Female game shoppers persuaded by freebies, determines survey
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Dec 9th 2006 at 1:25AM }
Attention would-be game marketers: According to the "Customer Focus Tech Savvy" survey, Gen-Y females are suckers for the ol' special offer -- who isn't? Thirty-two percent of participating females, born between 1977 and 1994*, agreed that "special offers like free items or discounts" are the most important factor in deciding where to purchase video games. Not surprisingly, "parents" and "adults" (the other vague statistical categories polled) agreed.Retailer owners may also take solace in the discovery that almost no one surveyed thought herself attracted to helpful staff or demo kiosks. Just stick with the swag and pimply-faced dimwits.
*Range used by survey; official Generation Y range varies: "there is no precise consensus as to which birth years constitute Generation Y. For instance, while the periodical American Demographics typically uses 1976 to demarcate the start of Generation Y, the demographers Howe and Strauss have consistently used 'the High School class of 2000,' or those born in 1982 as their demarcation" [Wikipedia].
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
wizard poop @ Dec 9th 2006 1:38AM
I just had an idea to increase video game sales to females. Thanks for the inspiration, Joystiq. Why don't we bundle games to freebies that every woman needs, such as feminine products. Perhaps a copy of with some Massingill? Or a free box of tampons with purchase of any two Electronic Arts titles. Anybody with me on this?
Figcoinc @ Dec 9th 2006 1:43AM
Gen Y? 1977? I was born in 1978? What the hell? Gen Y is the kids of Gen X isn't it? I'm a Gen X kid. Born in Late 80's Early 90's is Gen Y.
Cherry May @ Dec 9th 2006 2:39AM
I suppose I can file this one under the 'sad but true' department, as I was all over the Guild Wars Factions collectors edition (extra artbook, soundtrack, calendar, mousemat, in-game pet), even down to recommending it to most gaming friends. "The mousemat! It sparkles and everything!"
I've also been highly tempted to buy the NWN2 Lawful Good collectors edition, and the Atelier Iris 2 european pre-order which came with a figurine, but luckily sense got the better of me and I suddenly realised I never got around to completing NWN1 or Atelier Iris 1... and didn't really need to spontaneously get their sequels.
Worse still, I've become a total sucker for bigfishgames' casual game offer, where they're all 'Each game is $20, unless you buy one every month for a year, then they're only $6.99!' deal. Even though I know the $20 price is blatantly overcharged... the $6.99 subscription thing just sounds so appealing! I mean, it's not that much money, right? Even if I am just playing for glorified flash games...
Author X @ Dec 9th 2006 2:41AM
Well... duh. Game costs the same at two retailers. I trust them equally as much. One gives a free shirt/mousepad/watch/bobble-head. Which am I going to shop at, do you think?
Actually, they need to do a lot more bobble-head promotions. Those are awesome :3
J13 @ Dec 9th 2006 5:24AM
Hey, whatever it takes to attract more female gamers. At least they don't act like immature, ignorant, racist tough guys and making homophobic comments. They also don't whine as much as most of the male gamers I've played against.
Heck. Give them the games for free. That'd be fine by me.
Brandon @ Dec 9th 2006 5:29AM
I like free things, I'll shop where I get free items.
otakucode @ Dec 9th 2006 6:03AM
All you journalistic geniuses that refer to the generation following Generation X as Generation Y... what're you going to do after Generation Z? Perhaps you should have gone the route of NOT ignoring the fact that the proper name for the generation is Gen 13 as named in the book of that name?
The generation before Generation X was not Gen W, calling the next one Gen Y is almost laughably like "screw it, we're Generation X... slackers, remember? Let's not bother doing any sociology and just increment the letter and make sure the name doesn't have any signficance whatsoever".
/pet peeve
otakucode @ Dec 9th 2006 6:03AM
Brandon and Author X: Joystiq doesn't give a damn about your shopping habits, you don't have a vagina! Silly dudes thinking your opinion and a womans would be given equal shrift by journalists! Sure, everyone of both sexes will take freebies over no freebies... but if you can throw in something about how some fallopian tubes were involved, you've got devisiveness there! If it bleeds, it leads!
Alex Casto @ Dec 9th 2006 9:10AM
How very odd these statistics are. Does anyone know what methods are used to market other kinds of products to women? Something doesn't add up.
Alice @ Dec 9th 2006 9:54AM
We like free stuff and needed a survey to prove it...?
Skaman @ Dec 9th 2006 10:41AM
So check your facts before calling people born in 1977 generation y. Gen Y starts in 1986.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generations
JRM @ Dec 9th 2006 12:29PM
That wikipedia generation list is waay too complicated. There's way too many Generations happening near the end.
However, being born in 1979, I agree that I was on the cusp of generation X and whatever came after. I was too young to make decisions in the early 90's, and too old to make trouble bw 1999-2002.
Author X @ Dec 9th 2006 1:49PM
otakucode, the only reference to any "Generation 13" I could find was a book by Strauss and Howe, which referred to Generation X as 13, not Y. For that matter, it was because they are the "13th generation to know the american flag" - and I don't see how that's less arbitrary than incrementing the letter, for that matter I would like to hear what cultural and sociological factors led to the term "X" - and not just an arbitrary label used to discuss them.
