Video Games Also Attractive To The Young At Heart

The average age of video and computer game players is 33 years old, and a quarter of gamers are 50 years old or older, a trade group said in a recent report.

The 2005 report released by the Entertainment Software Association showed that video and computer games are as attractive to adults as to teens. Fully 44 percent of gamers were between the ages of 18 and 49, and 31 percent were under 18 years old. Males accounted for more than three out of every five players.

The average age of the most frequent computer and video game purchaser was 40. Action games accounted for the largest portion of videogame sales - 30.1 percent -- followed by sports, 17.3 percent; and racing, 11.1 percent.

In computer games, strategy games were the biggest sellers, accounting for 30.8 percent of the market; followed by family and children's games, 19.8 percent; and shooters, 14.4 percent.

Computer and video game sales fell last year to $7 billion from $7.4 billion in 2004, the ESA said. Shipments also dropped to 228.5 million units from 250 million units the previous year.