Well, my preconceptions were wrong. Gamers are not snot-nosed teens, they are their parents. I am spot in the middle of the true gamer demographic at 41, according to CNet, A child’s hobby? Average gamer is 37 years old.
According to the organization, which represents the game industry, the average gamer today is 37 years old. Moreover, the average game buyer is 41 years old. Because of that, a greater number of parents are playing games with their children. The ESA said that 45 percent of parents play games with their kids “at least weekly.”
Business first: the people who are playing games, be it social, shooter, mobile, or whatnot, are not the children of the people who work for a living but probably their dads and moms. It seems feasible that it might well be easier to use game channels to reach the eyeballs of the moms and dads who are actively avoiding your commercials on TV when they get around to their shows on DVR and who are just not seeing the circulars you’re running in the papers they may still buy but no longer read.
Just because you may not be paying attention to where peoples’ attention really is focused doesn’t mean it just magically doesn’t matter. In much the same way that many of us don’t consider AOL, Bing, or Yahoo! relevant any more in terms of search or whatnot, the truth is, all three of these big guys still have a lot of global reach and punch, just because you may have well have put away childish things doesn’t mean our personal perception of the mediasphere are good enough data points upon which to extrapolate.
I personally don’t get it, but I do see people everywhere on their phones, across all ages, races, and demographics, waiting patiently on lines, for the elevator, on the bus, playing Bejeweled, so I know it’s dominating the marketplace. Pay attention.
I also know that a lot of my late-30s, early-40s peers have lost husbands to World of Warcraft (12 million subscribers), though I don’t know any WoW addicts personally.
I am considering buying a Microsoft Xbox 360 (53.6 million worldwide) because I always feel like I am out of the loop. To see what the social network world is like for the console on Xbox Live. Try out the PS3 and the Wii too, since all of them have a pay-to-play, proprietary, online community. Short of that, I need to actively pick the brains of the gamers at Gerris digital.
OK, I do have one confession. One of the reasons why I am avoiding the iPhone 4 or an Android phone and stick with my Bold is because they don’t have a version of Angry Birds (140 million players) for the Blackberry and for that I am grateful.
Feel free to email me at chris@gerr.is or call me at +1 202-351-1235
Learn more about Chris Abraham at Gerris digital.
