Dude! Your mom's hogging the Playstation, again.
If you've been watching entertainment trends, you knew this was going to happen. According to "Packaged Facts," an independent marketing research company, more than half of the U.S. adult video gaming population is made up of moms, dads and even grandparents.
Besides shooting a big, virtual hole in the theory that most computer gamers are skinny, pale boys who wear black fingernail polish, this new data suggests that video games are quickly overtaking all other forms of media. This phenomenon will have big implications for computer gaming and the entertainment industry in general.
The number of video game enthusiasts is astounding to everyone but the companies who design and manufacture these games. They're too busy counting their money.
There are an estimated 114 million regular video game players. Of these players, 22% are over the age of 55 and 40% are over 45. These gamers spent $6.7 billion (excluding hardware) on video games in the U.S. in 2008.
Not only are there more adults grabbing those joy sticks, but there are as many women as there are men playing. The research strongly suggest that women and older adults are expected to "fuel much of the segment's future growth, with the number of male gamers in the 55-64 year old range increasing by 34% by 2013, compared with only 7% for the 18-34 year old demographics." The company predicts the growth rate among women to be 17%, versus 12% growth rate of men.
There are several reasons for this shift in entertainment spending, including the nose-dive of the economy. As families are forced to curtail their spending on movies, dining out or shopping, they stay home. This has been called "cocooning" and it is a perfect situation for video gaming. This home-based entertainment is made even more compelling by the fact that gaming has become a very popular group activity.
An increase in the popularity of "active gaming" is also fueling this dramatic change in video gaming demographics. Gaming systems such as the "Wii" allow young and old to use hand-held controllers to participate in virtual sports and physical activities. To see how popular the Wii has become, just drop by any senior citizen recreation room and notice how many residents are whooping it up playing Wii bowling and golf!
Another popular active gaming piece of equipment is the plug-and-play "GameBike." This is a stationary bicycle, with a patented steering mechanism that allows the rider to become one of the characters in off-the-shelf chase games. The faster the participant pedals, the faster his character travels in the game.
Perhaps the granddaddy of active gaming is "Dance Dance Revolution." This dance pad craze started with teens in arcades and is now gaining huge popularity as a home-based entertainment options. When companies are changing the music and software of DDR to accommodate older players (which is now happening), you KNOW the demographics of the game are changing.
Other implications for this "maturing" of the computer video gamer have to do with its ability to attract eyeballs, especially those attached to a head of a person who might want to BUY something.
According to this research, these adult gamers are more likely to go to a shopping mall than non-gamers. Also, these "moderate" gamers - those who play video games between one and six time a week- are more likely to be "adult" gamers and they are more likely to notice in-game product placements than the "avid" (i.e. those crazy kids!) gamers.
If video gaming follows the evolution of movies and television, this huge increase in the adult gamers will offer irresistible product placement opportunities for consumer products companies within the games. So, how soon will it be before your favorite shooter game, chase game or Wii fitness game has ads for Polident and Lipitor?
Dude! It's coming and soon.