Do women play more games than men?

Women now play games more than men, according to a report by mobile app analytics provider Flurry. At least that’s true in the realm of mobile and mobile social games, where the likes of Zynga’s FarmVille and Popcap’s Plants vs. Zombies are at the forefront.

More than half of all mobile and mobile social gamers — 53 percent, to be exact — are women, bucking the stereotype that gaming is typically a male-dominated form of entertainment, according to the report. Only 40 percent of “traditional” gamers are women, according to the report.

The report found that women social gamers were typically older than their male counterparts — as women outnumbered men in the 26 to 65 age range. Men barely outnumbered women in the 18 to 24 age range. Just about a third of all mobile and social gamers were also in that same age range — 18 to 24 — while about half of mobile and social gamers fell in the 26 to 44 age range.

A majority of mobile and social gamers also appear to come from middle-class origins and make between $50,000 and $80,000 yearly, according to the report. Mobile and social gamers typically earn 50 percent more than the average American and are twice as likely to have a college bachelor’s degree. The majority of mobile and social gamers — about 65 percent — are white, as well.

Flurry detected more than 250 million devices running Apple’s iPhone operating system and Google’s Android mobile operating system, and detects around 750,000 new activations across both operating systems each day, according to the report. Flurry tracks around 26 million unique users that play social games for an average of about 25 minutes each day.

[Photo: popculturegeek.com]

  • http://www.mobilecubix.com iPhone Application

    Now women have more time as compared to men..actually it's shocking news for me as well as my colleague also shocked..when i told them that news

  • http://twitter.com/SeminOzmorali Semin Ozmorali

    I actually don't agree with the “women having more time” comment much. Looking at the age, earning and education info, it seems there're a lot of working women with kids in this profile, which keeps women quite busy comparing to men. ;) I think the reason we have a bit more women gamers now is because mobile and social games captured a market that has not been targeted before, which is basically grown-up women.

  • http://twitter.com/nadyajahan Nadya JAHAN

    +1 Semin :)

  • http://www.realestateactive.com/ Michael Real

    Yeah, well, actually, girls really like to play games more than men. Most men are into traditional games or sports. Girls play mobile phone games or facebook apps.

  • http://twitter.com/_haruhika Anny Figueira

    I think average women just like to play such simple games like Farmville. Men do prefer traditional games or something more…hardcore.I woman and gamer, my favorite genres are RPGs and Strategy games but I think women who don't have so much contact with videogames really prefer easy and fast-fun things. Not like anything to dedicate time and something casual…Men are such more passionate and dedicated to games, after all. And I'm very sad saying it, it would be better if I had more partners to play with ): Sry about my poor English, but I think it's understandable…

  • Flitwick

    That's bullshit, sorryWomen have by no means more time.I rather guess it's a question of how men and women spend their time off … I'd guess men watch TV more often (for sports, whatever), while women spend their time on the internet playing social games and chatting.Of course you can't say that true for all women or men, either, it's just a geneneral tendency.In general, though, men play a lot more than women.I should know, working in the industry and having to do with target audiences everyday.Anyway, all those facebook and social games really speak to female preferences, like collecting stuff, styling stuff, making it pretty, designing things etc. There's not much action or competition (which are typical things men like in games), so of course women play those games more often than men. I also think that females are more likely to spend money on facebook games so developers very consciously design those games for them hoping they'll spend this or that paysafecard on the games.(And I don't mean that negative in any way. I spend money on games as well, so no worries ;) )

  • StoneWoman

    Agree! I also like this kind of games. I want to relax and play something peaceful. Something that reminds me the things I like in the real life. I don't need to spend an hour killing 100 soldiers at Halo or other bloody games in order to get rid of my work stress or whatever. I'm happy with taking care of a farm or clothing/shopping at It Girl on Facebook.I have no problems about spending real money on things that I enjoy. I don't see any problem about paying for facebook games. Men also spend tonnes of money on doubtful things like different devices which they never use or video games they hardly ever play. I spend £10 a month on paysafecards because I have no cc and there's nothing criminal about it. We don't play more than men, we just play different stuff which men don't like. Do you think my boyfriend likes my games? lol, he buys me those paysafecards so that I stop asking him to create a FarmVille account for sending me some items I couldn't buy.Talking about the time… I think it depends on so many things: age, social status, family etc. I know some guys who have more spare time than me.

  • http://foamiss.livejournal.com/ Mistique

    That is so not true! Look for the responsibilities of the women, and look for the responsibilities of the men. Who has more? No wonder your pals were shocked!It's just a matter of how we spend our time. And I guess we're (women) are faster at work, so we get more time to play :D I have a question for those buying paysafecard. I heard about it before and i wonder how does it work? Is it a scam? Since there are no fees as far as I managed to find out, it could be some kind of scheme?Thanks…

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