Millennials spend more time gaming than any other age group

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Engagement with video games has increased across every major demographic, platform and genre over the past five years according to Fandom's 2023 Inside Gaming Report. The survey further noted that millennials are spending more time gaming per week than younger age groups.

Two out of five millennials surveyed said they spend 22 hours or more gaming per week, compared to just 29 percent of tweens. Millennials also tend to favor the PC over other gaming platforms like consoles while younger generations gravitate more toward mobile gaming, likely due to the associated cost of entry.

Interest in a particular title also plays out among age groups as you might expect. Younger gamers report being more influenced by streamers and hype than their older counterparts. Millennials, meanwhile, tend to buy into games that offer good character development and strong storylines.

Why play games at all? According to younger players, they like the thrill of chasing achievements and view games as a way to pass the time. Older audiences enjoy the intellectual stimulation and exploration aspects that some titles bring to the table.

Gaming has also evolved into a way for parents to bond with their children. Among those surveyed, 56 percent of parents said gaming is a fun activity to do together and 41 percent expressed interest in passing down their fandom to their offspring. A third of parents said they believe co-gaming helps to establish teamwork and collaboration skills, one in four said it fosters leadership skills, and 26 percent feel co-gaming teaches important life lessons.

Did you play games with your parents, or do you play games with your children now? I can recall my mom occasionally picking up an NES controller for a few runs in Super Mario Bros. and laying down some decent scores in Tetris on the Game Boy but it was never really a co-gaming thing. Video games for me, at least back then, were largely for the amusement of me and my friends.

Image credit: Jeshoots

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https://www.techspot.com/news/98307-millennials-spend-more-time-gaming-than-any-other.html

 

[hahahanoobs]

My biggest PC upgrades came as preparation for Battlefield 3, 4 and 2042.

 

[Achaios]

What is this guy saying?

Bro, do you even WoW?

Me and my guildmates spent literally infinite hours gaming back in the 2000's and ofc none of us is a millenial.

We were gaming before it was cool, we used Ventrillo, and the Devs who made WoW are even older than us and they gamed like that back in the 90's playing Everquest while the rest of us were playing Ultima Online and Dungeon Master.

So yeah, I don't think the OP has got great knowledge on the topic perhaps there's some Old Hands here who can explain.

 

[yRaz]

What do they expect people to do? Gaming is the cheapest form of social entertainment. Going out to dinner is basically $100, if I want to take anyone to the gym with me I have to pay an equipment rental fee and even driving around listening to music is going to be $40-50.

As far as value goes gaming is pretty cheap. Me and my friends still talk about ridiculous times we had in games 20 years ago.

Everything is so high that gaming is basically the only thing you can do to not spend money unless you aren't already invested in some other hobby.

 

[kira setsu]

Well yeah, gaming is a dirt cheap hobby, and you dont even need to leave the house, plus it can be social, it covers all the bases.

and I say that as a mainly pc gamer who likes to keep his system pretty current, on the flipside someone can snag a ps4 and still play new games, hell, if someone can just grab a console, laptop or phone then f2p(albeit sneaky af) games are there too.

why burn a benjamin at a movie theatre and have it ruined by talkers and kids when you can stay in, fix alot of something cheap in a pot and play games splitscreen on the bigscreen in your pj's?

 

[Hexic]

What do they expect people to do? Gaming is the cheapest form of social entertainment. Going out to dinner is basically $100, if I want to take anyone to the gym with me I have to pay an equipment rental fee and even driving around listening to music is going to be $40-50.

As far as value goes gaming is pretty cheap. Me and my friends still talk about ridiculous times we had in games 20 years ago.

Everything is so high that gaming is basically the only thing you can do to not spend money unless you aren't already invested in some other hobby.

Totally this.

I can save money, socialize at my own pace, be as mentally stimulating as I want to be, and enjoy myself at the same time. When calculating price-per-minute, it's incredibly efficient.

 

[Nobina]

Because shits all fd up in the world and millennials grew up in the golden age of gaming.

 

[EdmondRC]

Gaming has always been my form of relaxation when I just need to get my mind off of things. I usually workout every other morning, the mornings I don't workout, I play videogames for an hour or so. That's basically the only time I get to game. Rarely, but it does happen, my wife sees that I had a hard day and says, "Why don't you go play your games for a while and relax", I usually take her up on that offer. But, otherwise in the evenings I'm spending time with my wife and kids and I wouldn't change that. This is also why I rarely play multiplayer games, I just don't have a schedule that fits committing my time to online gaming.

I watch basically no television except with my kids on Friday evenings or I might watch an episode of a show with my wife after the kids are in bed if we don't feel like going to bed right away ourselves. I don't watch sports or the evening news. So gaming is my form of entertainment.

 

[RudyBob]

Ah play cause it's fun

 

[Hodor]

The new generation has no time for gaming. They have to prepare for the future. In 2 years electricity will be too expensive for gaming. People will be fighting on the streets for water and food.

 

[Uncle Al]

Why do you play video games?

