Via Joystiq, (almost) everything you ever wanted to know about UK video game consumer demographics. Not too many surprises in there, but two things did catch my attention: 1) There are nearly as many female gamers as there are male gamers in every single age segment. They often play different games, but in general the gender gap has nearly vanished. 2) A nearly equal number of men and women play MMOGs.
Given that RPGs have always been more popular with women than, say, FPS or sports games, I suppose it isn’t such a huge shock that many women are playing MMOGs, since most of the currently-popular MMOGs fall into the RPG genre. Furthermore, studies have shown that women tend to prefer collaborative games, and most MMOGs certainly qualify as collaborative. I often dismiss the MMORPG market as being overcrowded, but this makes me rethink that assertion. A little.
PS. Oh, and if you didn’t already read it on every other game-centric blog ever written: the ESA just announced that 35% of US parents play video games.
