Social gaming industry catering to younger demographic

Jamie Hinks
November 22, 2011
1 Comment

Social gamingThe average age of social gamers has dropped by almost four years. The phenomenon that is social gaming has grown rapidly over the past year with the age of players going the opposite way. According to a survey by developer PopCap Games and Information Solutions Group the average age stood at 41 (rounded down from 41.2) in September. That’s down from 45 in January 2010 and shows that the product is getting more appealing to a younger demographic. The survey also found player loyalty becoming more apparent. Compared with January 2010, the amount of players devoting more than six hours per week to social gaming has doubled with a general shift away from people only playing for an hour per week to this figure.

The age group within which many online gamblers are drawn, 21-29, saw the number of participants almost double from 11% to 21%. It goes to show why gambling industry firms are sitting up to take so much notice of this sector. It’s not just online gambling firms that are positioning themselves to take advantage with casino business firms, such as MGM, already developing games that will aim to put their brand in the minds of players. There has also been the runaway success of companies like Zynga that have developed online gaming solutions embraced by the mass market.

With Google+ stepping up its efforts to offer more social gaming alongside the incumbent, Facebook, the sector will only get stronger and the one in six Americans that have jobs in social media is set to grow even further.

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Tags: Article, social gaming, Zynga
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  • Sam

    Not surprising :) … Come to think of it most (if not all) these game developers and programmers are of the same age mentioned in this survey.