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[taps]

Seems the assumption here is that hardcore gamers are male hence women don't really go for complex epics. If this is the conventional wisdom writ large I will continue to expect the same 90s tropes from my games.

Also, I am not sure every woman might feel as safe camping outside a game store in a sleeping bag on a public sidewalk as a man. Might the fear of assault or at least harassment keep a female gamer wanting a launch Switch at home? Thus leaving those potential spots to be filled by more men and feeding the demographic cycle and the preconception of who is hardcore in the first place.

 

[Macka]

Seems the assumption here is that hardcore gamers are male hence women don't really go for complex epics. If this is the conventional wisdom writ large I will continue to expect the same 90s tropes from my games.

Also, I am not sure every woman might feel as safe camping outside a game store in a sleeping bag on a public sidewalk as a man. Might the fear of assault or at least harassment keep a female gamer wanting a launch Switch at home? Thus leaving those potential spots to be filled by more men and feeding the demographic cycle and the preconception of who is hardcore in the first place.

I think it has more to do with the genre tbh.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...ks-down-game-genre-playerbases-by-gender.aspx

Game analytics consulting firm Quantic Foundry has conducted a study surveying over 270,000 people who play games and has broken down the results. The survey asked participants that used a "Gamer Motivation Profile" to list some of their favorite games, from all-time favorites to recent titles they're enjoying, then list qualities they enjoy in a game.

Using this method, the study found the genres women play most and least. The two genres most populated by women are "Match 3" and "Family/Farm Sim", with playerbases that are 69 percent female. Next were "Casual Puzzle" and "Atmoshperic Exploration," whose playerbases are 42 and 41 percent female, respectively. The genres least-populated by women are Sports, "Tactical Shooter" and Racing, which only clocked in at two, four, and six percent, respectively.

Something like 41% of gamers are women, but for the most part the games they are playing aren't really 'hardcore' type games.

 

[yurinka]

That gender distribution :/ rip

They improved it compared to the WiiU eShop demographics NoA shown in an "Unity for WiiU" talk.

Back then it was 93% of men if I don't mistake. In any case, seems to be somewhat similar to Steam (according to the SteamSpy guy who did use public internet tools to know the gender of the Steam website). The "almost half of all gamers are women" quote comes from the insanely big mobile gaming market, where more or less half are women (according to Super Data, Newzoo, ESA, etc).

I assume in PS and 3DS the percentage of women should be higher than 10% but closer to that than to 50%, but I don't have numbers to back this.

Something like 41% of gamers are women, but for the most part the games they are playing aren't really 'hardcore' type games.

True, comparing Quantic Foundry results with what I posted above makes sense. In mobile female prefer puzzles, match 3 (King-type games) etc, while males prefer more Clash of Clans/Game of War/Clash Royale-type games.

69% are 19-34 years old and 90% male. Excellent news because it seems to line up with the AAA demographic. Maybe western publishers will start looking at bringing their games to the Switch if this keeps up? Did they release statistics like this for 3DS or Wii U?

As stated above yes, they shared the WiiU ones and are pretty similar. So they are in line with the hardcore Nintendo fan who ever supported the WiiU. Not sure if in line with the average PS/XB user because we don't have this data.

 

[Spy]

I think it has more to do with the genre tbh.

Something like 41% of gamers are women, but for the most part the games they are playing aren't really 'hardcore' type games.

Pretty much. I don't personally know any women who play games aside from Match 3 and freemium farm iOS games.

 

[Soph]

I think it has more to do with the genre tbh.

Something like 41% of gamers are women, but for the most part the games they are playing aren't really 'hardcore' type games.

What if they play a hardcore family sim like Crusader Kings 2?

 

[Waluigilicious]

Nothing wrong with that gender ratio. I've got a Switch, my girlfriend and sister havent got one yet. They've got 3DSs and they'll get a Switch.. "whenever"

Spoiler

And even then they probably wouldn't really end up taking part in this survey

 

[chillybright]

Seems to be in line with the earlier data.

