By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
greenmedic88 on 27 March 2016
Edit Thread
KingCherry said:
greenmedic88 said:
While it would make for an interesting sociological study to see the retention rates for gaming into middle ages with the average quoted gamer age being 31 years, my guess is that a not insignificant chunk of current 20 year old gamers won't be playing video games by the time they're 50.

Those who are currently pushing into their later middle age and still gaming probably represent a rapidly diminishing demographic for their age group.

So, you're basing the current average age of gamers, being 31, to future logic? The average age of gamers will steadily increase as years go by and stabilise in maybe 15-20 years.

Middle aged gamers are those who've grown up with video games, from the Pong era / early arcade machines... Above that, people maybe 50+ were never brought up on them, it was never their culture. In 20 years, you could potentially see a significant number of 70 year old gamers, something that seems totally ridiculous now. 20 years ago, 50 year old gamers would have looked quirky, not now though.

Every decade, the age of gamers has increased as gamers have got older. When I was a kid with a ZX Spectrum and an NES, it was very rare for anybody over 25 to be playing games, as they just weren't brought up on them, it wasn't their thing. Yes, older people played them if their younger brother or son had the relevant machine, or maybe they had an adventure game on their business computer, but it wasn't something that was part of their life.

When I did work experience years back before Uni, nobody apart from me and a couple of upstarts played games, now, I see 35-45 year olds happily discussing what games they're into, their PS4's, etc. That was so unheard of in the late nineties.

No one really knows. Considering that anyone who is 50 and is still playing video games on a comprehensive level (meaning they play a fairly wide variety of titles as opposed to the odd mobile game on their phone) has essentially played through the entire history of video games and more importantly, experienced it as it was happening in time, there is no population model to reference that predates any Baby Boomer generation gamers. 

I can speak from my own experience as someone who started gaming during the first generation of consoles in the late 70s up to present, but this doesn't validate any opinion that most or even half of Gen X is still gaming in any significant capacity. 

I'm inclined to say that there could be a higher percentage of Millenials still playing video games as a form of entertainment same as any other form of visual entertainment (TV, film) until death, but whether that has anything to do with having grown up playing video games is pretty open to debate. I grew up playing video games from a very early age, same as many of my friends. I think I'm in the minority of my peer group who still prefers it as a form of visual entertainment. Then again, it's hard for me to say personally as the majority of my friends are Millenials rather than Gen Xers.