Women overtake men in causal game usage

Women are now playing more casual online games than men according to a new survey by Mintel, figures show that 27% of women play games such as Candy Crush and other Facebook game apps than 24% of men.

Although the new figures show an increase in women playing online games, the number of people admitting to being “hardcore gamers” are still men with 13% of men compared to 6% of women saying they think they are heavily involved in the gaming culture.

Even when the survey asked if you consider yourself a moderate user of online games the figures still showed men believe they are a moderate user with 24% saying they were compared to 15% of women.

The casual gaming industry in Britain is worth £1.7bn currently and with the increase of women now using their smartphones to play, the gaming industry is looking at more games to attract the growing number of female gamers.

Indeed of many women surveyed the indication was that they are not into “shoot’em up” games like the fella’s they want more tactical, puzzle-based games which are more common on smartphones, hence the increase in usage.

In a recent survey among the sexes when it came to gaming consoles where “shoot’em up” games are dominant the figures showed that women playing those games had dropped. It is clear from the numbers that if gaming developers want to tap into the growing number of women playing gaming apps, they have to adapt their games to suit.