A new study released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project claims that a slim majority of adults in the United States now play video games, with preferred platform choices being stratified by age group.
Drawing from data collected in surveys during 2007 and 2008, Pew claims that 53 percent of Americans age 18 or older play games on some kind of device -- including personal computers, game consoles, and handheld devices.
In addition, 21 percent of American adults play approximately every day. Meanwhile, nearly all American teens play games, at a proportion of 97 percent.
Unsurprisingly given the disparity between the playing habits of teens and adults, gaming becomes less common among adults as age increases. While just over half of adults play games, 81 percent of adults age 18 to 29 play games -- a proportion that drops to 12 percent among those 65 years of age or older.
That said, amongst that 12 percent of 65-plus gamers, over a third of them play games every day or or nearly every day, whereas that statistic for all other surveyed age groups fell between 19 and 21 percent. Pew postulates that the increased proportion of retirees among that age group contributes to the trend.
Older gamers are also more likely to play games on PC as opposed to consoles. Among adult gamers, proportional PC usage steadily increases from the 18-29 age group, to 30-49, to 50-64, reaching a high of 83 percent, then slightly dropping off for 65-plus. Meanwhile, console usage drops in parallel to a low of 23 percent.
Interestingly, parents were 10 percent more likely to play PC games than non-parents, and a whopping 19 percent more likely to play console games than non-parents; similar gains were realized even with handheld consoles and other portable systems like cell phones.
As a footnote, despite 9 percent of gamers (and 21 percent of teen gamers) claiming experience playing MMOs, a mere 2 percent of gamers reported entering virtual worlds like Second Life.
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Seriously! The largest active populations for games are outside the 18-29 demographic, yet most of us develop games for that demographic. That demographic whines the most about features, steals the most through piracy, buys most games used, causes all sorts of trouble... are they really worth it?
Meanwhile, gamers over 30 are buying games, playing games, buying games for their kids, and generally being a reliable market. Speaking of buying games for their kids... the under-18 demographic is not represented in this survey, but when something like "Imagine: Babies" sells 2.5 million copies because parents are buying games for their kids, there is clearly a potential for profit in under-18 demographics. That's more copies sold than Gears of War 2, and at a far lower cost of development!
This type of survey is counterproductive because it has no merit as a statistical study. By lumping card games in with video games the whole things credability is thrown out the window.
Actually, it's more a question of definition. Why isn't a game of chess played on the computer a video game? It's clearly a game, and it's clearly played through video interactions. If what you mean is that they're not "hardcore" games, then that's true, but trivially so. The point of this type of research is to determine what the potential market is for *all* types of games played on computers and consoles. It's useful for developers to know that there are potentially very large markets of players for games that are not shooters, platformers, etc. In that sense, these types of surveys are extremely useful.
Ultimately I think there might be some conclusions you could draw out of this report but they aren't adequitely represented.
A minor correction: you are under the mistaken belief that all PC games must use cutting-edge technology. However, most games that cater to the over-30 demographic do not use cutting-edge technology. Most of them work on any PC or Mac sold within the last few years. That is a big reason why the potential market is so big: the barrier to entry is very low. An over-30 gamer can play a game on their PC or Mac without extra investment beyond software that costs $20-50, but he or she must pay hundreds of dollars for a console game and peripherals, and the software is $50-60.
More research would be useful. In addition to Mike's suggestion, the other thing that would have perhaps been interesting to see is a break-down into game genres played? I think this survey does contain useful data about target demographics, but it still doesn't demonstrate the experiences these people are necessarily looking for.