Nintendo's US gaming demographics: Let us show you them
During Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's GDC keynote today, the ex-Hal Labs head recounted more than just his personal history in the game industry -- he also showed off detailed statistics of the US gaming populace's growth from late November 2007 through October 2010.
Specifically, he revealed that, according to Nintendo's studies, the US has seen tremendous growth in the "active user population," going from just 45 percent in late 2007 to 62 percent by the end of 2010. Put as headcounts: That's 135 million gamers by the end of 2007 versus 201 million in late 2010.
Moreover, the female gaming demographic has expanded almost as rapidly as the male one in that time; though the stats also indicate that people game less and less as they get older -- corroborated, anecdotally, by our own parents' proclivity for CBS Sunday Morning over Super Mario Bros.
