Percentage women play casual games

The gaming industry is growing at an exponential rate, and women form a huge part of this industry. This concludes that women will shape the growth of the online gaming industry in the coming years. Not only is the presence of women in the gaming industry increasing with time, but the popularity of female gamers is on the rise as well, especially on social media platforms. Gamers like Sunita Thapa Magar have 3. Today, entering into the world of gaming has become easier.

The industry is more welcoming and accommodating for people from various backgrounds. This is the reason for the growth of female gamers over the years. A considerable portion of these are casual gamers and the rise of mobile gaming played a big part in pushing this trend. Women game developers in South East Asia continue to enhance existing games and create new formats with graphics that offer fascinating experiences to female gamers.

Online Gaming as a Career A few years ago, a career in online gaming was unimaginable for anyone; online gaming was considered more of a hobby or a medium to relax. But today the market offers a wide variety of job opportunities that offer a bright future for women from all walks of life.

Women today are being appreciated for their professionalism, experience, and love for gaming in the industry. The number of people who download games increased 7 percent in the last year from Mostly this is at the expense of physical purchases, which dropped by Physical game sales are the highest in the U.

Rentals are highest in Italy where 9. Gamers over 60 are the least likely to purchase physical games, and they download, rent, and trade games more often than any other age group. Gamers purchase physical copies most often and download less frequently than other age groups.

Men are more likely to purchase physical copies of games, while women download and trade more often. Nearly 85 percent of global gamers find the process of downloading video games frustrating. In India and Singapore, those numbers exceed 90 percent. The length of time it takes to download games was noted as the top issue globally, with Frustration with download speeds is highest in the U. In India and Italy, downloads being interrupted and having to start over again was the top issue.

Download speeds are the primary frustration for gamers 60 and under. Gamers over 60 are most annoyed by downloads being interrupted and needing to be restarted, closely followed by downloads that do not work. Experienced gamers are the most concerned about download speed, with more than 41 percent of aspiring professionals and experts noting this as their primary frustration. This is because experienced gamers are more likely to play more complex games that require larger downloads, so download performance has a greater impact on their gaming experience.

There are many different types of video games available to be played online, and even more opinions about the best online games and the best mobile games. To compare the popularity of various types of games, gamers were asked how much time they spend playing each type of game on a scale from , where 0 indicates they never play that type of game and 4 indicates it is played most of the time.

Figure How much of your time playing video games is spent playing each of the following types of games? Although Casual Single-Player games are the most played game type across all age groups, gamers prefer First-Person Shooter and Battle Royale games. Fortnite has quickly become one of the most popular video games and helped grow the time spent playing Battle Royale games, particularly with younger players. Older gamers show a clear preference for casual single-player games.

Both women and men play Casual Single-Player games more than any other game type. The largest gap in playing time between men and women is with First-Person Shooter games.

More experienced gamers play First-Person Shooter games more often than other game types. Casual and novice gamers prefer Casual Single-Player games. Along with the growing popularity of online gaming, there has been an increase in the amount of gaming content viewed on video game streaming sites such as Twitch and YouTube Gaming.

In addition, major esports tournaments have also grown in popularity beyond just hard-core gamers. Gamers were asked the amount of time spent each week watching video games and esports online as well as watching traditional sporting events on television and online.

Globally, gamers spend more time watching traditional sports on television each week than watching gaming content online or watching traditional sports programming online. Gamers watch slightly more than three hours of broadcast sports each week, compared to just under two and a half hours of watching other players stream games online on gaming sites such as Twitch.

However, in Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, gamers watch other people play video games online more than they watch traditional broadcast sports. Gamers in South Korea spend the most time watching other people play video games, with almost 80 percent watching weekly.

Figure How many hours each week do you watch other people play video games online such as Twitch or YouTube Gaming? Gamers watch other people play video games online nearly four hours each week.

That is 77 percent more than the two hours 14 minutes they spend watching traditional broadcast sports on television. And gamers watch other people play online an average of three hours 41 minutes per week, only two minutes less than they watch traditional sports on television.

More than 79 percent of gamers watch other players stream games online each week, with nearly 16 percent watching seven or more hours. More than half of gamers 46 and older never watch others play online. Nearly 41 percent of gamers never watch traditional sports on television.

Only Figure How many hours each week do you watch traditional sports on television? While traditional broadcast sports are favored by older gamers, younger gamers are moving away from watching traditional sports on television. This trend will have a major impact on the value of broadcast sports rights in the future.

Gamers rated the importance of various aspects of playing video games on a scale of , where 0 is not important and 4 is extremely important. In every country except Japan, fast performance is the most critical aspect of playing a video game, followed by simple gameplay, interesting storyline, and the ability to play offline.

Figure How important are each of the following when playing a video game? Fast performance is the top priority of gamers 60 and under.

For those over 60, simple gameplay was most important. Performance is the leading issue for both men and women. Simple gameplay and the ability to play offline are more important to women, while an interesting storyline was rated higher by men. Performance is the top priority for all types of gamers except novices, who look for simple gameplay. Gamers play consecutively for an average of 1.

The country with the longest average gaming duration is Singapore, at 1. The shortest is Italy at 1. Younger gamers play for a longer duration than older ones, with those playing an average of almost two hours at a time. Men play an average of 19 minutes longer than women, with more than 17 percent of men playing more than two hours at a time. As expected, aspiring professionals and experts play much longer than casual and novice gamers. Nearly 20 percent of aspiring pros play for more than 5 hours at a time.

Although gamers typically play for an average of 1. Globally, gamers reported their longest consecutive playing session lasted 4. However, longest playing session times range from a low of 2. Figure What is the longest you have ever consecutively played video games at one time? Not surprisingly, aspiring pros and experts have longer consecutive playing times than casual or novice gamers. More than 19 percent of aspiring pros have played for more than 15 hours consecutively.

More than half of casual gamers and novices have never played for more than 3 hours at a time. When gamers get caught up playing their favorite game, they often do not break away to attend to daily activities. More than half have missed sleep while playing a game. The most tired gamers are in South Korea where The hungriest gamers are in Germany, where Indians have missed work while gaming more than any other country at More than 41 percent of Italians have missed time with friends or going on a date while gaming, but only 5.

Figure What daily activities have you missed due to playing a video game? Select all that apply. Younger gamers are more likely to skip a meal, work, or a shower than older ones. However, age is not a major factor when determining whether a gamer is more likely to miss sleep or skip spending time with friends. More than 35 percent of gamers who work play video games during work at least once a month, with 9.

From a purely business standpoint, it makes sense for the games industry to make an effort to be more representative of its audience. Developing games that appeal to a broader audience requires a broad range of perspectives. I think, and I hope, that for the games industry and for people who play games, the best is yet to come. Because the facts are in: games are for everyone. This article is more than 7 years old. Meg Jayanth. Cast aside the old stereotype — women are now the majority among games users.