Men game harder than women: study

A new study has shown that men are more competitive than women when it comes to mobile gaming.

The study, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Amazon, saw 880 male and female gamers interviewed and their playing habits analysed. The study also found that women are leading the trend when it comes to the free-to-play format. 84% of women prefer the free-to-play format as opposed to 77% of men.

“The traditionally-held competitive attitudes of male gamers appear to ring true in the mobile gaming landscape, and our survey data provides several scenarios that showcase these behaviors,” the study noted.

The study went on to state that women were less likely to post their top scores online or complain about bugs or glitches in games.

From there, the study became somewhat patronising, giving game developers “recommendations” on what kind of titles they should focus on in the future.

“Developers should consider the balance of leaderboards and achievements within their games. For example, females may be more apt to work towards achievements as self-motivation vs. getting to the top of a leaderboard.”

“If developers have a game that they think is more female-friendly, it might make sense to publish it as F2P, given female preferences noted above.”

“Developers may use the data as rationale to change their marketing strategies. If they have a female-focused game, and see that reviews aren’t really helping drive sales, they may want to allocate more marketing funds to another means of getting the word out for their title.”

To all the female gamers out there, does this study ring true? Let us know in the comments and forum.