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Gamers aged 55+ account for almost a third of gamers now, and that share is on the rise.
(www.midiaresearch.com)
this post was submitted on 30 May 2024
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This can happen when the global economy is in the toilet.
If only retirees can afford to participate in a hobby, thats usually an indicator that whatever that hobby is is too expensive. A lower price would make it more prolific and generate more potential sales, likely to increase revenue overall by volume.
Like how Ferrari cars are designed for 20 year olds but only 80 year olds can afford to buy them.
I disagree. This is just a market maturing. Gaming is relatively new compared to other media and really started exploding in the late 80's and 90's. Someone aged 55 is still a decade away from retirement and has probably been playing games since the late 80's. It's totally possible they've been gamers the whole time.
And gaming is hardly so expensive as to be compared to Ferrari. There's still plenty of ways to play games cheap. People pick up used games and older consoles all the time. Even new, games aren't prohibitively expensive. Don't get me wrong. A new console is not cheap by any means, but there are plenty of ways to enjoy video games and not spend thousands. You don't have to have the newest stuff to enjoy games.
Also who said Ferrari's are designed for 20 year olds?
I think the point is just that young people don't participate as much as they would because they don't have the money for it. In previous decades young people had more money to spend.
We'd need per capita data over time for each age group to conclude that. Might be in the actual study, but it's behind an absurd paywall (3000 UK pounds). I think it's plausible that both groups have been increasing over time, but over 55s increased more. There is probably a hard limit on how many young people are going to enjoy gaming, whereas there is a lot of growth to be had in the over 55s group (as historically, few played games).