A new study reveals the nation’s obsession with gaming, with over 50% of British adults playing games on most days and 9 out of 10 having gamed over the last 12 months. 16% of us even use time on the toilet as an opportunity to game. Savanta, market researchers, conducted the research amongst 2,045 people aged 16-69 across the country.

No longer the preserve of adolescents; the same number of women and men now game, and almost 50% of gamers are 40 or over, with most being parents. Men game mainly for entertainment whilst women game mainly to relax, and almost 50% of men think electronic sports (esports) are now as skillful as physical sports like football.

Other key findings:

• Gaming addiction: close to a third of people say they end up playing games longer than they intended to
• Over 40% of men who game regularly spend over £100 a year on the hobby (nearly double that of women who play regularly)
• Smartphones have now overtaken consoles as the most popular gaming device
• “Micro-transactions” in-game are common: nearly six in ten gamers make micro-transactions and 10% saying they are spending on micro-transactions on a daily basis
• Women are less likely to call themselves a “gamer”: only a third of women who actually play games on most days would identify as one
• Women who play regularly are a lot more likely than men to play exclusively on smartphones and tablets (43% versus just 20% of regular male players)

High street stores remain an important source of games (nearly 60% of people who purchased a game in the past three months did so on the high street). Decisions on what to buy are likely to be influenced by friends (36%), information they find on Facebook (35%) and by YouTube content (30%).

On the darker side of gaming; one in seven find gaming stressful and frustrating. Meanwhile, 14% have lost out on sleep because they’ve been gaming. Most people (including non-gamers) don’t think that gaming would incite knife crime and violence – only 14% would agree that it does (17% of the over 45s, compared with 11% of younger people).

Almost as many people (10%) believe gaming does have a problem with sexism. This view is most commonly held by younger people, with 18% of the under 30s saying that gaming has issues with sexism. That rises to 22% for women under 30 who play games on most days.

Young people who play regularly were more likely than older people to feel the hobby has a problem with racism and homophobia, with 15% identifying homophobia and 14% identifying racism as a problem in the community.

10% of the UK’s adult population watch esports – a current audience of around 4.5 million – and represents a particularly good media for reaching the youth audience (viewed by 1 in 5 of the under 30s – some 2.2 million).

Despite all the headlines, Fortnite is only the second most popular esport for UK audiences. FIFA 19 attracts the largest overall UK audience (1.4 million UK viewers over the past year).

And 36% of gamers still play Pokémon Go!  (11% still play regularly).  Its popularity has declined steeply from its heyday four years ago, however, when 55% of gamers were playing it.

Paul Watts, Director at Savanta, commented:

“Gaming has become a mainstream pastime; much like watching TV. If you ask people if they consider ‘gaming’ to be one of their hobbies, only around one third would say that it is. However, when you actually ask people if they play games on a PC, console or Smartphone; most people would say that they do.

“The demographics have shifted significantly – this is no longer a hobby that is the exclusive preserve of young men. 50% of the people you’ll find playing games on any given day will be women and nearly half are aged over 40.”

Savanta is part of the Next15 Group.