Has anyone else noticed that as the gaming industry continues, the average age of gamers is also moving along with our age group?
When computers first started to be used in the early 70's I imagine the average age of computer users was somewhere in the 30-40 range. But when home computing first took off and was affordable the average age group using computers and playing video games quickly dropped.
I was first into gaming in the very late 70's in the arcades and on a few friends home consoles and handheld video games, but it was really in the early 80's, and on 8-bit platforms, when the average age of gamers and computer users was something like 8-16. Then with the 16-bit era this started to shift upwards and also expand the age range slightly, with something like an average age range of 12-20. But since the 16-bit era the average ago of gamers seems to be fixed to our generation and moves along with us as we get older.
Look at the PS2 gaming generation in the late 90's and early 2000's. The average age of gamers was 18-26 or something, and now with the current generation it is something like 24-36 year olds.
Can you all see the pattern here? It is our generation that continues to be the average age of the current gamer with each new generation of system. We have grown up with video games from their initial invention, and continue to buy and play the latest games from the current generation of platforms. Yes, younger people and older people are playing games too, but the concentration of gamers seems to always be with our age group.
Is this a good or bad thing? I don't really know.
The developers are also mainly in the same age range too, meaning many have been in the industry since the beginning, so know how games work and have a passion for gaming. And it explains why games keep getting more realistic, graphic, violent etc... because as games developers also get older, their interested obviously become more adult orientated too.
What does this mean for the future of gaming? Not sure myself.
Will our generation continue to be the average age group playing games? Does this mean than in 20+ years time the average age of gamers will be in the 50's?
Is it due to the shortening attention spans of the youth of today, and a poorer education system, that not as many of them seem to be playing games as much?