75% of gamers are adults; average gamer is 33

[Kyng]

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/gamin...581101001/

Like to play video games?

You’re in good company, according to the just-published 2022 Essential Facts about the Video Game Industry report, which says about two-thirds of Americans – more than 215 million people – play games regularly.

While this might not be surprising to many, three-quarters of players are over the age of 18, contradicting the common stereotype of a medium dominated by kids, tweens and young teens.

In fact, the average age of a video game player today is 33 years old, according to the report commissioned by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the Washington, D.C.-based organization that serves as the voice and advocate for the U.S. video game industry.

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These stats aren't really that surprising... video gaming is now old enough that two generations of kids have grown up with them and become adults, and many of those people have carried on gaming into their adult years.

Another thing to note is that, despite the popular stereotype of gaming as being male-dominated, there really isn't much of a gender split: gamers are 48% female and 52% male. But again, this doesn't really surprise me: just anecdotally, my female friends have as much interest in gaming as my male friends!

[Shiny Star]

In terms of the gender split, probably depends on the type of game. I definitely play a few games that’s more male-dominated considerably, such as CS:GO, but games like The Sims would have a higher female ratio in comparison. 

Seems like I’m bringing the age average down still!

[Kyng]

Seems like I’m bringing the age average down still!

So am I, albeit only slightly .

Also, I wonder whether they're weighting people by how much they play games here? So, for example, if there's a 20-year-old who games for 3 hours a day, and a 60-year-old who games for 1 hour a day, then should their "average gamer age" be: a) 40 years old, or b) 30 years old (since the 20-year-old games three times as much and therefore contributes three times as much to the average?)

I'd be interested to see whether it makes a difference to the figures .

[Kreashko]

Interesting. On one hand it makes sense, most of the gamers grew up on the NES and SNES. So they'd be in their 30s or 40s. On the other hand its kind of hard to think about. Seeing as gaming to me is known as a kids thing to do.

[Moonface]

On the gender part, I'd be curious if mobile games were included. If so, it only takes a game like Candy Crush to massively inflate the numbers and it comes off to me as a game more popular with women than men. I'd be interested to see the percentages by platforms, age, time spent, etc. to get a wider picture of the whole scene.

[Kyng]

On the gender part, I'd be curious if mobile games were included. If so, it only takes a game like Candy Crush to massively inflate the numbers and it comes off to me as a game more popular with women than men. I'd be interested to see the percentages by platforms, age, time spent, etc. to get a wider picture of the whole scene.

Yeah, this study included pretty much everything that could be classified as a 'game' - so, mobile games were included, and even things like Wordle were included (So, if you play that, then that's enough for you to be classified as a 'gamer', according to this study's definitions).

Of course, that might go some way towards explaining why puzzle games came out as the most popular genre !

[Shiny Star]

On the gender part, I'd be curious if mobile games were included. If so, it only takes a game like Candy Crush to massively inflate the numbers and it comes off to me as a game more popular with women than men. I'd be interested to see the percentages by platforms, age, time spent, etc. to get a wider picture of the whole scene.

This. The context definitely puts it all more into perspective.

[LadyJirachu]

I was a gamer most of my adult years overall and at 32 I still am a gamer but I am a really more casual gamer now and often spend my free time doing things other than gaming now….although, I can get very into games again when I feel I need them to cope with anxiety or over stimulation and stuff. My mood can fluctuate. That said, I started playing a game I really liked last year called Yume 2kki again last night. I might play that more again today, too

[Moonshroom]

My cousin is much more of a gamer than I am and she's a scary one, too - piss her off, see what happens