1 Gender and Engagement2 Motivation to Play
While it doesn’t give a big insight into sales or the health of the Xbox platform, it does provide some light on the types of people who own an Xbox. A survey of 2,000 US owners reveals the following:
42% of Xbox owners are female, and 58% male. 10% are 13-17 years old, 18% are 18-24, 28% are 25-34, 23% are 35-44, 15% are 45-55, and 6% are 55-65. That’s an average of 33 years old. 45% live with a spouse, while 23% live with their parents. 5% live with roommates. Household income varies wildly, but 21% of owners have an income of 50-74k, and another 21% 75-99k. Only 20% have an income of less than 35k.
Gender and Engagement
Though there’s long been an assumption that females either play fewer games or more casually, Microsoft’s research doesn’t support that. Age doesn’t seem to have an effect either, once you factor out the amount of autonomy. Young adults seem to have more time to play, while families have the least. Perhaps more interesting is the way users engage on Xbox Live.
It seems a lot of users play Xbox to socialize. 53% play more than 17 hours a week of multiplayer. This category also has 4x more friends and is more likely to own XBLG. 49% of all users are what Microsoft includes explorers. They play an average of fifteen titles per year and net the Redmond giant more net profit than other customers. Finally, 31% of all users achievement hunt, with 2x more gamerscore and high multiplayer time. Naturally, one user can fit into multiple categories.
Motivation to Play
Building on that is Microsoft’s research with focus groups and a larger user base of 8000. The company found twelve core motivations and nine different types of gamers: The different segment colors describe different types of gamers. Its incredibly interesting to see how factors like nostalgia, stress, and bonding influence gamers. No doubt Microsoft can do all kinds of stuff with this data, and it’s likely the inspiration behind things like Clubs, LFG, and more. Though this data is US exclusive and only applies to a small portion of the overall userbase, it offers an unprecedented insight into players lives. You can find more information on Windows Central.
