Women Dominate PC Gaming, Solitaire Is the Most Played Videogame

It's always nice to see numbers and charts showing how gaming is becoming more central to modern life and how bigger and bigger demographic groups are becoming interested in playing on a PC or a console. Nielsen has just put out a new report full of details, called “State of the Video Gamer,” which offers some intriguing facts.

PC gaming is no longer a male environment, as more than 50% of those playing games on this platform are women, older than 25. Even as the PC is pronounced dead every few months, the most played game on the platform is Microsoft's Solitaire, which comes free with its operating systems. There were more than 17 million people playing Solitaire in December 2008 alone.

The PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 are said to be the platforms that appeal most to the “hardcore” demographics, which is exceedingly male and younger than the average for the overall gamer population. The PlayStation 3 attracts an older population, probably people who also owned and enjoyed the PlayStation 2. It also seems that people who are attracted to gaming consoles are increasingly shunning television, being described as “light watchers” by Nielsen, while those who played on the PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox are described as “heavy watchers.”

The most interesting find is that those playing on the Nintendo Wii use the device the least, justifying the moniker of “casual gamers.” The most played platform is still the PlayStation 2, even though its numbers are coming down every year.

The most active gamers are, according to Nielsen, those aged 12-17 and who live in households where the average income is more than 75,000 dollars. This also makes the videogame industry much more resistant to the recession than other entertainment-oriented mediums.