More Women Than Men Play Games Online

A joint study by Trendstream and Lightspeed Research, which looked at the online gaming activities of US Internet users. According to the study, 42% of women have played an online game, compared to only 36% of men. Also, 28% of women have participated in social games- casual games on social networking sites, while only 22% of men have played social games. 83% of social gamers play on Facebook, and one of the most popular games, Mafia Wars, attracts more than 24 million monthly users. Source: Facebook

According to PopCap Games, more than half of the social gaming population is female. The average age of the US social gamer is 48 years old, with more than half of gamers over 50 and few regular gamers (those who participate at minimum on a weekly basis) under 30. Source: eMarketer

Tom Smith, managing director of Trendstream, has said, “The transformation of the gaming market towards casual social concepts has already changed the way that games are created and distributed...This gives brands a huge opportunity to engage with consumers through casual games much more cost effectively than through other forms of advertising."