

A passion for technology and journalism makes this upcoming writer very interested in social media and technology news. Fresh from finishing an English and Journalism degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman, he aims to bring interesting news to our readers .