Demographics in games (2017) and 2019 statistics on gender

Overview: Who is Playing?

The average age of gamers: 35 The average age of game purchasers: 38 Households that own a device used for playing video games: 65% Households that own a device exclusively for playing video games: 48% The average number of years gamers have been playing: 13

What are people playing?

Gamers who play social games: 48% Devices the most frequent gamers are playing on: PC: 56%, dedicated game console: 53%, smartphone: 36%, wireless device: 31%, dedicated handheld system: 17%

Playing Video Games as a social outlet

54% of the most frequent gamers play with others 53% of the most frequent game players feel video games help them connect with friends 42% of the most frequent game players feel video games help them spend time with family Hours per week spent playing with others online: 6.5 Hours per week spent playing with others in person: 4.5 Who are they playing with? 40% friend 21% Family members 17% Parent(s) 15% Spouse/Partner

Gender in Gaming

Male gamers: 59% Female gamers: 41%

There are also just as many women playing video games over the age of 35 as under (split 50/50).

60% of video game purchasers are men 40% of video game purchasers are women

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2019 Gender and Age

In the US in 2019 the population of "female" players was 46% with the other 54% being "male".

I personally feel there is no clear way to get a specific gender to play a game, nor should you need to. Instead you should focus on making a game that is fun or convoluted, if it's a story, as this will keep people invested and these people will also bring in more people via the word of mouth. Games will use sex appeal, e.g. Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, to entice those attracted to her and then these people will like the game enough to recommend it to those that aren't swayed by the sex appeal.

However, this approach is slightly dated as the number of people that don't follow traditional social norms are increasing, with homosexual people also getting into games via male characters or vice versa. Therefore, having a variety of games with different Main Characters, or even custom characters, allows a wider audience to approach your games as you are aiming for different demographics not a specific gender and sexuality.

In the US in 2019 the majority of players of games were within the 18-35 bracket at 40%, with below 18 at 21% alongside 50+ and 36-49 at 18%

Time spent gaming

In 2018, Americans aged between 15 to 19 years spent 49 minutes on gaming or leisurely computer use during an average weekday, and more than 90 minutes doing so during weekends or holidays. In a further survey, some 11.6 percent of respondents in the U.S. admitted to playing video games for more than 20 hours a week, while another 11.4 percent claimed to spend between 12 and 20 hours a week gaming.

Players between the age of 18-35 will find more enjoyment in the games industry as they are able to buy their own games alongside purchasing in game content, e.g. MMO items. Alongside this, those between 18-35 will play more social based games and time investment games as an escape from their everyday lives. Due to this, MMOs get a large majority of their player base from this demographic.

Games should be designed based around their target audience when thinking about how it's structured. If the game is a grind fest then it's player base will be those that are able to invest a lot of time, however grind fests can also alienate those that struggle to stay focus and there for should have content that isn't grind based alongside content that is in order to have a wider audience. If the game is a action game like Call of Duty then it's players can play for 10 minutes or for hours depending on their mood. These games are designed in a way that players that don't have the time to spend hours will still play your game.