Video gaming was, in the past, widely regarded as the pastime of geeky males who lacked interpersonal skills and eschewed contact with others, especially those of the female persuasion.  And while the image of the gamer as a socially awkward shut in has largely been consigned to the dust bin of history, gaming remained a stubbornly male-dominated hobby until recent years.  A recent study from The NPD Group shows that the gender balance in gaming is continuing to change, however, with a significant uptick in the number of female gamers in the past year:

According to Gamer Segmentation 2009, the most recent report from leading market research company, The NPD Group, female gamers are on the rise in 2009 compared to 2008, significantly among Console Gamers. There was a four percentage point rise in females among both Heavy Portable and Extreme Gamers.

The report, which provides detailed analysis into the following seven gamer segments, are defined by ownership, usage and frequency: Console; Secondary; Online PC; Avid PC; Offline PC; Heavy Portable; and Extreme. It examines the segments relative not only to each other but to the average gamer, a composite sketch of all gamers, independent of segment definition.
Females increased by five percentage points among Console Gamers, from 23 percent in 2008 to 28 percent in 2009. Since the rise in console usage among Console Gamers can be mainly attributed to the Wii, which increased in usage by 19 percentage points from last year, this underscores the finding that more females are using console systems, especially the Wii.

Vespasian:  Presumably, those additional female “Extreme Gamers” are not among those using the Wii.  When one thinks of the average Wii player, “extreme” seldom comes to mind.   And The NDP Group's definition of such a gamer doesn't exactly strengthen the association:

Extreme Gamers are in a league of their own when it comes to hours played and titles purchased. Extreme Gamers play an average of 39 hours a week, which is 10 hours more than the next highest segment in terms of hours played, Avid PC Gamers.

So, the degree to which a gamer is “Extreme” is determined by the number of hours played.  It would surprise me to learn that Wii gamers spend 39 hours a week (i.e. a full work week!) gaming.  Surely these female extremists are playing on more traditional consoles.

Regardless, it’s encouraging that more ladies are taking up the controller, whether it be to jam on a traditional control pad or to waggle their hearts out.  Here again we see evidence that Nintendo’s plan to expand the games market has succeeded.  Hopefully these gains will be permanent and will extend beyond just the Wii.

Written by :

Vespasian

 

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