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"Older gamers in the majority?"

According to ELSPA, teenage gamers are in the minority, and the average age of gamers in Europe is 25-35. Eh?

Surveys tend to be a load of old baloney, but this one is rather amusing. ELSPA, or the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (or the people who try and stop from buying violent games)has concluded its annual market survey with some rather strange results. When finding out the average age of games players around Europe, ELSPA claim their results point to those around 25-35 years of age. Cut to comedy visual of Nintendo executive spraying coffee over his monitor. Either we're way out of touch, or those results are a little... off.

Considering a very small percentage of games on the market are catered towards the adult market (and I don't mean that kind of adult market), and the majority of games released are geared towards a slightly younger audience, these results seem even more hard to believe. ELSPA claim the release of the PS2 and the Xbox, plus the rising costs of PCs raises the average age. Their research also suggests that a high percentage of gamers are single, have "little or no children" and a high disposable income.

So, are Nintendo wasting their time with games about cuddly little monsters and lost plumbers? Not judging by sales figures. Sure, more mature games like MGS2, GTA3 and Halo will attract the older game, but 35 year-olds? Get outta here, pops.

What do you think? Are older gamers out-numbering us young whippersnappers?

See, I'm only 19, and my list goes on a bit too, I can't remember some of the numbers on the systems though, here's the list anyway;

Grandsatnd (Yes it plays pong and stuff, 4 built in games and it uses switches to change between games. I still have this, in it's box, probably worth a few bob.)

Spectrum something or other
Commodore 16
Spectrum something or other
Commodore 64
Commodore Amiga 500+
PC (started off with a 486 DX4-100 wih 8Mb Ram, now have a 1.4ghz with 512Mb DDR ;) )
Playstation
N64
Playstation 2

I've also had access to a DC throught the fact that my brothers have one, and as for the SNES I have a SNES emulator for my good ol' PC.

Either way, I woud still sit back and say the PS2 is the best games system I've ever owned.

31, yep thats me, three kids, married, good income, pc, Amiga 1200 tower system, Dreamcast, CD32, N64, GBA and Xbox. The rest of the family have other machines too but the above are all mine. I own about 300 games and play at least a little most days. The point is I did not write this post to brag but to say I am not alone, I know plenty of others my age and in my position who also play loads of games, my wife has a Gamecube ordered as well so lets get off this Nintendo for kids crap, Nintendo is for the whole family. It does get on my **** a bit when video games are percieved as being only for teenagers, we've been there too and now we're older, hopefully richer and STILL PLAYING.

31, yep thats me, three kids, married, good income, pc, Amiga 1200 tower system, Dreamcast, CD32, N64, GBA and Xbox. The rest of the family have other machines too but the above are all mine. I own about 300 games and play at least a little most days. The point is I did not write this post to brag but to say I am not alone, I know plenty of others my age and in my position who also play loads of games, my wife has a Gamecube ordered as well so lets get off this Nintendo for kids crap, Nintendo is for the whole family. It does get on my **** a bit when video games are percieved as being only for teenagers, we been there too and now we're older, hopefully richer and STILL PLAYING.

I`m 27, married and still spend a good bit of my spare time playing.

I agree with an earlier point in that gaming really came to the fore during the eighties when I was still in school so I have grown up with each level of hardware

Commodore 64
Commodore Amiga
PC - Ninja setup at the time - utter pants now
N64
PS2

As time progresses I personally will not suddenly stop gaming and suddenly start wearing cardigans just because I reach a certain age. I enjoy my gaming too much to give it up and will continue to upgrasde to the next big thing for many years to come

Whoa, where did all the old guys come from?

How *you* doin'

I think the ELSPA survey is spot on.

I myself fit squarely in that average age range, and do consider myself the "average" game player, with a PC, PSX and soon to acquire XBox.

My circle of close friends are all about 30 or coming up to, most are single home owners with no kids, with PCs, PS2s and XBoxs, and have been avid gamers on and off since kids with home computers and Atari VCS and those awful pong like TV games (but they were great at the time!!)

While some other friends are older and even more die hard games players.

I think the messages already posted in this topic robustly dismiss the comments of "Mr. Snuggly".

As a consistent member of Special Reserve for probably more than a decade I think Special Reserve should be careful to heed this report and be aware who their customers are!

Geez I feel old now!!!! :-)

Was the average age *that* much of a suprise?

If you consider that the PSX was HUGELY successful when it was released in 1995, aimed at twentysomethings, then it seems pretty obvious that seven years later you are going to have an awful lot of gamers that are thirtyish, aren't you?

Still, I'd like to know exactly how the survey was done... how many teenagers would ever bother filling out a form to help the company with it's research? If it was based on feedback forms, there's a problem straight away. Also, was it calculated by console purchases or games purchases? Those in the higher income bracket do seem to get through more games...

Welcome Toby - Someone older than me here at last !!

While I'm suprised if the older gamers outnumber the youngsters, one thing is for sure people of my age (28) have seen the growth of gaming from its infancy and for a lot of us we are now seeing computers powerful enough to give us the gaming experience we have always dreamed of.
Its true that computers and consoles are expensive toys, but then it always has been, but I actually think it is cheaper to buy PCs and consoles now than ever before, it still might cost you £200 for a PS2 but only a few years ago it was the same price tag for a Sega Mega Drive! Not only is the PS2 a far more pleasurable beast to play in every sense of the word, but £200 when the Mega Drive was out (around 10 years ago for those too young to remember) was worth a lot more back then.
I also believe having a older market is a benefit to gaming as we get superb titles like MOH:Allied Assault, Operation Flashpoint, Command & Conquer, Unreal, Quake, etc. The more mature player demands a fair higher depth of play and is generally harder to please since we've seen so many games before. Its a bit like someone who watches alot of films, after a while the story lines are all the same and its only the acting and special affects that make the difference between enjoyment and boredom.
Whatever your age as long as you enjoy your gaming experience you'll be hooked for your lifetime!

Greetings to more old people like myself (being 28).

We rule the computer world without question, we saw it from the start with BBC Model Bs and Atari consoles etc and it's grown up with us.

And for Toby, I bet there's a couple of games you can whup your son at.
It may cause emotional issues later in his life, but it's got to be good to destroy your progeny at a game.