Gaming Industry: Female Audience is on the Rise
Women in the Gaming Industry
Female gamers tend to increase during the last years as numerous studies have revealed. Many people still associate gaming with men more than they do with women. However, this is a misconception as women compromise a big percentage of the gaming population worldwide by impacting the whole gaming industry. At the same time, women are not only playing games but also participating in the design and development of video, web and mobile games.
Gender Breakdown
Based on research by Statista, females made up 38% of all computer and video gamers in the United States in 2006. In 2020, this percentage presented an increase of 3% by reaching 41% of all gamers.
Another study by Newzoo that conducted in 32 markets, revealed that around 46% of Game Enthusiasts are women, and women account for a significant share of even the most dedicated Gamer Personas, including Ultimate Gamers.
Considering the mobile gaming market, 63% of mobile gamers are women while 60% of them play every day, and they spend more money than the male audience. On the other hand, 37% of mobile gamers are men and 47% play daily (based on Forbes).
If we consider these numbers on a global scale, women constitute almost half of the gamers worldwide. Especially, women in Asian countries comprise high percentages of online gamers where female gamers are on the rise. According to a discussion on Gamemaker’s channel, women in the Asian Market are more exposed to games and more familiar with them. Interestingly, 48% of gamers in China were female during 2020 (found in Intrado).
Finally, the average gamer age is 34 years for men and 36 years for women. Interestingly the percentage of female gamers in the USA is higher than male gamers in the age of 36-65 years. (Visual Capitalist/Washington Post, 2020).
Women Complexity
The female audience presents a higher complexity than the male audience as it has different characteristics and expectations. Based on an article on frontiersin.org, women look for different things in video games than men do, such as different game designs. Female avatars for instance that seem exaggerated can lead to social comparisons by impacting women self-esteem and creating generally negative feelings. Women look for female representation via games that are more close to how they look like. All of these include limitations that should be crucially considered as women comprise half of the gaming population. According to Forbes, another study in the US has revealed that women gamers play for achievement and social reasons as they seek to interact socially and maintain relationships. Many times, women enjoy participating in groups rather than playing alone.
Therefore, game publishers have to understand the female audience to adapt their games and keep them interested while playing. They should create games by focusing on how and why women enjoy playing games and at the same time they have to implement the right monetization models to increase their interaction.
Popular Game Categories among Women
Gender presents an impact on the category of games played by women. Casual, Match 3 and Family/ Farm Sim relating games tend to be popular categories among women as Gamify indicates. Another survey by Opera GX concluded that women prefer desktop adventure games (61%), followed by RPG (56%), action (42%), MMORPG (40%) and strategy (31%).
Based on Game Maker’s Youtube session, casual games gain popularity as they focus on improving women user experience. Home and fashion relating games tend to be preferred by the female audience. A great example of a popular game among women, is Lily’s garden as they managed to attract women’s interest through marketing activities and the game elements they use.
Ways to engage Women in Games
Over the last year and especially during the COVID 19 era, women spend more time and money on games on a daily basis. A good way to engage them is by including IAPs within the game and offering to them game elements that they can feel connected to. A great example, can be allowing them to pay to create their own avatar with the features they desire.
Another way to increase the female audience engagement within the game is the proper implementation of Rewarded Videos or Rewarded Surveys. Taking into consideration the fact that session times tend to be lengthier, rewarding ad solutions can exchange the session time and eventually the LTV.
Designing female-friendly games is challenging and there are many things to be taken under consideration to succeed in that demographic. At the end of the day, publishers should focus on understanding their target audience in order to find out how to properly engage, retain and acquire. Female gamers are becoming nowadays a great part of the gaming world and are changing the landscape of the gaming industry.
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