Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, January 24, 2024
Summary
Playing games on an active, if casual, basis continues to be widespread, even as the choice of platforms is shifting. The worldwide and American trend away from regular PC use is affecting game playing and entertainment as much as productivity and creative activities. This year marks the first time that more American game players use a game console than a home PC.
This MetaFAQs reports on the number and percentage of online adults who regularly play immersive/action or other games using connected devices: a game console, home PC, gaming PC, primary PC, or smartphone. American adults are detailed by age generation and life phase: comprised of generation with educational and employment status.
Newer generations, focused platforms
- That game playing is tilted toward younger generations may come as no surprise, although the choice of platforms varies by generations
- Gaming PCs are highly skewed towards Gen Z and millennials, with these two generations comprising almost 90% of the active base of adult users
- At the other end of the spectrum, boomers make up effectively the same relative share (12%) of adults playing games on connected devices, smartphones (12%), home computers (13%), and their primary PCs (11%)
- It’s interesting that Gen X embraces game consoles at twice the rate of using a gaming PC. This reflects a growing inertia among Gen X adults who continue using game consoles instead of adopting relatively newer gaming PCs.
Gaming PCs are for the youngest adults
- There is very little difference in the average age of game players by device type, except in the case of gaming PCs
Game consoles have the broadest reach while gaming PCs have far to go
- The largest share of online adults use a game console to play immersive or other games
- It may seem surprising to see smartphones being used for game playing among more than a third of adults worldwide, although most of those people are casual gamers
Playing games solidifies smartphone dominance
- There are now 130 million American adults regularly playing games using any of their connected devices, up from 117 million in 2020
- While PCs have been fading as a game-playing platform for Americans, smartphones and game consoles have extended their reach
- In 2023, the number of American game console users exceeded the number of those using their primary home PC to play games, as there has been a longer-term trend towards lower use of home PCs for any type of activity
Game playing skews younger, although it has grown modestly among most age groups
- Playing games is a pastime among the majority of Americans aged 18 to 54
- Since 2020, game playing has increased or stayed stable among every age group from age 18 to 64, while only seeing a modest decline among Americans aged 65 and up
Americans love using their smartphones to play games
- A third of American adults use a smartphone to play games, an increase since 2020
- Mirroring a multi-year worldwide trend, PC gaming has declined
Playing games is not only among the idle
- Actively playing games is nearly as strong among the employed as among the unemployed and those more highly educated as those less so
- Game playing levels have remained nearly constant among all generations, except for some steady growth among Gen Z slackers
About MetaFAQs
MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2023, which is TUP’s 41st annual.
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Indexing
Lenses: Activities, Game Consoles, Gaming PCs, and Game-Playing
Tables: ACTS_GAMExDEV_TYPE, AGEGENxDEV_TYPE, AGExGAMING, GAMINGxDEVTYPE, GEN_PHASExANY_ACT_GAME, DEV_TYPExANY_ACT_GAME, AGECATSxANY_ACT_GAME
Tags: Activities, Age, Age Generations, Age Groups, Baby Boomers, Boomers, Connected devices, Devices, Employment status, Entertainment, Fun, Game-playing, Game consoles, Games, Gen X, Gen Z, Generations, Home PC activities, Metaverse, Microsoft, Mobile Phones, Nintendo, PC activities, Silent, Smartphone activities, Sony, Trends, Xbox
Waves: TUP 2023
Item: TUP_doc_2024_0124_gami
TUP_doc_2024_0124_gami-2024_0413_1701