Average gamer is 37 years old, still knows how to play Pac Man

The Entertainment Software Association has released some interesting new statistics about the demographics of video game players. The average gamer age is 37; 18% of video game players are under 18, 53% are 18 - 49 years, and 29% are 50 years or older.

What does this mean? It means that more adults are playing video games. Those that grew up playing early Nintendo games or Pac Man arcade games have carried their interest into adulthood. The numbers from the ESA even tell us while there is a gender gap amongst gamers, it's not as much as some would expect: 58% of gamers are male, while 42% are female.

The ESA numbers also indicate that video games are a mainstream form of entertainment, with 72% of households playing them. Those households spent $25.1 billion in 2011 on video games, generating more than 120,000 jobs in 34 states. Such jobs include making the video games, providing customer support for them, and marketing the games to consumers.

Post by Adam Holisky

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