And you know, many of these comments remind me why I sometimes find the internet disheartening. It's an obviously vague range of years, defined differently using different criterea all accross the board, and yet there are several comments of "You're WRONG and I'm RIGHT because GenY means exactly THIS."
Secondly, I really fail to see the significance of this one statement because it says NOTHING about attracting women to gaming, or to buy certain games. It says "deciding where to purchase video games" - WHERE. These are women who already want to buy a game, and are simply deciding which store to go to. Aside from that, it's one factor in the study - special offers was only one of three that had were far above the rest, the other two being having new games in stock and having diverse stock. All three of which are a big DUH. And in-store kiosks? This is something that I'm sure affects which systems and which games to buy (or whether to buy any), but again, once that decision is made, it's independant of where. If you can get a free game rentals every month for a year when you buy a PS3 at Game Crazy, are you going to buy at Target just because it's where you first played one?
Juan @ Dec 9th 2006 3:10PM
to me generation x is symbolic as much as biological. GEEKS: get your hedz out of the textbooks, close wikipedia, and read some douglas coupland. THAT'S what generation x is about. wgaf what decade these people were born in; gen x is an ideology, yo.
otakucode @ Dec 9th 2006 8:27PM
Author X: There was a book called either Gen 13 or Generation 13, I forget which the title was. I can't seem to find it on Amazon, but I have it around here somewhere. Generation X came from a book by Douglas Coupland, and Coupland even did the introduction to Gen13 I believe.
The reason behind the "13" was a very good one, and why I defend it. Well, that and because it was coined way before news outlets started talking about "Generation Y". Gen13ers are the first generation expected to do worse than their parents. The book goes into why this is, and how Gen13 is the first generation to grow up being viewed as "bad" by their elders. Even though youth crime rates were much higher in all of prior history than it is now, it was always overlooked and youngsters were viewed in a sort of "kids will be kids" sort of way. But starting in the late 1970s, there was a cultural shift. Kids were cast as evil in movies for the first time (Rosemary's Baby being the first mainstream movie, followed very quickly by a veritable torrent of evil-kid movies) and such. When kids do something wrong nowadays, they are viewed as defective and evil, not just fooling around like kids were humored previously.
I don't know if the economic predictions that they will make less money than Generation Xers is panning out or not. I'm really surprised I can't find the book in Amazon, I'll need to dig out the ISBN and see what I can find out about it.
wizard poop @ Dec 10th 2006 12:58AM
Gen 13 was also a pretty silly Image comic from the mid 90s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen%C2%B9%C2%B3
Judd @ Dec 10th 2006 1:16PM
Hey Skaman this is what your link said:
"Generation Y, also known as the Echo Boom, or Millennium Generation, grew up with many world-changing events including the rise of mass communication and the Internet. (1976-2001 widest possible definition commonly cited)"
The fact is so many sociologists want their definition to be acknowledged so they set up their own rules. Since I was born in 1986 I'm considered part of Generation Y yet somewhere between Boomerang Generation or Echo Boom. They should just make it the 1980's. I think the main thing about Generation Y is the rise of the Internet. 1977 is too old, Generation Y should not remember Michael Jackson as being black. And 1994 is too old, you need to remember what it was like when everyone had dial-up, and your knowledge of the Internet extends beyond your My Space page.
Oh, and I hate these kinds of surveys because they are suprised by the responses yet ask the dumbest questions. Well duh, people care more about getting free stuff than what the sales staff say to you. Even the highly responded choices were stupid. Basicly any game store will have selection for your system(unless you play the N-Gage), and new games in stock.
Why have a question of new games in stock but not independent or older games? I guess most adults and women are not going into stores looking for Ikaruga.
The only thing that really differentiates one store from the other is prices. And because of that, they should have put free items and discounts into two seperate categories. I might go into Gamestop for a free demo disc, or I might go into Costco for games that are 5 bucks cheaper. Two different things. Prices, isn't the biggest thing that persuades female gamers, it's basicly the ONLY thing.
Judd @ Dec 10th 2006 1:16PM
correction:1994 is too young.
ackmondual @ Dec 10th 2006 2:35PM
Could this also mean that female "gamers" have less $$ to work with? Not to sound sexist, but women are higher maintenence, as proof of their higher health insurance and indications of the stuff they spend.
I remember in the SNES days, Nintendo Power had manufacturer's coupons for some of the most popular games out there. $5 off SNES games like Final Fantasy 6, Illusion of Gaia, or Maximum Carnage.... $4 off NES games like Kirby's Adventure..... or $3 off GB games like Donkey Kong or Link's Awakening. These may not have seemed like much savings back then, especially when you're a kid with no income, but man, I would Almost kill to have these coupons now. They really do add up.
Trina @ Dec 11th 2006 1:20AM
I think anyone likes free swag. I witness 40 year old men go crazy for a free tshirt at a basketball game. This is the most ridiculous survey I have ever heard of.
Teenagers actually have the highest level of disposable income.