A common misconception about video games is that they are for a young, predominantly male audience only. That is far from the truth, as the following chart illustrates. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), playing video games is neither a pastime for the youth nor is it male-dominated. Quite the opposite in fact: 48 percent of all gamers in the United States identify as female and the average age of video game players is 33 years with 76 percent of all players aged over 18.
According to the ESA, there are more than 215 million video game players in the United States. This explains why video games have grown into the largest and fastest-growing entertainment sector in recent years, attracting tens of billion of dollars in consumer spending each year. In 2021 alone, Americans spent more than $60 billion on video game content, hardware and accessories across all platforms, according to the NPD Group.
