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Reader Comments (80)

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 8:46AM Mareado said

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Now the "See me on Atari bitch" comment from Xbox live makes much more sense now.

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 8:54AM mrmobius said

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The majority of that 24% probably accounts for Steam sales.

I know I've managed to buy more digital content than actual disc based content because of all those full games Steam every so often sells for pennies.

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 8:55AM baby sea tuna said

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@mrmobius

How would we know though? I don't think Steam ever releases sales numbers.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:18AM Comet 20 said

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@baby sea tuna
Survey gamers, I'm not sure how ESA gets there numbers so I don't want to make any assumptions, but statistics are usually gathered by just surveying people then using the percentages from said survey.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 8:58AM The Tim said

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So more people 50+ play games than under 18? Wow, that's upside down from the days of my youth

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:08AM oxfordfishsalon said

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@The Tim
This is a bit misleading --- say you can play games from age 7, that's 11 relevant years in the first category, 31 in the second, and about 30 in the last. The under 18 cat will be smaller because it represents less people in general.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:53AM HedonisticKai said

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@oxfordfishsalon


There are the same number of young people as old people, and as middle aged people... ;/
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 4:11PM K1LLZONE13 said

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@The Tim
Well there is far less children now, people finally realized that 1 or 2 kids is all that is manageable now a days. The older generations, 50+, have much more people in them, which could account for the large %. Also its a fact that they are more likely to answer a survey which might explain why their number maybe a "bit" inflated.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 8:59AM baby sea tuna said

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Wow, only 19% pay to play online? I'd figure just between XBL and WoW it'd be higher than that.

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:32AM Ballistic H said

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@baby sea tuna

Only half of those connected to XBL are Gold. If you include those who are not connected, then, less than half of Xbox 360 owners pay for XBL.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/12/02/xbox-live-stats-about-half-of-subscribers-pay-for-gold-3-hou/
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:35AM baby sea tuna said

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@Ballistic H

Ah. What if we chucked PSN+ in there?
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:54AM HedonisticKai said

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@baby sea tuna

PSN is not online, so how could we?
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:28AM PR0F3TA said

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@baby sea tuna

i don't think you need PSN+ to play online
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:53AM FakeKevinButler said

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@HedonisticKai

Clearly PSN has been up for a good 2-3 weeks.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 11:07AM baby sea tuna said

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@FakeKevinButler

2-3 weeks may be a bit of an overstatement.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 3:59PM (Unverified) said

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@baby sea tuna How does that mix with how many place facebook games?
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 8:59AM R Planteer said

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I'm confused as to how 98% of parents are confident in the ESRB ratings, while only 86% are aware of the ESRB rating system.

Does this mean 12% of parents have confidence in something they aren't aware of?

Scary.

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:11AM skulld4ddy said

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@R Planteer

"98 percent of these parents"

it means 98% of the 86% who have heard of the ESRB are confident in the accuracy of the ratings.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:44AM R Planteer said

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@skulld4ddy

But it doesnt say "of these parents" in the PDF file. In fact, the 98% is listed BEFORE the 86%.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 11:27AM skulld4ddy said

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@R Planteer

I pulled the quote directly from the press release.

"Eighty-six percent of parents are aware of the Entertainment Software Rating Board rating system, and 98 percent of these parents are confident in the accuracy of the ratings"

seems pretty clear to me
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:00AM ChomskyKnows said

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OLD PEOPLE FTW!!!

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:24AM baby sea tuna said

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@ChomskyKnows

Naturally, as we now know that only old people use the term "FTW."
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 12:17PM kentuckyfried said

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@ChomskyKnows

I'm happy to be officially below the average gamer age this year. =)
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:01AM IronClawt said

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Rise in the lady gamers? Must be a game about pillow fights that was released.

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:01AM HedonisticKai said

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@IronClawt

No, glee and american idol / so you think you can dance clones are releasing quite a bit.


thats why
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:03AM derFunkenstein said

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@IronClawt The rise of "casual" games did it, I think. Diner Dash/Dream Day Wedding/Zynga-ville/insert random object-finding game or time management game here.

That's what did it for my wife, anyhow.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:09AM IronClawt said

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@IronClawt

haha

I was only joking.

When I was dating my wife, she worked at a cybercafe where would we play Gears of War all the time. This is the same lady that reminded me about E3 this year too. So I think she is a pretty Hardcore Lady Gamer.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 11:20AM PN04 said

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@IronClawt
HAHAHAHA Silly people, everyone knows there are no women on the internet.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 12:43PM The Only Girl said

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@IronClawt
Actually we heard a new Elder Scrolls was going to be released.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 12:46PM IronClawt said

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@The Only Girl
I have been trying to get my wife to play Oblivion for forever.
she said she wont play an RPG unless it has Alister from Dragon Age in it.
And sex scenes.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 2:59PM bonkbonks said

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@IronClawt
Zynga bro.
All those free facebook games add up.
The market isn't really expanding so much.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:14AM xreadmore said

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I just acquired some new stats..

