Women are a sleeper force behind Activision Blizzard's 'Call of Duty' success - and many other games as well. The franchise has surpassed $3 billion in retail sales worldwide, according to NPD, Charttrack, GfK and internal Activision estimates. In September alone women accounted for 30% of all Modern Warfare players on the PC - a trend that has been more or less consistent throughout the year (via GamerCrave).
How Much of a Surprise
Other statistics have noted that women - some mothers and even grandmothers - can be hardcore gamers as well. A study from The NPD Group, for example, found that the number of women who play console games has increased, from 23% Console Gamers in 2008 to 28% in 2009, writes MarketingCharts. The popularity of the Nintendo Wii is behind this increase, which increased in usage by 19 percentage points over 2008.
Another study from the Entertainment Software Association found that the average game player is 35 years old and the average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 39. In a nod to this rapidly growing gaming constituency, Nintendo is releasing a new model of its DSi portable game system, the DSi XL, that has design features that will appeal to seniors.
Primary Stereotype
Still, though, the stereotype of the male, teenage gamer has been hard for the industry to shake. This image is breaking down, however, as more statistics illustrating the growing numbers of female gamers, are compiled. The 2009 UK National Gamers Survey by TNS and Gameindustry.com finds that female gamers are even more attractive to advertisers than the average woman because they are more likely to buy branded clothing and trainers, book a holiday online and are more at ease with spending larger sums of money via the internet, according to Marketing Week.
Statistics like these are tempting more brands to commit to pre-roll advertising around gaming or buy in-game advertising space, says Rumbi Pfende, UK country manager of RealGames. "The whole mindset has changed. Brands have been experimenting with this format but are beginning to show a greater commitment to gaming."
Virtual Currency
Separate research from Q Interactive focuses on female gamers' interest in virtual currency and how brands might leverage that. It finds that 97% of women prefer to earn their way through the game versus paying for currency, according to a guest post at All Facebook.
The current wisdom is that incentivized ads are of low quality because users complete the offers solely to get points: 67% of women say that the offers are useful. Women pick offers based on content, not on the amount of virtual currency awarded. Only 9% choose offers based on the reward. Surveys were the most popular method to earn currency at 34%. In second place at 22% are hard goods (toys, electronics).
Bottom line, according to the post: Women want to engage with brands: "It's not that the games built by players such as Zynga are bad or that the ad networks themselves are locked into an evil cycle. Rather, the right offers from trusted advertisers might allow users to enjoy free games, advertisers to get decent ROI, and game developers to be able to support their applications via games."
