• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Report: Men play more MMOs, FPSes; women rule mobile, RPG

gender.jpg


Men and women enjoy video games, but some genres tend to attract one gender over the other, SuperData Research finds in a 2014 US study provided to Joystiq. Women compose 57.8 percent of the mobile market, 53.6 percent of the RPG market and 50.2 percent of the PC market (including social games), the report says. The study finds that men make up 66 percent of MMO players, 66 percent of FPS players and 63 percent of digital console players.

The data was collected in several separate studies in 2014, each with a minimum sample size of 1,000 respondents. SuperData defines its terminology and methodology here.

This study comes on the heels of SuperData Research's 2014 MMO market report, which placed League of Legends as the No. 1 game in the company's MMO category, which included MOBAs, MMOFPS games, MMORPGs, online racing games, online sports games, online sci-fi games, virtual card games, social sims and virtual worlds. In that study, SuperData found that among US players 18 and older, 22 percent of players were between the ages 26 and 30, and 20 percent were between the ages 21 and 25. The average player salary was $55,000, and the overall gender breakdown was 60 percent male, 40 percent female.

"Women are closing the gamer gender gap as they represent two out of five MMO gamers," SuperData said. "Women account for almost half of MMO players, contrary to the stereotyped gamer landscape. Players between 18 and 30 account for 50 percent of the US MMO audience. These players represent the largest age group, many of which started playing MMOs as children, during the segment's early years, and have continued into their adulthood. This generation is expected to expand the older markets as they age since they are the first generation to have grown up with MMOs."

The ESA conducts similar studies each year, and in 2014 it found that the average player was 31 years old, and the market was 52 percent male and 48 percent female.

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/10/27/r...ses-women-rule-mobile-rpg/?ncid=rss_truncated
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
No surprising numbers at all.
 

Beartruck

Member
Well, I guess that explains why niche RPG's are increasingly girly. Gotta get that female audience, and on the bonus side, they usually catch some male perverts too.
 
That's interesting, but "rule"? Anyway, I'm curious as to the age gap in these types of games. From my experience, MMORPGs are full of older gamers 25+
 
Just goes to reinforce the whole GIRL: Guy In Real Life thing.


Super EDIT: Eh a lot of these numbers are not all that surprising really.

FPSes being so lopsided is though.
 

dramatis

Member
What's a "digital console"?
These are their explanations of their terminology:
Digital games: Games and additional content downloaded and played on a digitally-capable device such as a smartphone, tablet, PC/Mac, console or handheld gaming device. This does not include physical copies of games.

Digital games/apps store: An online store where users can purchase and download games and in-game content onto a digitally-capable device. E.g., Steam, GameFly, App Store, Google Play, PlayStation Store, Xbox Marketplace, Nintendo Online Store
Presumably they call the consoles 'digital consoles' for the above reasons.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
35% FPS is the one that honestly surprised me. Mist of the girls I know who game a lot play a ton of RPGs, but FPS is a different story. Very interesting number
 

Pilgrimzero

Member
The other day I was going over a list of Youtube Let's Play people and what games they tend to play and I noticed that the majority of the ladies tended to play more RPGs, MMOS, Adventure, Sims, and Minecraft.

Where as the dudes, where much more action oriented.


Not to say there wasn't overlap, just that there was a noticeable preference.
 
So men are playing pretty hardcore games while women are playing more casual games.
At least you could say that if it wasn't for the fact that women also play more RPGs, since those generally are far from casual.
 
My wife plays the crap out of RPGs, specifically Bethesda and Bioware ones. In Dragon Age she has 12 concurrent playthroughs with unique characters with unique personalities and choices. She will be carrying over 3 of them to DAI to start.

She loves them so much because she finds much more agency in an RPG where you create a character than a prebaked generic dudebro that you find in most AAA games. She is not into twitchy multiplayer either. The last non-RPG she played was Far Cry 3, only because she thought the world was beautiful and enjoyed exploring the ruins.
 

Teremap

Banned
So men are playing pretty hardcore games while women are playing more casual games.
At least you could say that if it wasn't for the fact that women also play more RPGs, since those generally are far from casual.
I would actually say that men are playing more sexist games while women are playing less sexist games... but that's just my personal interpretation of events.
 

Burt

Member
I can't think of the last time I saw such illogical groupings. I don't know what their broad overarching conclusions are worth when they put DOTA as closer to Candy Crush than Call of Duty.
 

Sabrewulf

Banned
But but me and my GF play XIV together :(

But, it's more or less true for me. She plays the older stuff (though not much due to preparing for a baby.) while I play more shooters. Not a big MMO guy, though. XIV is actually my first one.
 
MOBAs aren't MMOs and classifying them together is going to confuse most people who look at those numbers... MOBAs are known to be VERY male heavy, while traditional MMOs (World of Warcraft, etc) tend to have higher amounts of females.
 
Curious why women play more RPGs. I guess it could mean they like games with a story. I can understand the appeal of it.
Of course the typical men with FPS and MMOs is high.

I was playing The Wolf Among Us and my mom got caught into watching me play.
So yeah, that could be it.
 

Teremap

Banned
Curious why women play more RPGs. I guess it could mean they like games with a story. I can understand the appeal of it.
Of course the typical men with FPS and MMOs is high.
Bolded is inaccurate. As this guy says:
MOBAs aren't MMOs and classifying them together is going to confuse most people who look at those numbers... MOBAs are known to be VERY male heavy, while traditional MMOs (World of Warcraft, etc) tend to have higher amounts of females.
MMORPGs actually have a gender split closer to the RPG ratio versus MOBAs like LoL and DotA 2 which have the... ratio you see up there quoted by Kotetsu534 (lol @ the 90/10 split).
 
Top Bottom