Gaming Demographic and Women

I have been thinking a lot lately about gaming and the women’s demographic.  Now we here at HAM are always thinking about games and game design or idea’s but lately I wanted to see what the demographic was between the sexes.  Quite interestingly enough games are widening focus. Everyone that has a Facebook account has seen someone (or you) that posted “I found a cow in Farmville” newsfeed post.  As many of us roll our eyes in disgust or join the “I dont care about your farm, or your fish, or your park, or your mafia!” group, we see this game as growing in popularity among ALL users.  What does this say about the audience?

Facebook’s demo is as of 1/04/2010

Women = 54.3%

Men = 42.6%

Video Game Demographic is listed as

Men = 61%

Women = 39%

Gaming is projected to be a over 13 Billion Dollar Business for 2010 and women over 35 are considered the sweet spot.  Growth in social games seems to be the overall trend hence FARMVILLE’s Success.

I can let you know that I currently play on a home Wii, IPhone and here at work (research of course) as well as at home on my PC on Second Life.  Why do I play?  Well there is more opportunity to play socially.  With Wii – Fit, Rockband Parties, IPhone Bluetooth and with Second Life all these have a social element.  I enjoy talking and being social while beating the crap out of my friends.  So you could say I fit right in.  It’s no secret in most households women control the purchasing power, now maybe we can take to the joystick controller?