ESA: 61% of Americans play games at least one hour a week

More than 190 million people in the US played video games for at least one hour a week in 2023, according to new data from the Entertainment Software Association.

The ESA’s 2024 Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry report was conducted in October 2023 by YouGov, including data from 5,000 respondents. .

It found that the average American player is 36 years old, and the average adult player has been playing games for almost two decades.

The ESA found that 53% of respondents identified as male and 46% identified as female. By comparison, 2022’s gender breakdown saw 52% of those surveyed identify as male and 48% of players identify as female.

38% of game players were people of colour, which has increased by about a third from data collected in 2022.

More than half of adults 18 and older (56%) said they played games regularly, but it was the generation aged between five and ten that had the highest percentage of gamers at 79%.

The report also included retrospective facts to mark the ESA’s 30th anniversary, including the growth of industry sales in the past 25 years. In 2002, the industry reported $11.7 billion in consumer spending, while in 2023 this totaled $57.2 billion.

“Video games have been a fixture in American life and culture for generations,” said Stanley Pierre-Louis, president and CEO of the ESA. “Players of all ages, backgrounds and abilities are embracing the positivity that video games bring to their lives.”

“While the games we play – and how we play them – evolves over time, what remains consistent is how video games enhance our lives in ways that inspire us and bring us closer together.”