What SA gamers earn, and spend on games

In this round of reporting on the MyGaming Lifestyle Survey results we take a look at the earning and spending habits of gamers.

Previously we unpacked the demographics of the MyGaming survey participants, painting a broad picture of the high-end gaming market in South Africa. The demographics results can be read here along with notes on statistical accuracy.

Overall earning and spending trend

We asked survey participants to indicate their rand-value gross monthly household income, how much they spend per month buying games, and which platforms they own.

Here are the overall results from the sample size of 1,136:

SA gamers’ income

0 – 10,000: 14.70%
10,001 – 20,000: 19.81%
20,001 – 30,000: 19.45%
30,001 – 40,000: 15.49%
40,001 – 50,000: 10.12%
50,001 – 60,000: 7.48%
60,001- 70,000: 3.17%
70,001+: 9.77%

Gaming spend

We asked survey participants to indicate how much money (rands) they spend on games each month.

0 – 500: 66.99%
501 – 1,000: 25.44%
1,001 – 1,500: 4.84%
1,501 – 2,000: 1.50%
2,001 – 2,500: 0.88%
2,501 – 3,000: 0.18%
3,000 – 3,500: 0.00%
3,501 – 4,000: 0.00%
4,001+: 0.18%

Gaming platforms

Note: this was a multiple choice question, hence the results show which percentage of the 1,136 participants own each particular platform.

PC (Windows / Mac OSX / Linux): 89.88%
Xbox 360: 28.79%
Xbox One: 0.62%
PlayStation 3: 32.83%
PlayStation 4: 9.77%
PS Vita: 5.55%
Nintendo Wii U: 2.38%
Nintendo Wii: 8.19%
2DS/3DS: 7.31%
Tablet PC / Mobile phone: 56.07%
Other: 5.55%

Results drill-down

Below we break down game spending by age bracket.

Average spend per month on games	Age bracket and percentage of the 1,136 survey participants
	Under 20 (5.46%)	20 – 24 (20.51%)	25 – 29 (33.45%)	30 – 34 (21.65%)	35 – 39 (10.21%)	40+ (3.35%)

0 – 500	80.65%	72.53%	62.89%	65.85%	63.79%	73.68%
501 – 1000	9.68%	21.03%	29.74%	25.61%	30.17%	26.32%
1001 – 1500	8.06%	3.00%	4.74%	6.10%	4.31%	0.00%
1501 – 2000	1.61%	2.58%	1.84%	0.81%	0.00%	0.00%
2001 – 2500	0.00%	0.43%	0.26%	1.63%	0.86%	0.00%
2501 – 3000	0.00%	0.00%	0.53%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
3000 – 3500	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
3501 – 4000	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
4001+	0.00%	0.43%	0.00%	0.00%	0.86%	0.00%

From the results we see that the average gamer earns between R10,000 and R20,000 each month, and across the age group most spend up to R500 on games each month.