NPD Eyes Female Audience Following Record Year

[Logik]

GameDAILY Biz had a short Q & A with NPD's entertainment industry analyst Anita Frazier regarding the video game industry's record breaking 2005. She says the NPD has their eye on the female audience (http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=11571&rp=47) as a market of potential growth in the near future.

Another story for the year is the bigger than recognized female market. While our consumer data shows that males are still the biggest primary market, which is certainly important in terms of identifying a core demographic to direct marketing activity and dollars toward, our title level Hits Monitor data shows that for many titles there is a significant female audience. They may not be the primary player in a household, but they are social gamers, playing alongside their siblings, friends, significant others, or children. These gamer-moms, sisters, and girlfriends are very possibly one of the richest targets for industry growth in the coming years.

[rinichanraar]

I hope this doesn't mean a significant increase in "girl" games like "Bratz: Rock Angelz," "Hello Kitty Roller Rescue," or "Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper," 'cause while I am a girl and all, I happen to like games like Resident Evil and GTA and other "guy" games just fine. :)

[mister_slim]

And as much as they want them, I don't see MS targeting them very successfully. Nintendo seems to be doing okay with the DS, and might have similar success with the Revolution, Sony had some success in the past (mostly with Final Fantasy, admittedly), but I doubt MS will be grabbing that demo. Maybe if they manage to build a full library.

Edit: my post flowed much better without that other post in the way. Foiled again by the internet.

[rinichanraar]

Edit: my post flowed much better without that other post in the way. Foiled again by the internet.

Bwahahahaha. ;)

[Dirty Harry]

Bwahahahaha. ;)
omigud, a gurlll.

Hah i kid, welcome to evil avatar, and also thank you for representing a undervoiced demographic.

[Subbacultcha]

Sulu: Captain, these oestrogen readings are off the scale.

[Nessus]

I think the DS probably has the highest ratio of female users of any current console/portable. PC obviously is probably in the lead with all the Yahoo! solitare playing women.

[automaton]

I agree and I love the DS for it. I've been trying to get my wife into gaming for YEARS. Sure she loves the occasional round of Mario Kart or Mario Tennis, but I couldn't get her into anything else. The DS seems to have her hooked. She loves Kirby Canvas Curse and I have to fight her to put down Meteos. She is even starting to talk about getting her own. I know she would like Nintendogs and Animal Crossing WW.

[Rirath]

Industry growth, industry growth... sooner or later somebody may just have to realize that not everyone plays videogames, and you're just not going to market to certain demographics. That said, I really think it's a matter of making good, engaging, neutral games like the JRPGs, rather than female targeted junk.

[rein]

I still don't get what the big deal is about a girl playing games. Most girls I know possess hand-to-eye coordination, are smart, and have logic puzzle solving skills. I don't think the demographic is as untapped as others do either. I think the spike in the demographic right now has more to do with age. A lot of young girls started playing games when gaming became popular. They are just now reaching ages where they are counted in "polls". I have noticed I sell a lot of video games to younger girls and they are growing up with them. I do not beleive they think they are trend setters. I don't think the market is dictating that they play games either. They are not buying games because Barbie is on the cover. They are buying the same games as younger males for the most part. Now of course, if you have a Barbie game and track the sells just for it more girls will buy it because most boys do not identify with Barbie. It doesn't mean the girl started gaming just to play Barbie.

[JRR006]

Industry growth, industry growth... sooner or later somebody may just have to realize that not everyone plays videogames, and you're just not going to market to certain demographics. That said, I really think it's a matter of making good, engaging, neutral games like the JRPGs, rather than female targeted junk.

Exactly.

My sister's collection of Barbie Horse Whatever games did nothing to draw her deeper into the hobby. It wasn't until I introduced her to Mario 64, co-op Perfect Dark, etc, that she really began to get into it. While still casual as gamers go, she's a force to be reckoned with in Halo.

I can't comment on, say, moral neutrality. If you're talking about predominantly single-player, and thus less competitive... I guess I'd have to agree. For me personally, it's a matter of degree. I enjoy competing when hanging out with friends, and LAN parties with the CS club, but dislike the vast, chaotic anonymity of Internet pick-up games.

But then, I can't speak for all women. Hell, as a female, I'm likely to change my mind on the matter three seconds after hitting Submit.

[mister_slim]

Industry growth, industry growth... sooner or later somebody may just have to realize that not everyone plays videogames, and you're just not going to market to certain demographics. That said, I really think it's a matter of making good, engaging, neutral games like the JRPGs, rather than female targeted junk.
The trick, from NPD's point of view (and that of the console manufacturers), is not to get those people to play games, because they're already doing that on their PC, online, or maybe on their cellphone, but to get them to spend $130-$400 on a machine to do so. So it's a little self-centered on their part. That said, the success of games like The Sims or Ms. Pac-Man implies that the potential market is rather larger than the current market (that sounds really shallow for some reason. Not trying to imply anyone is not a unique snowflake).