Over Sixty Percent of Americans Play Video Games

ESA is saying that two thirds of US households play video games.

And with the introduction of next generation gaming, you can definitely see this becoming an increasing number. I actually believe there are two things involved. The first is the fact that most of us gamers that grew up with the Atari 2600 and Intellivision have moved on through the generations of gaming consoles and PC gaming to arrive at our current stage. We’re also at the age where we are parents or some are even grandparents and we still enjoy the entertainment. On top of that, we’re also creating a younger generation of gamers to enjoy it with us.

Second, gaming corporations are chasing after a more general populace of gamers. Right now, they are looking to bring in people that previously were not entertained with gaming. That changed entirely when the Wii was introduced, and now Microsoft has Project Natal and Sony has the Playstation Motion controller. The entire move towards casual gamers has not only increased the spread of interactive entertainment but it’s also found its way into the lives of people that never thought about pixel-driven fun.

As people’s living rooms become their space for winding down instead of movie theaters and the like, I believe that this number will probably grow out to around an eighty percent mark in the next decade or so. What does this mean? Truthfully, we could really be playing video games with people we have never met that live quite literally down the street from us.