The world of gaming has become popular over the past few years. People might think it is dominated by men but actually, there are millions of female gamers in the various platforms - even in online casinos like 888casino. It is very important for operators and businesses to understand the demographics of their players.
Women and men gamers differ in the platforms and genres they prefer, how they discover games to play, and whether or not they will play with real money.
In this short article we will break down who is more into gaming between the women and men thanks to the research posted on the Newzoo platform.
What is the Mainstream Gaming Demographic?
Looking at the age and gender of all gamers in this study, they found that 46% of gamers aged 10 to 65 are women. Men who are between the ages of 21 to 35 comprise 20% of gamers. But different gaming platforms have varying levels of popularity among genders.
Mobile games are equally popular, with 52% of men and 48% of women playing mobile games more than once a month. But on PC, 48% are men while 35% are women and on console games, 37% are men and 23% are women.
They also found that 66% of the female online population in the United States are gamers compared to the 43% in Belgium.
How Do Men and Women Discover Games?
This study also examined how gamers discover new games. For female gamers, they found that social circles are the main source of game discoveries, with 39% of them discovering new games from friends or family and 20% through social networks.
On the other hand, only 26% of male gamers discover new games through social circles and 24% through online video channels.
The other sources are review and game sites, online advertising, TV commercials, app store rankings, and magazines.
Platforms also affect how gamers discover new games. Mobile-specific factors, like app store rankings, index more highly for women gamers over methods typically used for PC or console games, like magazines. The choice of platform shapes how players find new games, regardless of gender.
What are the Typical Gaming Genres?
Both men and women list strategy games as one of their top three genres on mobile, console, and PC. The most favored franchises are Candy Crush saga on mobile, Call of Duty on console, and World of Warcraft on PC.
48% of women on mobile prefer puzzles, followed by those who prefer strategy games and then arcade games. Meanwhile, 35% of men prefer strategy games, 28% prefer sports, and 26% prefer shooter games.
For PC games, 36% of women prefer action and adventure games, strategy games, and then simulation games. 41% of men prefer shooter games, strategy, then action and adventure games.
Lastly, on consoles, women have the same preferences - action and adventure, strategy, then arcade games. But 38% of men prefer shooter games, then sports, then action and adventure.
These preferences reveal the areas when men and women gamers can differ. Across these platforms, we can see that men favor strategy, sports, action, and shooter categories. Meanwhile women enjoy a broad genre of games even including puzzles, simulations, and arcades.
Information like this is important for developers and marketers in the gaming industry. It is definitely helpful to figure out the best strategies to cater to their gaming audiences, regardless of gender.
