Who plays games?

Cocojambo comment:

That computer games represent an efficient marketing medium is slowly becoming accepted by the advertising industry. Unfortunately this realisation is often limited to the ‘poster child’ of the games industry – the action game.

Action games are the most popular genre of computer games (incorporating the sub-genres: shooting games, fighting games, sports simulations, etc) but they are popular with only a subsection of the games audience – primarily young adults and children.

The best selling game of recent years – The Sims – won its mainly female audience with gameplay that is a (very enjoyable) combination of a dolls house and a tamagotchi. The most played game of recent years – Snake – found it’s diverse following by offering a challenge that was little more than a test of reaction times.

Advertisers will benefit by offering consumers ‘advergames’ that are more than an old arcade game with a new skin. Using games isn’t that different from other media – you need to understand your audience, have a clear idea about your goals and message, and then choose the creative that will best meet your goals with that audience. For a TV advert you must consider whether the audience will drawn by humour, by imagery, by character, etc; for games you must consider whether a strategy game, a management game, an action game, or a simulator will find your audience.

As recent reports indicate that the average gamer is now aged 29, 26% of gamers are women aged over 18, whilst 17% of gamers are over 50, it is clear that games can and should be used to do more than sell to 18-34 year old males.

Further Reading - Video games now draw more women than boys: www.forbes.com
Further Reading - Seniors taking to computer games: www.sltrib.com