An insight into the average gamer

The Entertainment Software Association has released its 2014 sales, demographics, and usage data report about the video game industry in the US, and it makes for interesting reading.

According to the report, the average gamer is 31-years-old, while the number of female gamers – as a percentage of the total gaming population – grew to a decade high of 48%.

ESA 2014 report

The average gamer has been playing video games for 14 years, while adult men and women average 18 and 13 years of play time, respectively.

Women aged 18 or older represent a much larger portion of the game playing population when compared to boys aged 18 or younger, outranking them 36% to 17%.

Purchasing and most popular games

When it comes to the purchasing of games, the average age of the most frequent buyer is 35-years-old, while the gender split for buyers is 50/50.

48% of gamers say impressive graphics and a good storyline are reasons for purchasing a game, while 21% say price is the deciding factor.

The most popular console genre is action, taking 31.9%, while shooters come in second with 20%.

ESA 2014 report

Interestingly, PC games – which were ranked separately – show a vastly different trend, with strategy games ranking first with 38.4%.

ESA 2014 report

The video game industry is worth $21.5 billion (R227,900,000,000) in the US as of 2013, according to the report. The report was based on data gathered from 2,200 nationally representative US households and the most frequent gamers within those households.