At 40% of the Market, Videogame Publishers Pursue Women & Girls

Yukari Iwatani Kane over at The Wall Street Journal reports today that publishers are introducing more video games than ever this Christmas season geared toward the female market, in a nod to the ever increasing percentage of women players. The thinking goes, with each 5% increase in female players, publishers will see an additional $1 billion in sales. The number of overall female players has increased from 21% in 2001 to the current 40%, as cited in stats from Wedbush Morgan. (I previously noted the same statistic reported by Ipsos MediaCT.)

Here’s a list of games the article mentions that are either out or forthcoming:

  • Charm Girls Club
  • FarmVille (on FaceBook)
  • Hannah Montana
  • Just Dance
  • Littlest Pet Shop
  • Petz
  • Sports Active
  • StyleLab
  • The Imagine line for the DS
  • Wii Fit Plus
  • Your Shape

Finally, Guitar Hero and Rock Band have cross-gender appeal.

References:
Kane, Y.I. (2009, October 13). Videogame firms make a play for women. The Wall Street Journal, B4.


categories Electronic Arts, Game Discussion, Gaming Statistics, Gender Studies, WSJ | John Rice | datetime October 13, 2009 6:36 am

2 Comments

  • By auto insurance tacoma, October 30, 2009 @ 2:14 am

    Great article. I really enjoyed the insights…

Other Links to this Post

  1. ESA Survey: Male/Female Gamer Ratio is 60/40; Average Age is 35 « Educational Games Research — October 14, 2009 @ 8:28 pm

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