Business of Esports – Why Do Current-Gen PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, And PC Gamers Game?

The ninth generation of video game consoles has been impacted by COVID-19, supply chain issues, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.t3.com/news/every-video-game-delay-2022″ target=”_blank”>and development delays. Now that we’re two years in and it’s a little easier to get hold of a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X|S, we explore American gamers by the kind of current-gen platform they prefer – exploring who they are, which systems are more likely to attract casual or hardcore gamers and the reasons why they game in the first place.  

From a demographic perspective, every platform’s audience skews towards men. PlayStation 5 (68% male; 29% female) and Xbox Series X|S (68% vs. 32%) have the highest proportion of male compared to female gamers.  

On the other end of the spectrum, the Switch has the highest proportion of women playing its consoles, with 54% of gamers identifying as male to 46% identifying as female. We can potentially attribute this to Nintendo’s flagship games being designed to appeal to a wider range of people. According to YouGov BrandIndex, if we look at popular franchises like Assassin’s Creed (70% male vs. 30% female) or Halo (73% vs. 27%), the audience is largely male; if we look at Animal Crossing (39% vs. 61%) or Mario (45% vs. 55%), women comprise an outright majority of players.  

If you are interested in learning more, visit the YouGov website by clicking here.

Check out the industry-leading META Woman podcast where we discuss everything about women in gaming and the metaverse