Women make up almost half of all gamers


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New report from industry group also finds adult women a more significant portion of game-playing population than boys 17 and under.

 

 

A new report from The Entertainment Software Association has found that women make up nearly half (45 percent) of all gamers. The findings are part of the 2013 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry, conducted by Ipsos MediaCT and based on a poll of more than 2,000 "nationally representative" households.


The report also found that adult women (31 percent) represent a "significantly" greater portion of the gamer population that boys 17 and younger (19 percent). In addition, according to the group's findings, women are 46 percent of the time the most frequent game purchasers.

The report also highlighted trends regarding how closely parents monitor what their children purchase. According to the findings, parents are present when games are purchased 89 percent of the time, while children receive parents' permission to purchase or rent a game 80 percent of the time.

Overall, 52 percent of parents believe video games are a positive part of their child's life.

Other notable findings from the Essential Facts report include 58 percent of all Americans describing themselves are gamers in one way or another. In addition, 51 percent of all United States households own a dedicated game console; and those that do, own an average of two.

The full report is available at the ESA website.

 

Women 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (31%) than boys age 17 or younger (19%)

Is that surprising to anyone? What may be more surprising is that only 6.2% of the best-selling PC games were shooters. Strategy and role-playing games made up a larger portion (24.9% and 28%, respectively).

 

TOP 20 SELLING COMPUTER GAMES OF 2012

1 DIABLO III

2 GUILD WARS 2

3 WORLD OF WARCRAFT: MISTS OF PANDARIA EXPANSION PACK

4 THE SIMS 3

5 STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC

6 THE SIMS 3: SUPERNATURAL EXPANSION PACK

7 ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM

8 THE SIMS 3 SEASONS EXPANSION PACK

9 WORLD OF WARCRAFT: BATTLE CHEST

10 STARCRAFT II: WINGS OF LIBERTY

11 AMAZING HIDDEN OBJECT GAMES 3 PACK

12 THE SIMS 3: PETS

13 MASS EFFECT 3

14 THE SIMS 3: SHOWTIME EXPANSION PACK

15 DIABLO BATTLE CHEST

16 BATTLEFIELD 3

17 THE SIMS 3: MASTER SUITE STUFF

18 THE SIMS 3: LATE NIGHT EXPANSION PACK

19 CIVILIZATION V

20 THE SIMS 3: GENERATIONS

 

Anyway, 55% of gamers are male and 45% are female. I'd like to see the percentage drop for males and increase for females. In my experience, more females play MMORPGs and casual games than shooters or strategy games.

Is that surprising to anyone? What may be more surprising is that only 6.2% of the best-selling PC games were shooters. Strategy and role-playing games made up a larger portion (24.9% and 28%, respectively).

 

 

Anyway, 55% of gamers are male and 45% are female. I'd like to see the percentage drop for males and increase for females. In my experience, more females play MMORPGs and casual games than shooters or strategy games.

 

I know some of my friends who are female that play counter strike, Black Ops, and other shooting games.

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