Recently released numbers from the NPD Group indicate that the number of female “console gamers” increased dramatically over the previous year. In the US, female gamers rose 5%, up to 28% overall. The Wii takes much of the credit for that.
NPD analyst Anita Frazier stated:
“Last year was one of the most transformative in history in terms of defining the audience for gaming.
Even with the increased competition from mobile and social network gaming, the console gamer segment added the most new participants to its ranks in the last year.”
There was a four percentage point rise in females among both Heavy Portable and Extreme Gamers. Extreme Gamers are unique in that they play an average of 39 hours a week, which is 10 hours more than the second most dedicated group, the Avid PC Gamers.
[Source]