Gaming Public Average Ages:
0% Age Fetus
100% Age 0-120
0% Age 120 +

Gender:
100% Male/Female
0% Other

Also, 100% of gamers play games for the purpose of "various reasons".

Buy my book?

/just making fun of the age spread.. 18-49? seems a little all-encompassing.

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:06AM derFunkenstein said

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@xreadmore 18-49 encompasses the demographic that "grew up" with games. People born in the 60s who could have had Pong machines in their home before they graduated high school to fresh adults who remember nothing beyond the last two console generations.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:27AM xreadmore said

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@derFunkenstein
I just think it could have been broken down a little more. Like 18-25 (college kids) 26-32 (new parents?) 32-45 (family people) 45-60 (the orgiginators) 60+ (ipad gamers *zing*)

I just like my stats a little more robust I guess.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:30AM PR0F3TA said

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@xreadmore

are you saying no ladyboys play video games?
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 11:31AM Faceless Troll said

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@PR0F3TA Feeling left out?
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 11:55AM PR0F3TA said

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@Faceless Troll

¬ ¬

i guess i walked into that one.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:16AM JRock3x8 said

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"The survey also found that parents remain highly involved in their children's game play" - my neighbors' kids are still playing COD and I am still hearing twelve year olds in my ear when I play Halo, this has to stop.

Also, I feel like mobile has to be treated separately. People paying 99 cents for Angry Birds are a totally different market than home PC/Console users. I have to imagine that group is still a relatively young sausage fest.

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:28AM baby sea tuna said

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@JRock3x8

Seriously. If XBL included age filters in their matchmaking, I'd pay that $60 a year without breaking a sweat.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:23AM xreadmore said

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@baby sea tuna
Age filter! Dude that is an awesome idea!! Currently I have to set mine to "friends only" so I don't hear all the a-holes, but it also filters out the people that might actually have great team-based multiplayer information.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 2:01PM ll features ll said

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@xreadmore Halo and COD online are fairly PG friendly, cant really see the harm in letting kids play it, Gears of War on the other hand..... maybe not.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 5:21PM maveric101 said

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@baby sea tuna

it would also be nice if they could filter out little kid's voices based on the pitch or something. i get tired of the sqeakers throwing out curse words because they think it makes them seem more mature.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:25AM mrmobius said

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Does solitaire count?

Also, 18-49 is very all-encompassing.

I doubt the spread of gaming is equal throughout that category, as I imagine more people in their 20s play than 40s.

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:26AM baby sea tuna said

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@chicgods242

This is going to look weird when the comment above gets deleted, but when did Joystiq become f*cking "Spam City?"

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:45AM DenebSwift said

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A breakdown would be more interesting. Lumping my mother and myself into the same category of 'gamer' is pretty blah. She's just under 50, and plays a few facebook games. I'm almost 30, game regularly on a 360, PS3, Wii, PC and phone. I'd be more interested in a break down of at least mobile, social and console/PC. Those numbers and trends will tell you where the market is really growIng.

Also - while I'm sure Steam has a fair chunk of that digital realm, don't forget the insane amount of money in social gaming - Zynga isn't valued at bazillions of dollars for nothing. (I mean, except quality content... Nothing there... Ba-zing!) And those CoD addons sold like gangbusters. And XBLA sales are way up...

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:47AM blueskyv201 said

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The problem with all these studies that put forward all these unrealistic numbers in terms of women gamers and say things like "average age of a gamer is 37" or whatever is that, to them, gamer is anyone who has ever played farmville or even held a wiimote in their hands.
Naturally, the numbers are always inflated.
If you look at an average age of a Call of Duty player, it would be around 15-19 years old and 98.5% male.

Posted: Jun 8th 2011 9:53AM deathscythe said

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@blueskyv201

...Are Call of Duty players the only people who should be counted as gamers?
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:05AM Vcize said

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@deathscythe

My prissy cousin who hates anything related to sports once threw a football. Does that make her a football player or an athlete?

In that case, the average age of football players is 6.7, because most 4 year olds has thrown the football around with their dad.

If this study is counting some stupid online flash game or 12 minutes spent with Angry Birds then it's pretty stupid to label it as "gamers". What's worse is that some chump on here is going to cite this study a few months from now and use it to say that there are tons of girls and old people that are playing Battlefield and CoD.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:09AM deathscythe said

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@Vcize

No, but I do know a lot of people who play on a console/PC pretty consistently, and wouldn't touch something like CoD with a ten foot pole (myself included).

It's misleading to count mobile/flash games in these studies, yeah, but it's equally misleading to only count CoD players to say that all gamers are teenage guys.
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Posted: Jun 8th 2011 10:20AM baby sea tuna said

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@Vcize

Who decides who counts as a "gamer?" If my girlfriend plays Angry Birds or Pokemon for as many hours in a day as I play Bayonetta, does only one of us count as a gamer because the game is "teh harc0r3?" It reminds me of the nerd rage over Olivia Munn because she worked on a TV show about video games but is supposedly not a "gamer."

The only people who really seem to care about these terms are the ones that define themselves by them. Reminds me a lot of punk rock in that respect.
http://www.metrolyrics.com/boxcar-lyrics-jawbreaker.html
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