I'm a combat veteran with a roaring case of PTSD. For years I was constantly in trouble in all sorts of different ways then another vet suggested I try some video games. I scoffed at the idea but after a few weeks and another near brush with the law I decided to give it a try. I was totally dumbfounded. It Worked!!! And when I played them each evening I got calmer and calmer. I can't tell you why it works but I've found a bunch of other vets that had the same experience so if you know someone with the problem, spread the word!!!

 

[Fuzzy Dunalap]

What is this guy saying?

Bro, do you even WoW?

Me and my guildmates spent literally infinite hours gaming back in the 2000's and ofc none of us is a millenial.

We were gaming before it was cool, we used Ventrillo, and the Devs who made WoW are even older than us and they gamed like that back in the 90's playing Everquest while the rest of us were playing Ultima Online and Dungeon Master.

So yeah, I don't think the OP has got great knowledge on the topic perhaps there's some Old Hands here who can explain.

I don't know why. I got flashbacks of playing Diablo2 and Tribes all night. Man... fun times.

 

[yRaz]

I don't know why. I got flashbacks of playing Diablo2 and Tribes all night. Man... fun times.

I easily have over 2000 hours in the original Tribes. I remember being a kid and turning the brightness down on the CRT so my parents couldn't tell I was in the computer room if they got up late a night.

 

[Lowhangingfruit]

The 2023 Inside Gaming report identifies macro-level entertainment patterns and trends based on a survey of 15,000 Global Fandom users

So a site that caters predominantly to millenial gamers says that millenials play a lot of games? Younger generations don't use Fandom. This survey is sus.

It's also a bit sad though. Millenials are 30-40. One would hope at that stage of life they have enough other things going on where 3+ hours/day of video games is not possible. I'm a millenial and I can squeeze in at most 2-3 hours of gaming in a week! Bug again, the survey is cherry picking its audience here.

 

[yRaz]

So a site that caters predominantly to millenial gamers says that millenials play a lot of games? Younger generations don't use Fandom. This survey is sus.

It's also a bit sad though. Millenials are 30-40. One would hope at that stage of life they have enough other things going on where 3+ hours/day of video games is not possible. I'm a millenial and I can squeeze in at most 2-3 hours of gaming in a week! Bug again, the survey is cherry picking its audience here.

I don't game during the week but if the weather is crap or some of my friends want to come over I have no problem ordering a pizza(or telling them to bring one over) and breaking out the 360 for the Halo fun or just murdering the **** out of each other in smash brothers and mario kart.

Best part is that some of them now have kids in their teens and we can get their kids in on the fun. Everyone gets to have a "night out" while keeping the money in their wallets. You should see my one friend's kid rage when we play golden with license to kill slappers only and we let his kid play Oddjob.

 

[Threadcount]

Millennials, I was born in the 80's, just because we did not have internet and analytics back then does not mean we weren't up to the same thing, maybe even more, back then social was 20 friends over at your house.

 

[oasked]

Millennials, I was born in the 80's, just because we did not have internet and analytics back then does not mean we weren't up to the same thing, maybe even more, back then social was 20 friends over at your house.

That makes you a 'millenial' too.

"If you were born between 1981 and 1996, you are a millennial" (USA Today)

 

[CrisisDog]

GenX, kind of still play video games, usually first person shooters. Do a lot of solo activity, even if I pick up a MMO. Unfortunately over the last few years, work has had me staring at a computer screen for 10 to 12 hours a day that I don't want to keep doing it for recreational use. I also can't wrap my head around sandbox experiences like Minecraft or No Man's Sky which have no story line to follow, and are just there for the crafting and community.

 

[Ohnooze]

Millennials, I was born in the 80's, just because we did not have internet and analytics back then does not mean we weren't up to the same thing, maybe even more, back then social was 20 friends over at your house.

Yep...though I was a 70s baby. In fact it was better in a lot of ways. We had more face to face...bunch of people watching each other play and whatnot. Good times.

 

[BakaRed77]

We are chasing that high we got playing the old school consoles and games.

 

[duplissi]

Millennials, I was born in the 80's, just because we did not have internet and analytics back then does not mean we weren't up to the same thing, maybe even more, back then social was 20 friends over at your house.

Born in the 80s? You are a millenial. lol...

 

[Bobbydpue]

Totally this.

I can save money, socialize at my own pace, be as mentally stimulating as I want to be, and enjoy myself at the same time. When calculating price-per-minute, it's incredibly efficient.

"Socialize at my own pace"? What does that even mean?

 

[poohbear]

At the end of the day, gaming is just another addictive behavior for us to escape our unaddressed childhood inadequacies & traumas. Previous generations escaped through TV, but there are many other addictions & outlets through which we can choose to escape. Most people aren't even aware that their anxieties are closely connected to unresolved childhood experiences...and until they choose to look into that they'll just keep repeating the same cycle of escape.

 

[Tetr1s]

I play videogames because I'm young (17) and have too much time on my hands so I wanna do something I enjoy, (I do other things as well just I primarily game cause I'm good at them lol)

 

[Hexic]

"Socialize at my own pace"? What does that even mean?

It means when I log into games of my own volition, I am then socializing when I want - I.e. at my own pace.