I'd wager, that the early adopters and hardcore fans are probably those who also had (S)NES, based on their age.

Interesting as the demographics for Nintendo console and games are pretty much the same.

 

[Curufinwe]

Real talk when Animal Crossing drops there will be more female Switch owners.

That's the game that will definitely get a Switch into my household. My wife played a grand total of zero Wii U games because Nintendo couldn't get a real AC out for it. I only bought and played 3 - Bayo 2, XCX, TMS #FE.

 

[manzo]

I thought the age aspect was interesting. The largest age group is in their late 20s/early 30s. Most people who don't like Nintendo think it's for kids, but the demographical data doesn't lie.

I'd say that it's the 80's generation who grew up with Nintendo is now exactly at that age group.

 

[PillarEN]

Nintendo consoles aren't for kiddies. Majority of users are mid 20s to 30s.

It is pretty interesting how much smartphones are the big deal among kids/preteens as opposed to any console. Not a shock but more of a cultural shock. Or aftershock I guess as I know this but my mind is in a denial phase about it coming from the Gameboy generation.

 

[xxMaximusxx]

The statistics that always show female gamers are near 50% (like the recent ESA report) always include mobile and social games (ie facebook). Not sure why that detail always gets left out when people go report it.

The stats from Nintendo are not surprising at all.

 

[mickagau33]

It is pretty interesting how much smartphones are the big deal among kids/preteens as opposed to any console. Not a shock but more of a cultural shock. Or aftershock I guess as I know this but my mind is in a denial phase about it coming from the Gameboy generation.

When I was a kid, the GameBoy was the "easy solution" for parents regarding gaming and their kids : no need of a TV screen and cheaper than home consoles. I think Smartphones are just that nowadays, the easiest solution : games are free, don't require a TV screen + everybody has a mobile phone now.

 

[Platy]

I think it has more to do with the genre tbh.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...ks-down-game-genre-playerbases-by-gender.aspx





Something like 41% of gamers are women, but for the most part the games they are playing aren't really 'hardcore' type games.

The genre that best describes THE game to buy a switch right now is "Atmoshperic Exploration"

 

[Vital Tundra]

So basically us men are huge ass nerds and women have more patients and will get it when it's readlity available?

 

[Nitpicker_Red]

Following the Siliconera link to the actual presentation PDF there's one point about BotW at page 4:

By averaging our global sales numbers, we
know that close to 90% of all consumers who
purchased Nintendo Switch also purchased this
title.

Approximately 90%* of consumers who purchased Nintendo
Switch purchased The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Source: Nintendo, Media Create
* Based on sales of the Nintendo Switch version of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
(including digital sales) and the worldwide sales of Nintendo Switch hardware as of the end of March

I thought Nintendo said BotW for Switch sold more than Switches, but here they say 90%?

”That means that Nintendo sold more of this game [Breath of the Wild] for Nintendo Switch than it sold Nintendo Switch systems, for an attach rate of more than 100 percent," Nintendo said. ”This may be attributed to people who purchased both a limited edition of the game to collect and a second version to play."

From http://bgr.com/2017/04/14/nintendo-switch-vs-zelda-sales/
Is it just differing timeframes, or was the previous quote a misquote?

Edit: Apparently the difference is that the 102% quote was for the US only, the 90% quote is worldwide. Thanks!

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Following the Siliconera link to the actual presentation PDF there's one point about BotW at page 4:




I thought Nintendo said BotW for Switch sold more than Switches, but here they say 90%?

Is it just differing timeframes, or was the previous quote from a different analyst company?

100+% attach rate was only in the US.

 

[chillybright]

I think it has more to do with the genre tbh.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...ks-down-game-genre-playerbases-by-gender.aspx





Something like 41% of gamers are women, but for the most part the games they are playing aren't really 'hardcore' type games.

