I'm actually not surprised by that age distribution. The thing that I just keep thinking is throughout the years, Nintendo hasn't changed, but people have.

Throughout all the generations and different consoles/handhelds, Nintendo's approach and foundation towards video games hasn't really changed. Yes, they have slightly altered or adapted their development strategy in accordance to the times and the new technology they have access to. But their core ideas and the root foundation of their mentality has stayed the same. For better or for worse.

Their approach towards making a great Mario or Zelda game back in the 80s with Super Mario Bros. or Zelda 1, as well as the mid 90s with Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, is for the most part exactly the same now with Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild.

Nintendo has been praised and criticized for many different things such as some of their gimmicky hardware which either pays off gloriously (Wii or DS) or falls flat on its face (Wii U), and their inability to get with the times when it comes to online services. But the one thing that has always remained the same, no matter what the situation or circumstance is for them as well as gaming in general, is that they know how to make a fucking awesome game that leaves an impact.
Those 40+ year olds are people who grew up with the NES playing Mario 1 & 3, Zelda 1, or Metroid.
Those 30-35 year olds are people who grew up with the SNES, N64, or Game Boy/Game Boy Color playing Mario World, Mario 64, Mario Kart, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Star Fox, F-Zero, Super Metroid, GoldenEye, Donkey Kong Country, Smash Bros, and Pokemon when that franchise took over the world in the late 90s.
And those 20-25 year olds are the ones who were captivated as kids by the Wii's motion controls and the DS's touch screens and played the shit out of Wii Sports, Animal Crossing, Nintendogs, New Super Mario Bros, Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Pokemon Gens 4 & 5, Twilight Princess, etc.

As time went on in each of these eras, some chunks of these demographics left Nintendo in favor of more "mature" or "cool" hardware during their teen years. Some of them stayed, which I'll get more into later. For the 40+ year olds, it was the Genesis and PS1. For the 30-35 year olds, it was the PS2, Xbox, PS3, and 360. And for the 20-25 year olds, it was the PS4 and Xbox One early on. While they all ventured off on other consoles and went about their own lives, NONE of them ever truly forgot about Nintendo.

So when the Switch came around and Nintendo was knocking it out of the park with their pre-launch marketing. They were already thinking "Wow, an HD console like a PlayStation or Xbox that I can take with me as a portable like those old Game Boys and DS's from when I was a kid? That's pretty damn cool! I'm gonna check this out." Because they've grown out of that teenage/high school mindset of "being cool and hip" and peer pressure, wanting to fit in, and not bothering with "kiddy crap."

Now that these people are full-fledged adults, with their own income, and they have matured more mentally to the point where they just don't give a shit about any of that and they'll do and play whatever they want. They're more open to going back to Nintendo than they were during their middle and high school years. Then they see this brand new Zelda game that they were marketing as the first open-world Zelda. And those people who left, when they hear 'open-world' will think either of Skyrim, Fallout, or Grand Theft Auto (San Andreas, III, IV, or V, depending on which age group they're a part of, or even all of them) or games like that. So to hear 'open-world' associated with Zelda, they're gonna remember their times as kids playing Zelda 1, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, or even Twilight Princess and think "HOLY SHIT! A Zelda game that's like GTA or Skyrim?!? SIGN ME UP!!" Then, they look further into the Switch and they see Super Mario Odyssey and think the same thing. "OH MY GOD! It's Grand Theft Mario!!!" They think that and then they immediately remember 64, Galaxy, and even Mario 1 depending on which part of the trailer they're watching. And it's a testament to Nintendo's ability as software developers to not only make, given the knowledge and resources they have now, great or fantastic games that could fit right into today's landscape, but that also retains their core essence and traits so that it still feels like you're playing Zelda or Mario.

Not only do they get excited, but they also get nostalgic. Because once you enter adulthood, at some point or another, you're going to yearn for your childhood and those old times when everything was so much more simple. And more often than not, Nintendo is associated with those times. So now that they're making their own money and they're seeing this new Nintendo system that actually looks cool, sleek, and has some games that look like they're going to be just as good, if not better, than what they grew up with, they're gonna dive right back in.

Combine that with the fans who never left and always stuck by them through thick and thin, and it just creates this perfect storm for Nintendo.

