EIF 08: Gaming's growing reach highlighted

The DS is first female-led gaming device, while the PS2 still leads the European field, according to a research-based presentation at Scottish conference.

EDINBURGH--Sean Dromgoole, CEO of GameVision and Some Research, took to the stage at today's Edinburgh Interactive Festival to talk through some recent findings.

Dromgoole's research focussed on the 289 million people over the age of six in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. According to his figures, of these people, 66 million are active gamers, 14 million are "lapsed" (haven't played in the last few years), and 24 million are "non-buyers" of games, but still play. Dromgoole said that the PlayStation 2 still has the lead in the region with 22 million owners, but there are also 21 million gaming PC owners and 20 million DS players. Of the current-generation home consoles, the Wii is way out in the lead with 11.3 million people owning the console, while the Xbox 360 and PS3 are bringing up the rear with 4.9 million and 4.8 million owners respectively.

But the most interesting statistical analysis came from the growth areas of the industry, which are female and older gamers. There are 165 percent more male gamers now than there were at the start of 2005, but number of female gamers has gone up 196 percent in the same period. Dromgoole says women and girls are eschewing games that are popular with men such as FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer, with their top three brands being The Sims, Tetris, and Brain Training. Console ownership figures also show an interesting trend: 54 percent of Wii owners are male, while the DS is the first gaming device to be female-led in the marketplace with a 56 percent female ownership, according to Dromgoole.

Dromgoole also split the market into five key demographics: marginals, dabblers, loyalists, magpies, and hardcores. Marginals are limited-interest gamers, and they're looking forward to games such as The Sims 3 and enjoyed Wii Fit. The dabblers have more of an interest in regular gaming, and are more likely to be interested in GTAIV than marginals. The loyalists and magpies are two sides of the same coin, both playing a lot of games, but loyalists playing sticking to key franchises such as Resident Evil and magpies snacking on many different games rather than always picking up the latest iteration of their favourite series. Hardcores want it all, with as much interest in playing Wii Fit as GTAIV and Fable 2.

GameSpot UK will be bringing you more news from the Edinburgh Interactive Festival as it happens.

27 Comments

  • Fingerella69er

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 2:26 pm PT

    I'm a mixture of hardcore and a magpie.

  • DiabloRaul

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 6:07 am PT

    Hardcore all the way!

  • ps3thabest

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 3:41 pm PT

    i love hardcore games

  • ultimategamer31

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 2:08 pm PT

    Hardcore and Girl Gamers FTW!!

  • grigjd3

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 1:48 pm PT

    So I like Wii Fit and Oblivion, does that make me hardcore? I mean, I certainly don't play competitively online or anything.

  • iuns

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 1:10 pm PT

    Hardcore ftw!

  • Josepiphus

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 12:47 pm PT

    Finally! Vindication of my hardcoreness!

  • normsta

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 12:08 pm PT

    true pc gamming isn't dead.

    nice to see the ps3 is neck to neck with the 360 even though the 360 had 1 year or so of a head start.

  • Franko_3

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 12:04 pm PT

    '21 million for pc is actually ok, i bet theres more that havent been counted, im one of em anyways '
    21 in 5 country is quite a lot. There is probably 40 million if we count every country in europe. I know that Stalker sold 1.7 million copy in Russia alone, that mean there is quite a lot of pc gamer in Russia also

  • Mawy_Golomb

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 12:04 pm PT

    And many video games journalists think that PC gaming is dead. Hah! Look at these numbers and you'll see that you're wrong. The PC is at the core of the video games industry. It was and always will be this way, so there's no way that it'll be dead, ever.

    By the way, I'm more of a console gamer, but I do play PC games sometimes, and I respect them enough that I'll support both of them at the same time.

  • bingbashbosh

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:55 am PT

    21 million for pc is actually ok, i bet theres more that havent been counted, im one of em anyways

  • Franko_3

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:33 am PT

    haha 21 millions pc gamer. Pc gaming is dead yeah lol /sarcasm off

  • Mawy_Golomb

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:29 am PT

    I'd like to think of myself as a magpie since I'm not so interested in one franchise that I've spent a few years of time on, so I move onto other games. And I certainly love to look at game developers that are all about changing the video game industry, being very innovative in their games. There isn't much for me when it comes to spending time on games from a genre that feel too much alike or which remain largely unchanged (lacking lots of innovation). And I like all kinds of genres, except turn-based games and sports games.

  • jasonbarbour

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:29 am PT

    yay 13th comment

  • Zerosumgame

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:27 am PT

    Hardcore this hardcore that, so what if you are hardcore, does that mean you play the game harder? This is does not mean anything to us.

  • Viral-venom13

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:18 am PT

    Well i guess i'm a hardcore. As for girls, its good to see them getting more into videogames and actually seeing the fun and reason why guys like playing games so much!!!

  • Ek-Andy

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:16 am PT

    Is it possible to be a "Hardcore Magpie" then? Or does being "Hardcore" essentially mean you are already a Magpie anyway?

  • Lord-Viru

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:09 am PT

    Hardcore all the way, I have 5 consoles, numerous games or each and although I prefer the games like Fable 2 and GTA 4, I also enjoy more casual games. Sadly not a magpie, although I still love shiny things!

  • SydneyBlue120d

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:00 am PT

    Any italian GS users here?!?! DD

  • MeleeMaster2

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 10:43 am PT

    Apparently, I'm a dabbling magpie with hardcore aspirations.

    I've always wanted to say that.

  • markharris31

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 10:35 am PT

    Good info, good news. Go gaming.

  • Holdwick

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 10:32 am PT

    Wow, that's pretty interesting!

  • Blazius2

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 10:22 am PT

    Well I'm interested in key franches like fable 2 and GTA 4 but also interested in new ones like bioshock, but definitely not interested in stuff like wii fit, so i think that makes me a magpie.

  • Gamesterpheonix

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 10:18 am PT

    I be a Magpie...lol as freaking wrong as that sounds. Im not surprised about the DS statistics. lol its a girly system, even if I got one for my little bro. And the Wii...is just gay lol. Poor isolated boys...dont know what they're missing....rofl.

  • Tremblay343

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 9:39 am PT

    That's a crap load of new gamers. I'd say I'm a loyalist, or maybe a magpie. I can't stand that casual wii fit stuff or all those mini-game collections. But 56% of DS owners are female? This is only in the regions they mentioned up top right? Because I can't see this being true in Japan or NA.

  • GANGSTASAN

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 9:33 am PT

    Yeah. Second comment...

  • scar-hawk

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 8:34 am PT

    yaay first comment and this isn't all too surprising..

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