Do they have breakdowns for age?

 

[nekonoko]

Can we have uncensored games now?

 

[gaiadyne]

Can we have uncensored games now?

They are coming

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Re: gender breakdown, I'm probably stereotyping here but I feel like men are more likely to be early adopters. I don't know many women who will rush out to buy a new product on release day, but I know several men who do. Completely anecdotal of course.

Just going by the gender of the miis I see in Mario Kart online, the gender breakdown doesn't surprise me a ton. I definitely saw more female miis when I played MK8 on the Wii U.

 

[Drencrom]

Nintendo consoles aren't for kiddies. Majority of users are mid 20s to 30s.

Yeah, it's too bad they still treat customers and users like they are 10 tho.

 

[paragonpro]

Age demographic isnt shocking, zelda for instance is something i could see a young kid having a really tough time getting into as its pretty challenging at the start, however i think with mario kart out now we will see more children interested, especially when pokemon and minecraft come out.

 

[Macka]

The genre that best describes THE game to buy a switch right now is "Atmoshperic Exploration"

Nah, they just gave the category a weird name

Nick Yee, creator of the study:

By “Atmospheric Exploration”, we meant games like: Journey, ABZU, Gone Home, Dear Esther.

Zelda doesn't fit in with those games at all.

 

[mickagau33]

They are coming

What is THAT ?! lol

 

[SlipperyFishes]

Yeah, thats weird.

Wonder if they thought "how many games do we have that women play? 10%?"

 

[Oersted]

Email recipients: about 800,000 / Response Rate: about 3.5% (as of April 17)

I do think such a sample is inherently lacking

 

[GRaider81]

Anecdotal but my wife and daughter use our switch way more than me.

I did buy it and do survey though.

 

[disco]

Seems to be in line with the earlier data.

I'd wager, that the early adopters and hardcore fans are probably those who also had (S)NES, based on their age.

Yes sadly as a 27 yr old male member of the Nintendo faithful - this data suggests the Nintendo faithful largely bought the system in droves. However, I would suggest it's also a % of the gaming tech faithful in general (online or at least GAF implies lots of impressed dedicated gamers) - as I personally believe there are more female Nintendo faithful than any other console fan segment (source: Symphony of the Goddesses concerts ha).

So whilst a marked improvement over the Wii U - the thing still isn't (obviously!) a total mass market success just yet. But positive news nonetheless.

 

[chillybright]

What is THAT ?! lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssg-co8MBQE

 

[zigg]

Shout out to the 25-34 year old males that bought this system.

Spoiler

I'm one of them.

40-year-olds REPRESENT

 

[Marcel]

Why does Nintendo continue to chase the kids market again in the face of numbers like this?

 

[CaviarMeths]

I really hope Nintendo (and other publishers) see this as an opportunity instead of a lost cause. There's a huge untapped market of women who enjoy gaming. I know all you duders have SOs, sisters, moms, and daughters who love games. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft should all be fighting dirty to get them in their ecosytems.

 

[Coffinhal]

Survey is flawed and not representative given how it has been conducted (bad sample)

 

[Marcel]

I really hope Nintendo (and other publishers) see this as an opportunity instead of a lost cause. There's a huge untapped market of women who enjoy gaming. I know all you duders have SOs, sisters, moms, and daughters who love games. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft should all be fighting dirty to get them in their ecosytems.

The battle for womens' money is in mobile gaming and not for consoles. I'm not saying it's a completely useless battle but it's a big uphill one.

 

[redcrayon]

Why does Nintendo continue to chase the kids market again in the face of numbers like this?

They chase families (or at least aim to make their main titles playable by both adults and kids) rather than kids directly, as a typical family might buy multiple hardware units for kids over the years. The early adopter market aren't the ones buying multiple 2DS units in year 6, for example.

