Seattle named top video game city in America

by Blake Snow on May 3rd 2006 6:30PM

A joint survey commissioned by Sperling for BestPlaces and Microsoft has rated Seattle, WA followed by the Twin Cities and "Hotlanta" as the top cities in America for video games. If you don't already know, the Seattle area is home to both Nintendo and Microsoft US headquarters. GameDaily writes: "The survey took into account the number of video game systems owned per household (Xbox 360, Xbox, Window-based PCs, PlayStation 2 and GameCube), the number of games purchased, number of game rentals, and frequency of online gameplay via Xbox Live or Windows games, and other factors."

Here are the top 15 cities according to the survey:

Seattle
Minneapolis-St. Paul
Atlanta
Detroit
Phoenix-Mesa
Washington, D.C.
St. Louis
Boston
San Diego
Philadelphia
Chicago
Dallas
Houston
San Francisco
New York

[via Slashdot]

Source

Reader Comments (62)

I knew I belonged in Washington. Must have been switched at birth with a baby that's all the way on the other side of the continent. Sucks.

Woo! Number 8! Eat that, New York City!

Interesting that Phoenix-Mesa is that high... guess there really isn't much else to do besides play video games.

No, No, No!!!!

NEW YORK AT 15!!!

HELL NO!

Guys, c'mon we gotta up our game, seriously. What happened to the "greatest city on earth" title?

eyes glued to screens does not a great city make :)

w00t MN represent

Actually "eyes glued to screens" does make for a great city. The way I see it, Gamers are creative (a bit lazy, but still creative). Creative people are needed to keep our cities from growing dull. Just kidding! I'm just glad that Phx-Mesa is high on the list.

HAHA......Texas has 2 cities on the list (Houston and Dallas) !!!!

That makes sense because it rains there 283 days out of the year.

WOOT! i live in seattle!

"eyes glued to screens does not a great city make :)"

But talking like yoda does???

damn, KC didn't even make the list. oh well, St. Louis hit number 7.. close enough!

and @ Bobsworth: he wasn't talking like yoda. he was simply using a sort of phrase format.perhaps those of you up in Minnesota ought to focus less on games and star wars and more on actual conversation.

I would be curious to see how Vancouver rated on that list, or any other Canadian cities for that matter.

Woo Hoo!

Number 2!

"The average age of a gamer is now 30, and 19 percent of gamers are actually older than 50." Now that I think aboout it, as a student in Minnesota, you'll often hear side conversations about someone spending time on xbox live or even the pc side of things that it suprises me who is a gamer. Even among some of my thirty year old teachers and coaches.

I bet the great Kurt Cobain was gamer. I bet his favorite game was Halo.

Its only because it rains constantly there. What else are they going to do play a game of football?

Did anyone else notice the correlation between top video game cities and top the typical resident is a fat asshole cities?

The whole rain argument is wrong for Seattle. I live in a Suburb and yes occasionally it does rain but most days (even in winter) it's between 55-70F and partly cloudy to sunny, not as much rain as others would make you think

What!? What do you mean nothing to do in Phoenix-Mesa area? Do you mean because it's so hot here...? Because that doesn't really matter TOO much.

Damn... no Austin?

Of course Seatle is No. 1 ...it rains every day there.

How is New York 15? I would think first or second, but 15? It is the most populated city in the world and what many consider the capital of the world, but I guess they don't play much video games there. I'm not from New York (woot for New Jersey, the most overpopulated state in the country!) but I would expect that they play more video games there.

I'm happy about Minnesota being one there, but the only reason it is, is because it's too cold to even leave your house for half the year. Mix that with a large population in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and you have alot of gamers.

Oh yea! I'm number... wait wtf! LA is one of the fattest cities in the country and it's not on the list! UIGIUFVNO:P"F!

@ 15. Actually, no. According to Men's Fitness, the cities on the top gaming list are about just about evenly split as far as being "Fat" or "Fit". http://www.mensfitness.com/rankings/304
I think you are just extremely jealous that the Twin Cities own whatever city you live in at being sweet, especially at hockey and video games.

@ 22.
Dude that list is from 2005. Here is the newer 2006 rankings, which does not show my LA as 21st fittest, but 3RD FATTEST!!!! What a difference a year makes.
http://www.mensfitness.com/rankings/358?page=2

w00t!!! Go Seattle!

@23 haha, it's true. What happened down there? But the point that obesity and gaming aren't correlated on these lists is still valid after the update.

Detriot made number 4 because for every person we shoot in real life, we have to shot in GTA.

I live in atlanta. I went to seattle once, I loved it. I wish I could live there, If I don't go to japan as planned.

Living here (seattle) my whole life It does rain often, and that streak of 30 days of non stop rain sucked, but we get our game on, and we are fit, Seattle rocks!

