The average age of a gamer is 31.  The increasing age of gamers has served to make gaming a mass market pass time.  Gaming is now a channel through which any age audience can be reached - Adults play casual games, young kids are playing on their DS, and families use the Wii.  But what of the teen generation?  For teens, new consoles are still expensive but their old consoles (PS2 / original Xbox) are too out of date to be of interest.  So, what are they playing?  Is gaming still a way to reach them too?  You’ll be surprised…

Teens were the stalwarts of the gaming movement in the 80’s and 90’s.  It’s the teens of then that are the older gamers of now (and as a paid up representative, I should know).  With console prices so high, it is easy to think that only few older teens can afford the new consoles: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii.

However, a survey conducted by Habbo consisting of 60,000 teens aged 11 to 18 years old across 31 countries shows that teens still have massive access to gaming.  Of the teens surveyed, 23% own an Xbox 360, 21% own a PlayStation 3 and 24% own a Nintendo Wii.  With over 1 in 5 teens owning a new console, gaming seems more than massive with teens.

Plus, the power of Sony’s brand is incredible too with PlayStation 3 being the most preferred by every age 13-18 (the 11-12 year olds prefer the Wii).  This is surprising seeing as there are only 13 million PS3s in the world compared to 19 million Xbox 360s and 25 million Wiis.  With Sony being last to the new console party, how is it that Sony’s gaming brand remains so strong?  The answer, I believe, lies in the now-teens previous loyalty.  When these teens were younger, they played on PlayStation 2 and not on Xbox - there are 120 million PS2s in the world which is massive compared to the 24 million Xboxes and 22 million Gamecubes out there.

So, not only is gaming a medium that can reach people of all ages, but it’s as popular with teens as it ever was regardless of the price limits.  They were playing games before they were teens and it looks like they’re not about to stop now.  It’s good to see they’re not so different to how I was (and still am). 

Tags: 360, GameCube, gaming, Habbo, nintendo, PlayStation 3, video gaming, wii, xbox