14 DAY TRIAL // The Interactive Software Federation of Europe has recently released a new report, based on data compiled by Nielsen Games, regarding the status of gaming in Europe. The report is entitled "Video Gamers in Europe - 2008" and manages to paint a very interesting picture regarding how games are played in Europe, while also dismissing a few of the most present stereotypes regarding videogames and gamers.
The report, which can be accessed in a more complete form here, shows, first and foremost, from data compiled for 2007, that Europe has become the second largest videogame market in the world, after Asia, but marginally in front of North America. Sales on the major European markets for which data are available show a growth of over 25% in videogame sales and significant increase in the sales of videogame related hardware, especially gaming consoles.
And, in Europe, gaming is not for kids anymore. In the United Kingdom, the average age of a gamer is now 33, while in Finland, videogame players are, on average, 30. Other countries in Europe also show that the game playing public is now more mature than at any time. Even with lives dominated by family and work Europeans, people over 30 manage to play games between six and ten hours a week on average, with women logging in smaller intervals and persons aged 20-24 playing the most. PC gamers are the biggest "hardcore" with 21% of them playing games for more than eleven hours every week.
But European gamers are not the asocial geeks you know from the movies. According to the study, they also prefer to chat with friends, go out to eat or to the theater, shop, and dance. Female gamers are more likely to play with other people while male gamers, especially the older ones, are more interested in single player experiences. A strong trend of emphasizing games as creative experiences is also starting to appear.
81% of European parents play games with their offspring, mainly because children want them to and most of the parents are also informed about the ratings system for games and keep a close look on what games their children play.
Nielsen Games conducted the study using 6000 active gamers, with ages ranging from 16 to 49, coming from 15 European countries: United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Czech Republic, Poland and Latvia.