Girls Playing More Video Games Than Boys

The growth in mobile gaming apps means more women are playing video games than men, according to a study.

The Gaming Revolution report by research agency Populous revealed 52% of people who had played some form of video game in the last six months were female; an increase from 49% three years ago.

The study found the UK gaming audience has now hit 33.5 million Britons, some 69% of the population and the increase in girl gamers was being driven by women aged 25-44 downloading free puzzle and trivia apps.

Expert gamer and technology guru Kate Russell told Sky News: "It’s a myth that girls don't game and there's a real mistake being made for us to still be hung up on these old ideas of gender.

"The rise in the concept of social gaming has made the industry less hard core; girls are no longer frightened of computer games and they tend to play better in groups.

"There are also more female characters in multi-role playing games now and girls are being drawn towards characters they can identify with.

"I meet a lot of girls at GCSE age who don't want to be a curiosity and would love to get into technology but they don't want to be put in a museum like an exhibit as something out of the norm. We need to step back from that now and let the situation normalise."

The study also reveals there are now more people aged over 44 playing video games than children and teenagers and that apps are the most popular video game format (played by 55% of the online population).

The next most popular format was online games (48%) followed by disc-based games (40%).

More than one in four (27%) people played all three formats, rising to 70% of 8-12 year olds. The report also found the average Briton spends six hours per week playing games; just over 11% of their 52 hours of media consumption.

The average gamer aged 16+ spends around 11 hours gaming a week, compared to 20 hours for 8-15 year olds. 6-8pm is the most popular game-playing time.

"The internet and mobile devices have changed the gaming landscape forever," said Steve Chester, Director of Data & Industry Programmes at the Internet Advertising Bureau, which commissioned the study.

"They've brought down the barriers to entry, making gaming far more accessible and opened it up to a whole new audience.

"In the past you needed to go out and buy an expensive console and the discs on top to get a decent experience, now you can just download a free app."