Damn i was hoping nyc was going to be number 1 but to my demise its number 15th. But then again most new yorkers arent hardcore gamers, out of hundreds of friends that I have only me is a hardcore gamer while the average new yorker plays gba or psp on the subway and playstation2 at home, most new yorkers gaming rise are casual. IF you go to the nintendo worldstore in nyc its never really full only tourists visit the nintendo worldstore average newyorkers wont go there. Im really upset nyc came in 15th. But I figured seattle to be number 1. Seattle has alot of hardcore gamers, probably more hardcore then casual, hardcore espicially since microsoft and nintendo usa offices are located in seattle so that gives the average seattle resident to most likely pick up xbox gamecube ds gba and xbox360. Like the xbox360, Nintendo Wii is going to be a huge seller in seattle, while in nyc nintendo wii is going to be a huge flop there. I wonder if this survey or rating or whatever it is comprisis of casual gamers only, hardcore gamers only or both.

and oh yeah on a second note. Why the fuck is E3 is in L.A and when L.A according to this study is not even a top gaming city in America. L.A is probably full of casuals who solely play crap titles day and day out on ps2 and gba. IT would be better to have E3 in Seattle if im not mistaken. Sony would get a huge beatin for trying to invade nintendos and microsoft space in seattle. Hopefully the next E3 would be in seattle and dominated by nintendo and microsoft fanboys like myself. ANd oh yeah i love Apple. Steve jobs your the man.

w00t for Minneapolis!

I'm going to school in Minneapolis and I'm amazed at how popular Nintendo is there, so naturally gaming that is considered 'more prevalent' than Nintendo is pretty huge, I would assume. And why not? Like my school, a lot of students have access to or require sophisticated technology and many use them for games. My school is even starting a game design club, though right now is on the iron lung, otherwise known as basic modding. :P

Seriously though, I had no idea. Are there any devs in Minneapolis like there are in Seattle?

I doubt Nintendo World is a flop, though I agree that it isn't well as a local establishment, it does have a more 'national' identity as Nintendo's secondary store next to the actual Online one, unless they are the same. 0_0

Hey #22 Splorky Fish or whatever stupid ass name you're calling yourself, the Twin Cities suck, and nobody really gives a shit about hockey, so go give Emilio Estevez a reach around.

to add to #31

Hells yeah! Represent for the Twin Cities. Minneapolis/St.Paul 4 evar!

And I'm sure you guys thought Minnesota ws nothing but lakes and farms and cows. Well what now. We've got lakes, farms, cows and...um...gaming.

Seriously though, its nice to see the Twin Cities mentioned for something, especially something as close to my heart as gaming. The Twin Cities kick a lot of ass and they don't get enough credit for it. I do know that the gaming communities are very strong. I'm not sure about companies and stuff. We don't exactly have any big corporate headquarters. I do know that GameInformer is based completely out of the Twin Cities. I'll have to read up on this stuff now.

Anyways, t least now I know that a part of the gaming world appreciates them. *SIGH* I'm so proud. I'm in NY at school now, but I really can't wait to get back home to the good 'ole MN...where I will game with pride.

Eww, number 11? Come on Chicago! It's supposed to be your kind of town.

WOO GO TWIN CITIES!!!#33 is sort of right....yes we have alot of lakes....lots of farms and cows also but their not around the twin cities....for the most part...but hey at least were better than iowa...

And as for MN weather...god i hate it.its not so much the cold its the fact that it could be 76 one day and 45 the next..or snowing....

#31 metahuman what school do you go to taht is starting that club?

*High fives all the fellow Seattle people*

Most gamers, fittest city, and I beleive we have the highest percentage of people with college degrees. This city is awesome.

35
Aww c'mon, MN weather is fun. Its like a hilarious grab bag of weather. Also we get everything from like -40 with windchill to 100+ with ridiculous humidity. Sure, its torturous sometimes, but ya can't say it isnt interesting.

And yeah, Iowa is depressing.

38
yeah you are right it is fun. quite interesting...the only thing is my school NEVER EVER EVER has a snow day. seriously there was one day this year when it snowed alot...and at the end of the day our prinicipal gets on speakers and says "Thankyou for coming to school today even though it was the best idea." W T F...

Thats coming from the principal who happened to get into a ditch cus of all the snow...

"Thankyou for coming to school today even though it wasnt the best idea." My bad kinda messed up ><

but yeah i guess MN does have some interesting weather....lol

Damn straight Seattle should be number one. Not too many cities around where you can make a living as a game tester like me. And we have two companies to make a gaming living off of.

To #31 Atari/Infrogrames has a location in the twin cities, and Halo for Mac was developed/ported in minneapolis.

awsome, I can't believe my city hit no. 7 and I thought st. louis was a good for nothin city

Sorry man but i disagree for example Mexico City has more people than New York.

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/bigcities.htm

;)

Jonny: I guess I should be more obvious when I make jokes...the point was that gaming and hockey are not things that most people care about. I meant to compliment the Cities and at the same time make a little joke about how we're good at things that nobody else cares about.

PS Emilio Estevez is from New York, and he�s not a real hockey coach; he just played one in children�s movies. Now, if you happen to know where Don Lucia lives...

Detroit, fools!

Represent.

"I bet the great Kurt Cobain was gamer. I bet his favorite game was Halo."

I bet the great Kurt Cobain committed suicide. Yeah, let's all worship him.

I like how you all are seeing this as a big contest, when all it comes down to is the number of games etc that people bought, and it's some kind of moral victory if your city is on top. And if you think I'm bitter, I'm not; I'm from WA and grew up near Seattle.

What next? If the FDA shows us all statistics of who bought the most vegetables and your state is on top, are you going to be busting out the champagne over that too? lol. ZOMG VEGGIES FTW!!1!!

"Not too many cities around where you can make a living as a game tester like me."

You say that like that's an enviable position to be in. It's not. I've been a game tester. Most boring, repetitive, overrated job EVER.

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