Study Shows Gaming Gender Equality in Asia

Global Digital Living, a consumer survey on international responses to various topics from Parks Associates, has published a report indicating that Asian men and women are on par with one another when it comes to playing online video games. 50% of respondents from Asian nations who answered affirmatively to playing online games were male, which 49% were female. The report also covered other regions of the globe, each of which was more weighted toward female online gamers. In North America, the male to female ratio was 39% to 52%; in Europe, it was 28% to 39%, and in Australia, it was 27% to 53%. (No South American or African nations are included among the 13 that Global Digital Living surveys.) “The revenue-generating genres such as first-person shooters and fantasy games are still dominated by a small group of hard-core male gamers," said Parks Associates analyst Yuanzhe Cai, interpreting the results. [The type of online game played by the parties was unspecified, and likely spanned casual web browser-based titles all the way to MMOs.] Cai concluded: "The gender parity in Asia is unique and may offer insight on how to expand the gaming industry in the western world. Gamers in Asia tend to value the community aspect of the online gaming experience, and the dominant game genres appeal to males and females alike.”