Newzoo: Video games now embraced by all post-war generations
The stereotype of the lone, young male gamer has long since been banished, but the latest consumer research by Newzoo suggests that engagement with video games is now so widespread that even your average Baby Boomer is more likely to be a gamer than not.
A new Global Gamer Study entitled How Consumers Engage With Games Today from the consumer insights team at Newzoo suggests that a majority of the Baby Boomer generation – 53%, to be precise – engage with video games. Baby Boomers are classed as people born between the years of 1945-1954.
‘Engaging’ is classified as doing one or more of the following within the last 12 months: playing games, viewing games content, visiting online games communities, listening to games podcasts, attending games conventions, discussing video games with family and friends, or a number of other associated activities including those who ‘often’ follow video games channels online.
Unsurprisingly, the number of gamers within any given generational demographic increases in line with a decrease in age, climbing to 72% of Gen X (born between 1965-1980), 88% of Millennials (1981-1994), 92% of Gen Z (1995-2009) and 96% of Gen Alpha (2010 or later).
Among the most engaged demographic, Gen Alpha, those who are classified as ‘game enthusiasts’ even spend more time (5.2 hours per week on average) engaging with games than any other activity, including even the mighty social media. “This underscores how gaming has become mainstream and, for each new generation that gets into gaming, leads the way forward for media and entertainment culture,” the report states.
Games Rule the World
In terms of overall ubiquity, the Global Gamer Study – which surveyed over 73,000 consumers across 36 markets – found that 85% of online consumers worldwide are considered to be ‘game enthusiasts’ who engage with the hobby through playing, viewing, owning and/or social behaviour. Additionally, 80% of global consumers actually play video games.
Across the three youngest and most
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