Women make majority of casual gamers
by Zack Stern 
{ Sep 29th 2006 at 6:40PM }
eMarketer covers two recent studies, saying that casual games make up the most popular genre, and women are the majority of casual gamers. According to a May, 2006 study by AOL, 29% of respondents said that casual games were their favorite genre, with strategy games rating a distant second place at 17%. A survey just released by PopCap says that 76% of casual gamers are female, and 47% are 50-and-older.But marketers can make numbers mean anything; another way to look at the initial survey is to say that 70% of respondents had a favorite other than casual games. (1% said they weren't sure of a favorite.)
However you interpret these surveys, we like the idea of games reaching a more diverse audience. Only after that happens can games be as culturally significant as books and movies.
[Via: Adrants]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Katie @ Sep 29th 2006 6:44PM
I'm honestly not surprised....bring on mario!
http://genericworld1981.blogspot.com/
Eric Von Shpeel @ Sep 29th 2006 6:51PM
and midgets make up a small percent of the population
LordMinogue @ Sep 29th 2006 6:53PM
Its hard to tell between a girl and a sexually confused pre-teen on LIVE. Still, I know several girls who are avid gamers.
cringer8 @ Sep 29th 2006 7:40PM
Books aren't culturally significant. What a niche market.
I take these surveys to mean that girls are more popular than guys and games are only casual if they're popular. Numbers confuse me.
Anonymous @ Sep 29th 2006 7:54PM
It just means more females participated than males, nothing more, and one shouldn't take it seriously.
Andre @ Sep 29th 2006 8:21PM
Usually the hot ones dont play much... they are busy doing something else
epobirs @ Sep 29th 2006 9:24PM
Unless cloning or some other method has become popular without catching my notice, women make ALL gamers, casual or otherwise. Men help a bit but really, it isn't like they're in it for anything other than the immediate payoff.
Lam007 @ Sep 29th 2006 10:01PM
Casual games can be fun. Games will ultimately become the interactive media to replace TV. Think about watching CSI, but actually solving the case on your own by controlling events.
Steve Roger @ Sep 29th 2006 11:02PM
Oh yes, and a recent survey concluded that men have penises.
emceay @ Sep 29th 2006 11:03PM
"Usually the hot ones dont play much... they are busy doing something else"
Like bobbin that knob on the guy not cooped up in his room.
Aljaud @ Sep 30th 2006 4:08AM
seriously, Most of the men probably just didnt do the survey, i know i've skipped hundreds of surveys i was asked to do..this proves nothing except mabye girls do surveys :O
atomicpondula @ Sep 30th 2006 6:09AM
very, very old news. Dunno why "emarketer" bothered, all that had to do was read gamasutra or something. This has been known for at least 2 years.
In other news, apparently we need water to survive!