With each passing year, the global gaming industry continues to thrive, attracting more and more players every month. In a 2015 forecast conducted by online research website Statista, it was revealed that worldwide video game sales would rise to $90 billion by 2020, while another report by the same site estimated that there were 1.8 billion gamers around the world in 2014. That’s approximately 25% of the entire population, and it has surely grown since then.
More recently, Statista released a study that revealed the gender split among computer and video gamers in the United States between 2006 and 2017. This is perhaps the most surprising set of statistics yet, as while women made up just 38% of gamers in 2006, in 2017 they accounted for 42%. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, female gamers outnumber men according to a 2014 study released by the Internet Advertising Bureau, which states that 52% of all UK gamers are women.
However, this isn’t because the gaming industry suddenly started making more female-friendly console games where players don’t just shoot each other in the face repeatedly; the rise of female gamers is actually due to internet games and smartphone apps. Steve Chester, Director of Data and Industry Programmes at the Internet Advertising Bureau told The Guardian back in 2014: “The internet and mobile devices have changed the gaming landscape forever. They’ve brought down the barriers to entry, making gaming more accessible and opened it up to a new audience.”
One gaming genre that has been particularly popular amongst women is online bingo. That’s right, that game your grandmother used to play on a Wednesday night is now one of the most popular games in the entire world. In fact, it would be fair to say that the online bingo market is partially responsible for encouraging more women than ever to get into games, especially since 85% of bingo players are female. There are now hundreds of online bingo sites where female gamers are gaining skills, building communities and having fun together on a regular basis.
Plus, bingo no longer comes in just a couple of varieties – there are plenty of different types to try out, thus attracting even more players. For example, if you play bingo online at Vernons, just one of the many online bingo operators out there, you’ll find Deal or No Deal Bingo, Bingo Espresso, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Bingo — really, any type of bingo or almost any theme you can think of is out there. Needless to say, it’s easy to see why the online bingo market has managed to attract so many loyal consumers.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that smartphone games aren’t equally as responsible for the uptake in female gamers. Quite the contrary, there’s nothing more than female gamers love than playing trivia and puzzle games on their mobile devices. Games like Words With Friends and Candy Crush are incredibly popular among women, as they offer accessible, enjoyable activities that they can pick up and put down whenever they like. They are the perfect platform for casual players, and women just love them.
Poppy Watt