A survey of 10,000 households in the USA shows that women play a large part in gaming, but the results do not agree with everyone.
What is this study? On June 9, 2023, Mat Piscatella, CEO of market research firm Circana, shared some newly released data on who buys and plays video games in the United States.
The data shows that a good half of all gamers in 2023 so far are women: 47% of console gamers, 50% of PC gamers and 54% of mobile gamers are female. In a second post, Piscatella showed detailed information on the proportions of men and women on different hardware.
While the distribution of gaming PCs is balanced, the proportion of women in PS5 and Xbox Series X/S is slightly lower, but slightly higher in Switch than in men. You can see the exact breakdown here:
Where are the numbers coming from? The data comes from Circana’s “PlayerPulse,” a monthly survey. Gamers from a “nationally representative pool” in the United States who are over the age of 13 and have played video games in the past month are surveyed.
The study collects demographics, engagement, ownership, purchase intentions, and social media usage from a rotating sample of approximately 10,000 households.
For some, the numbers are not surprising, after all, almost half of the world’s people are women and: “Games are fun, people play games, women are people.” But not all the answers under the post are so positive.
From intern to Warframe boss: ‘I said being a woman might be a problem’
No “real” gamers?
How are the reactions? While many gamers reported about their own gaming behavior or that of their partners, some reacted with skepticism, disbelief and stupid jokes.
Some Twitter users questioned the veracity of the numbers, the methodology, or their meaningfulness. They suspected that many women would certainly only buy the devices for their children, or they cited supposedly comparable studies with different results.
From others come the almost expected “No real gamers” sayings. They claim that women only play typical women’s games. Something like Candy Crush or The Sims. Assassin’s Creed is now apparently a women’s game (via Twitter).
A few comments also complain that the evaluation of the numbers was apparently only based on men and women, while non-binary people are not listed, or ask how high the proportion of trans people is (via Twitter).
What do the results mean? The numbers shared by Piscatella are not only interesting for players who see their own perception either confirmed or questioned.
After all, Circana is a market research company and the surveys conducted also serve to show manufacturers that women are a relevant target group (via Twitter). So it might well be worth it for developers to create strong female characters that women can identify with.
Some gamers raised doubts based on their personal experiences: where are all these female gamers, they haven’t met any on the internet or in games. But others caution that behavior in the comments — and in the games themselves — may be the reason why women don’t always want to identify themselves.
Twitch Streamer Speaks in CS:GO Voice Chat – Instantly kicked out when the group realizes she’s a woman