ESA: 38% Of Gamers Are Female

A new report by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) claims that 38 percent of all gamers are female, with the average female gamer spending 7.4 hours per week playing games. According to the survey, the majority prefer to play casual style games and use primarily either the PC or Nintendo DS for their game playing. Despite the high percentage of female game players in today's market, an International Game Developers Association (IGDA) study suggest that women only make up 12 percent of the games industry workforce. Another separate report, commissioned by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and revealed as part of an CNN article on the subject, indicates that more than 60 percent of female students enrolled in game design programs at The Art Institutes said they believed male dominance in the industry was a deterrent to pursuing a career in the industry. Speaking to CNN, SOE senior vice president of global sales and marketing for Sony Online Entertainment Torrie Dorrell, commented: "Women are out there in significant numbers playing MMOs, action games, first-person shooters. What is lacking in the equation are women behind these games."