Baby Boomer women buck the video game trend

Baby Boomers play their fair share of video games, but the exact type of Baby Boomers who are glued to their consoles might surprise you.

“As we dug into our Essential Facts for 2024, we found that stereotypes about who plays video games don't match up to reality, and the reality is, everyone plays,” said Aubrey Quinn, senior vice president of the Entertainment Software Association. Newsweek.

A new report from the Entertainment Software Association finds that 53 percent of video game players are male and just 46 percent are female, but the gender trend reverses among older age groups.

Among Generation Alpha (born between 2012 and 2024), a staggering 82% of male respondents said they play video games for one hour or more per week, along with 76% of women. The same trends were seen among Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012), Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996), and Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) age groups.

Men are about 10 percentage points more likely to say they play video games than women, but Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) have a different view.

Half of baby boomer women said they played games weekly, compared with 44% of baby boomer men, and for the Silent Generation (1928-1945), the numbers were roughly the same: 30% of women and 29% of men played games once a week.

Keeping the brain sharp is one of the main reasons why Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation are drawn to video games, even though they didn't play them as children. But why are more women playing games than men, despite previous stereotypes about gamers?

A previous AARP study found that the number of seniors who play video games jumped from 40.2 million in 2016 to 50.6 million in 2019, and the trend is growing.

Compared to men of the Baby Boomer and Silent Generation, women are more likely to seek brain stimulation in their hobbies, and some may also rely on games to maintain social connections.

“Nearly half (47%) of Baby Boomers and nearly a third (30%) of the Silent Generation play video games regularly,” Quinn said. “Older Americans are more likely than younger gamers to say they are motivated by keeping their minds sharp, but this is true for women of all generations.”

Baby Boomers were also most likely to say that video games stimulate the brain, at 92%, compared to just 84% of Gen Zers.

“Gaming improves your critical thinking skills by giving you the opportunity to solve complex problems,” the 37-year-old woman, who asked not to be named, said in the report.

The study also found that gaming is a predominantly white hobby, with 75 percent of players being white, compared to just 12 percent and 19 percent being black and Hispanic, respectively.