Most hardware manufacturers start off by aiming at young men who are more likely to put £350+ down at launch and then broaden the appeal afterwards. Nintendo just starts off slightly differently by having their main action-game franchises aimed at everyone rather than being incredibly violent and 15/18-rated, it doesn't mean that they don't realise it's mainly young men playing Zelda. Personally I think you can flip the question around and ask why so many of the highest-profile 'system-seller' games need to be so full of graphic fantasy violence and gore that it excludes younger players, when that usually isn't the aspect that makes them awesome pieces of entertainment.

 

[Feffe]

Why does Nintendo continue to chase the kids market again in the face of numbers like this?

Their first console was called FAMILY Computer. Nintendo has always been a "for the whole family" company

 

[nynt9]

Survey is flawed and not representative given how it has been conducted (bad sample)

That doesn't mean it's completely worthless. You just need to consider the biases when evaluating the results.

 

[Xe4]

The number of women buying the Switch is sad, but hardly surprising. The number will probably gets better as the Switch stock gets better, but I don't ever think it will hit parity. The only console which I think could have done that is the Wii, most because it was a cultural phenomenon.

 

[IsntChrisL]

My wife and I play Switch together a few times a week. But it's definitely more my system than hers. I went out at 5am on launch day. I've played the system the most (Mostly because she gets motion sickness pretty easily. We played a couple of rounds of MK8D last night and it made her pretty sick).

She wants more multiplayer games she can play too. Thank God for Puyo Puyo Tetris. I'm hoping the new NBA game next month is fun. That should hold her over until ARMS.

I don't think the gender breakdown is quite that bad. I'm glad that Nintendo is taking note though and I hope they continue their focus on core gaming first. Maybe companies like Ubisoft will take note too and games like South Park and Ghost Recon will get port consideration next time. I have a PS4 and I just got a gaming PC so I'm good either way but I've bought a good chunk of indie games on my Switch already and I will continue to do so any time I can. I just really enjoy my time with the system.

 

[NoctisVsStar]

Why does Nintendo continue to chase the kids market again in the face of numbers like this?

That's the demographic that they want to chase, Nintendo is very family oriented for better or worse. I think they play a lot into nostalgia though.

 

[spekkeh]

The gender ratio split currently is alarming, because Nintendo needs women to be successful. The userbase of Wii and DS were 50% women. That's a cool 40 million customers, and much of what made those consoles a success. Here someone explains it much more eloquently and in detail than I could:

https://dromble.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/why-women-are-the-key-to-success-for-nintendo/

That said, it's still early days and I believe both the people who respond to surveys and early adopter buyers skew to a male 20-30 ratio. Probably a better statistic is the number of female Miis in the online lobbies of Mario Kart. I think they hover around 20-25% now based on a cursory glance?

Nintendo needs a big plan for fitness, Layton and Animal Crossing in 2018.

 

[PSOreo]

For those confused or upset by some of the outcome of this survey; bare in mind there was only a 3.5% response rate on the survey. You can only really take those figures with a pinch of salt.

 

[protomouse]

Why does Nintendo continue to chase the kids market again in the face of numbers like this?

Do they? Just about every Switch commercial has exclusively featured people ages 25 and up doing millennial things.

 

[zenspider]

Whoa at that gender distribution, I remember reading back in the day about how the DS was getting both sexes into the gaming action.

I wonder why it skewered towards males so heavily.

Women don't fill out surveys?

 

[added_time]

My wife plays the Switch just as much as I do. I'm just the one that was pathetic enough to care how fast we got one and kept checking every store until I found it. lol
She wanted one but would have waited until it was easy to buy.

Actually, almost every woman I know really enjoys video games (usually Nintendo games). Mario games especially seem to resonate well in my anecdotal experience.

Some gamers have framed this as some sort of problem. Like "most female games don't even like Call of Duty" instead of thinking something like "why do so many men like violent first person shooters"? Seems like the more noticeable statistic to me really.