One where Mario Kart 8 Deluxe passes Mario Kart Wii to be the best selling Mario Kart game and is now on the doorstep to passing the original Super Mario Bros. as the best selling Mario game ever. Two things than NOBODY thought would ever happen 5-10 years ago. Or where Breath of the Wild becomes the first Zelda to sell 10-15-20-25 million, milestone after milestone, and it effectively raises the floor and ceiling for the rest of the franchise where Link's Awakening is knocking on the door of Zelda 1 as the best selling 2D game, and Skyward Sword HD can outsell the original version in just 2 1/2 months. It leads to Smash Bros. Ultimate selling 25+ million copes, it leads to Sword/Shield being the first pair of Pokemon games since Gold/Silver to pass 20 million and is now about to pass them.

While people and the rest of mainstream culture has changed, Nintendo has always, for the most part, stayed the same. Which has been a blessing AND a curse.

Chill out, he never said other companies wouldn't have accounts with fake ages, he never said anything about age distribution for other companies.

Don't know how you got triggered by this lmao.

It will be different in each country with different cultures etc. But I'm sure in the USA the average Nintendo user is in their 20's. A huge part of their fanbase now will be people who had a Wii or DS when they were a kid.

I know no kids that have Switches, but at least 3 other sets of married, careered, post-college adults that do besides me and my wife. Also anecdotal. Hooray for mutual invalidation!

It’s kind of true, Mortal Kombat for me was AWESOME when I was a kid, but decades later… ANIMAL CROSSING!

it´s something, another is saying all data is faking. teen all fakking

21 years have overrepresentation is one thing. 

The popularity and demographics for video games have shifted and the average age of gaming (on several studies) was like 30-35+ iirc, and this was years ago last time I read. So this shouldn't come to a surprise to anyone. If you go by this forum alone by active users most will be over 20 no doubt.

I mean logically its makes sense seeing as gaming has become mainstream and young adults/adults since have disposable income :PP

I work with kids for a living and while it's absolutely the case that a lot of them have a Switch or want one, most of my adult friends have one too.

As PAOerfulone so eloquently explained, multiple generations from the mid 80s to the present grew up with Nintendo and a substantial portion retained their love of its franchises as they grew up and became adults with their own disposable income and choice of system.

If we look at the gaming audience, those who are kids today only account for those born around 2003 onwards, whereas the adult demographic encompasses those born over a much longer span throughout the early 2000s, 90s, 80s, 70s, even in some cases the 60s and prior.

That chart would have a "hill shape" with the peak around 21, except for a huge chunk ripped out from around 13-20. That is the main Playstation and XBox demographic.  This is the demographic that has the best mix of time and money.  Preteens have lots of free time, but usually have to rely on parents and/or allowance to buy games and a system.  Most people older than 21 are done with school and have a full time job and possibly other responsibilities (kids, mortgage, etc...).  They have a lot more money than kids do but not much time.  But teenagers tend to have lots of free time and more money than pre-teens.  This means they can spend lots of free time playing games, and they can buy more games than younger kids.

Individually, one 18 year old is probably worth more to a console maker than a single 8 year old or a single 28 year old.  However, that really is a very narrow age range.  It's basically about 8 years of "hardcore gaming" for lack of a better term.  Nintendo basically makes the main console for every other age range.  Nintendo appeals to the mass market.  For most of a person's life they are going to be playing Nintendo, but they'll have that time period in their teenage years where they focus more on Playstation or XBox.

Why are you guys getting the idea teenagers are playing Xbox and Playstation. Where is the data to support this claim? 

https://www.4gamer.net/games/999/G999905/20180702011/

This was from 2018, the number of active users for PS4 was estimated to be ~3.94 million 

This is from Xbox, 2017 numbers:

Your point is counterintuive. On average a gaming generation last 6,5 years meaning that a gamer will spend on average 2 generations (or one generation and half) in one console before moving away to other console maker, abandoning their favorite IPs and starting to like others just because. Looking at how stable are Playstation home console sales across the board I must say your point is highly unlikely

What is the s Strongest Sony market? It's Europe, the continent where the number of teenagers is shrinking year after year and yet Playstation keeps absolutely dominating there

The average console gamer is over 20 years. They need a stable source of income before buying hardware, kids and teens only have hardware if their parents are buying for them. Kids used to be the main target in the 80's when their parents never played games before, but gen Z kids have parents who are gamers themselves so the hardware is not for the kid, the hardware is for the family and is likely to have the parents account who will be "the owner" hence

Any slim difference between Nintendo, Sony and Xbox users demographics is more likely to be product of localization and market penetration than anything with Xbox owners being younger only because of its low relevance in markets where population is older (Japan, continental Europe)