Two-thirds of online gamers are female


The third annual release of the Nielsen “Active Gamer Benchmark” study is out, and it contains some surprises. While the majority of gamers (70 percent) are male, the balance shifts dramatically when limited to online gamers, which comprised more than half of the total. The study found that nearly two-thirds (62%) of online gamers were women.


The third annual release of the Nielsen “Active Gamer Benchmark” study is out, and it contains some surprises. The study looked at so-called “Active Gamers” (those who play video games on a consistent basis) and found that there were currently 117 million such gamers in the United States. While the majority of gamers (70 percent) are male, the balance shifts dramatically when limited to online gamers, which comprised more than half of the total. The study found that nearly two-thirds (62%) of online gamers were women. This statistic challenges an earlier study issued by ComScore that had pegged the latter figure at 52 percent.

This isn’t the first time that the industry has considered the presence of female gamers. In the 1990s, studies showed that more women than expected were playing video games, and a few companies attempted to fill an untapped market by coming out with “girl games” that were deliberately targeted at a female audience. Most of these companies were unsuccessful, and their failure was typically used as an argument against any further targeting of a female demographic, rather than a reflection of the quality of the games themselves.

In addition to the presence of so many female gamers online, there have been some other demographic shifts as well. While teenagers still make up the largest proportion of Active Gamers (40 percent), there is a solid body of gamers who started when the industry was young and continue to play in their middle years. Over 8 percent of Active Gamers were 45 or older.

Platform preference was also measured by the study. While console ownership broke down as expected based on known sales of the various systems—PS2 at 59 percent, Xbox at 33 percent, GameCube at 30 percent, and Xbox 360 at 15 percent—the surprising figure was the gaming PC, leading the pack at 64 percent. The rise of MMORPGs, particularly the runaway success of World of Warcraft, has kept the gaming PC ahead. Whereas some had expressed doubts about the viability of the PC gaming market in the wake of the next generation of consoles, these statistics show that such fears have yet to be realized.

Who’d a thunk it?

Actually, I would. The only really dedicated gamers on my side of the family are my niece and her daughter. Online gamers at that.

Posted: Sat - October 7, 2006 at 07:30 AM