‘Gaming Revolution‘ research conducted by the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) has found that the number of female consumers within gaming has climbed steadily, and has now overtaken the number of male gamers within the UK market. The data comes from a broad survey of 4,058 face to face interviews over a vast range of ages and backgrounds.
“This research, conducted by Populus on behalf of the IAB, wanted to provide a detailed understanding of the games market in Great Britain, and the acceptance and preference of using advertising in gaming.“
The study, which took place over a 6 month period, has shown that the percentage of women in gaming has grown from 49% to an incredible 52%, outweighing the subsequent 48% of males. Specifically the study looks at individuals that have played video games at any frequency during the 6 month period – therefore the study may not imply that women game more, or more often than men, but that they make up a greater potion of the over-all UK market.
The growth appears to be primarily driven by the popularity of trivia, word and puzzle games across a variety of home consoles, handhelds, and phone/tablet devices. The genres were named to be the overall most popular categories within gaming, as one third of all participants named one of the three to be their preferred gameplay style.
The shift in the market comes as no surprise as gaming becomes an ever more broader and more diverse industry. The study notes that the over-arching gaming market has grown to encompass roughly 33.5 million Britons, a remarkable 69% of the population. As technology becomes more and more readily available within society, particularly though tablets and smartphones, a vast amount of individuals have turned to gaming where there was previously little to no interest. By the same token, the average age of gamers has grown alongside the industry, proving that a large portion of gamers tend to stay gamers as they grow, rather than abandoning the hobby in their 30s and 40s.
Typically, gaming has always been an incredibly exclusive market – so much so that to this day, many gamers still struggle to accept the broadening of industry parameters and presence of new ‘casual’ gamers. Equally, some gamers appear eager to discredit these findings by writing off the casual market entirely. It’s not hard to see where the defensive nature found in some parts of the community has grown from – many people turn to gaming as a unique, interactive form of escapism from sometimes harsher realities, and often, growth of this form is seen as impeding upon that safe, personal territory.
Fortunately, the gaming community is overall, an incredibly diverse and unique culture. And while some may still enforce a ‘core’ and ‘casual’ gamer rivalry, studies such as the IAB’s ‘Gaming Revolution’ evidences how that community will continue to grow and change as technology develops and becomes more widely consumed within UK society.
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