Interesting Video Game Demographics

[-HP-]

It's US only (afaik) but interesting facts.

[mjens]

Gamers are so old? Damn, also the Wii products for women is a nice business I guess...

[dux]

We ain't getting any younger.

[Erratic]

Those stats are way too positive, I don't believe it.

[Warby]

this study clearly was paid for by somebody within the game industry !

[Campaignjunkie]

Um, yeah, can we get stats that the ESA didn't pay for?

[Izuno]

This report blurs US retail console/handheld video game consumers with Facebook "gamers" and online PC gamers and F2P online/browser/Yahoo!/Pogo type users.

The data on sales is from NPD and that's generally pretty accurate. The usage data is where it gets a little sloppy because it's based on surveys and those don't do a great job of distinguishing out a "casual" gamer vs. a "traditional" gamer or however else you want to segment it, even though they try to do that.

Regardless of what stats it says, the average age of console gamers does grow with time as Gen-X gamers from the 80s/90s have continued to game now that they all have jobs and families. It's just they typically don't game for as long a period of time and what they play on is more than just consoles and PCs. And Gen-X's have kids now, so you get all these 30 and 40 year old dad types playing Wii or LEGO Harry Potter and what not with their kids. And that dad might play Madden/FIFA/Call of Halofield Auto 17 etc. after wife/kids go to bed. So those parents get factored into the survey that says the average age of a gamer is like 34 years old.

Segmenting the gaming market is much more complicated than it used to be and this report doesn't explain that. So don't fret. And also, it's a good thing that people continue to game as they age. Cause it helps grow overall demand for games, even if the platforms are no longer just PC/console/handheld.

[Minos]

I'm yet to see a 38'ish man playing videogames. I don't know any in my social circle.

[2d-chris]

wot crock o'shit - actually average purchase prob is 38, parents buying games for their kids

I know a "few" 38+ actual gamers, but 90% under 30 ...

[twiz]

Problem with their average is they lumped 18-49yrs. If you say "49% are about 33.5(average of 18 & 49), 25% are 18, 26% are 50" it averages out to 34. They should have broken it down into smaller groups, say 5 year intervals. I think you'd see the majority in the 15-20, 20-25, and 25-30 groups.

Also, how many 5-10 year olds took this survey? A lot of little kids play Wii/DS/etc, but I doubt any of them are interested in taking a survey. And how many of them buy their own games?

[Izuno]

wot crock o'shit - actually average purchase prob is 38, parents buying games for their kids

I know a "few" 38+ actual gamers, but 90% under 30 ...

As I said, they are including people who played 5 minutes of Angry Birds and nothing else as a "gamer" in their analysis. Average age of a Call of Duty or World of Warcraft gamer? Or typical console action game? Yeah, it's under 30 for sure.

So in other words, you are correct that the report's average gamer age is really misleading and they are mixing apples and oranges and that doesn't paint the correct picture. Thus, take it with a grain of salt.

[KungFuSquirrel]

I don't know why you guys are so eager to dismiss these numbers. Every report for years has shown an aging "gamer" demographic that is broadening far beyond the hardcore club it used to be. Since you guys are tossing out anecdotes of not knowing anyone older, let me offset that. We've rolled a lot of the Warhawk community into our fan base for Starhawk, and have on two occassions brought in one of our dedicated Warhawk fans for a studio tour and a first look at the game. Both brought their 13ish-year-old sons, who they have played Warhawk with for years. Both probably in their mid-30s. Most of my studio is older than me, and I'm 28. I was introduced to games in 91/92 or so by my grandpa, who was in his early 60s at the time.

I see more and more parents playing with their kids now, or being involved in some form, which is such a far cry from the days of parents just buying whatever the hell their kids wanted and then complaining to the media when it was more intense than their pre-conceived notions of Pac-Man let on.

People play games. That's a good thing.

[Campaignjunkie]

I'm eager to dismiss the numbers because there's an agenda behind them: to portray the game industry as more inclusive than it really is. How many 50 year old mothers will play Starhawk with their daughters? Are we making those billions of dollars from 50 year old women yet? What if a 53 year old man visited Lightbox by himself, outside the context of being a good parent who plays console games with their kids son -- then wouldn't that be a little weird?

I'm not saying we need a "games for girls" or "games for seniors" thing because that's stupid -- but that JPEG is trying to hide how the core console industry is still a "games for boys" manshoot circle jerk.

Fortunately, I love men shooting and I love circle jerks, so that's okay... an industry catered to the tastes of young men is great as long as we don't lie to ourselves about it and fudge some numbers as Izuno mentioned, just so some lobbying group (like the ESA) can point to it to claim the game industry is a universal good, resist government regulation and enact their own agenda.

TL;DR yeah it's good that more people play games and I love FPS games blah blah blah, but we shouldn't forget the industry still has lots of problems and don't kid ourselves about how far we still have to go blah blah blah, AND don't let the Big Corporate Conspiracy pervert our love of games into a form of political lobbying

[Sentura]

i think most of those statistics apply heavily for social MMOs, second life, world of warcraft and the wii

[JamesKing3d]

i guess numbers like this end up so lumped together, it's a shot at the "whole" game industry, rather than "hardcore gamers" or "social gamers" I remember when I was about 10 (1993) this guy who ran a gas station played golf ALL day while behind the counter, on the work PC, because the gas station was so slow. and that dude was 50. I work with at least 3 people here in the States that are above 35 and play regularly. (one of which is on XBL daily playing COD or Noire) so as a whole, it's a pretty awesome wide-ranged demographic.

I find year by year my game-time fluctuates as I settle into adult life. my first year of being a dad i had tons of time to play, played from 10PM-2AM 3-4 days a week, as I would pause and feed my daughter when she woke up at 11 and 1... but year 2 I cut back like 70%.... I think I play for an hour or two once or twice a week now.

so, it's a massive industry, with TONS of people playing games. As much as I usually can't stand Casual games, I can't deny that it's part of the industry, and a huge part.