A common misconception about video games is that they are for a young, predominantly male audience only. That is far from the truth, as the following chart illustrates. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), playing video games is neither a pastime for the youth nor is it male-dominated. Quite the opposite in fact: 41 percent of all gamers in the United States are female and the average age range for video game players is 35 to 44 years.
According to the ESA, there are more than 214 million video game players in the United States. This explains why video games have grown into the largest and fastest-growing entertainment sector in recent years, attracting tens of billion of dollars in consumer spending each year. In 2020 alone, spent more than $50 billion on video game content, hardware and accessories across all platforms, according to the NPD Group.
