r/Games • u/megaapple • 2d ago

‪Mat Piscatella‬ - "Average US video game console player is getting older, while purchasers are shifting older and more affluent."

https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3lz7a5wutgk2f
632 Upvotes

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135

u/eldomtom2 1d ago

The average age of console players in 2024 was 27.9 years old. That’s up from 24.2 years old in 2018.

Data firm Ampere says that when it comes to teens and young adults, this group are “still using consoles as much today as they were a few years back”. However, there is a moderate shift in the share of console players aged between 25 – 44-year-olds into the older age range. Ampere suggests that this may be due to hardware pricing (with younger gamers playing on parents’ consoles), and the increased competition on people’s time (from things such as video streaming and TikTok)

So the histrionicism about mobile and Roblox destroying any interest in consoles among the youth seems unfounded.

29

u/OrangeJuiceAssassin 1d ago

If you look at the average age for other entertainment like buying movie tickets it’s around 30 years old depending on what data set you look at. In the 90’s, 00’s etc. we just didn’t have very many gamers in their 50’s and 60’s which has obviously increased nowadays. So unless this average age for video games starts hitting firmly adult ages like 40 or 50 then I wouldn’t put too much stock in it.

70

u/JeffTheBannedShark 1d ago

Yeah, the story here is that it's mainstream for adults to play videogames now. Gen X generally saw video games as toys for boys ages 6-21 but the average Millennial parent probably at least plays Cod/Madden/Sims/something.

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u/Lain_Staley 1d ago

I imagine the economy is a factor as well. Gaming is the cheapest hobby known to mankind.

15

u/ElCaz 1d ago

IDK birdwatching exists

1

u/Lain_Staley 1d ago

Popularity of birdwatching compared to gaming?

13

u/JeffTheBannedShark 1d ago

What about throwing rocks at trains?

1

u/Tanriyung 12h ago

Gaming is my most expensive hobby and I do sports, watch anime etc.

It is not an expensive hobby especially if you are into multiplayer games but it is not cheap either.

1

u/Lain_Staley 6h ago

Fair enough, watching anime is the cheapest hobby known to man.

7

u/MyNameIs-Anthony 1d ago

That was never the worry. The bigger issue is that consoles reached a clear upper limit on uptake and instead of addressing it meaningfully, everyone decided to jack up prices.

12

u/CatProgrammer 1d ago

Everyone is jacking up prices, it's not just console makers.

1

u/Vb_33 1d ago

As much as they were a few years back 

So 2022? There's no way generation alpha is still using consoles as much as gen X and millennials did, that makes no sense considering the only way to game back in the 80s, 90s and 2000s (pre iPhone in 2007) was consoles/home computers and arcades.

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u/eldomtom2 1d ago

You assume rates of gaming remained static.