

Mobile game devs: Middle-aged women are taking over the iPad - kemper
http://www.bgr.com/2012/07/31/ipad-gaming-analysis-women-demographics/

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kennon
I don't think this is news to anyone who's familiar with the rising popularity
of social games. During the facebook gaming boom, "pink" games far outpaced
"blue" ones in popularity and profit. I worked at a zynga competitor around
2008-10 and it was very clear that female audiences were less demanding, less
prone to cheating, and more willing to regularly spend money (in the
aggregate) than their male counterparts. In other words: lower maintenance,
easier profits. We would release the exact same feature in two games-- one
pink and one blue-- and the pink game's revenues would spike while the blue's
flatlined. Definitely not a scientific approach, but one that repeated itself
on multiple occasions.

All of this transitioned nicely into mobile social games, where we are today.
There is some risky gender stereotyping that can arise in tandem with these
kinds of discussions, but from my experience the revenues make it pretty clear
which audience to target.

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bitwize
_There is some risky gender stereotyping that can arise in tandem with these
kinds of discussions_

Damn straight, and you've already internalized the lingo. "Pink" and "blue"
are the new "AAA" and "hardcore": game industry terms that piss me right off.

Many of the best games are profoundly gender-neutral. Your Marios, Zeldas,
Sonics, and Katamari Damacys being the obvious examples. Then again you
mentioned working for a Zynga competitor; I'm not so certain that delivering
great games was in their mission statement.

~~~
ultramundane8
I never thought I'd actually make a HN username. But Mario and Zelda are both
games where a man saves a princess by killing everything in his way.

~~~
derefr
Theoretically. In practice, Mario and Zelda are games where a rather blobby
avatar is guided through platforms, labyrinths and puzzles, where some of said
puzzles consist of autonomous moving blobs that try to touch you, and which
you can defuse by touching them with your active end (the front--mid-sword-
swing--for Link, the bottom--mid-jump--for Mario.)

Saying that the games are about princesses and mass-murder is a statement on
about the same level as saying that chess is a game about military tactics: it
might look decorated that way, but it's not what you spend your time thinking
about when you're playing, and it's not what draws people to the games.

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adriand
I went on vacation to Cuba last winter with my family plus my mother-in-law
(approx 60 years old) and several of her friends (all around her age). Of the
six or seven women on the trip, three had iPads, including my mother-in-law,
and they were on them constantly. _They love their iPads_.

That said, I asked them what apps they really used the most (angling for a
development opportunity just like this article hints you ought to) and the
answers were pretty uniform: web browsing, photos, email, and e-books. In most
cases they were just using the Apple-provided apps for these purposes.

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andrewthornton
You know, I really cringe anytime I see any articles posted here that deal
with gender as most of the comments show a certain naiveté, but reading the
comments on the linked page is proving to be even worse.

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gms
I claimed this over a year ago and was downmodded:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2243880>

~~~
sadga
HN doesn't appreciate concise one-liners. You need to wrap your claim in a
wordy anecdote with some explanatory flavor, to give readers a sense that you
put a lot of thought into your typing.

~~~
gms
I notice this on Quora too. I don't like it; I don't want to waste readers'
time.

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politician
This was also true back during the online poker gold rush. I think what's
happening here is that the early adopter crowd subsides to a more risk-averse
socially-aware crowd. Further, it seems like the two crowds have statistically
significant gender and age differences.

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ntkachov
>Female apps lead male apps by a 4:3 ratio in the top 10, and by a 3:1 ratio
in the top 5

Since when is 10 games enough to declare any sort of statistical significance?
I'm not saying that their claim is false but their data seems wonky.

~~~
sadga
Um, it gets worse. Apps are classified by how much the writer thinks the app
is girly or manly, not actual usage numbers. The writer put all puzzle games
in the girly category.

~~~
ntkachov
Well puzzle games are pretty girly. I mean why do they all have gems? Where is
tetris with guns? </sarcasm>

Seriously gaming gender roles are the most sexists things I've ever seen.

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stcredzero
This is the same demographic that dominated a big part of the retail segments
Borders covered. I wonder how much of Amazon's business they represent?

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CoryG89
This is just funny..

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CoryG89
A little more explanation I suppose for whoever down voted me here. I think it
is funny because I sell iPad's on a daily basis at my University. I have
ALWAYS sold more iPad's to middle aged people and people you wouldn't expect.
The average student doesn't NEED an iPad. They may want one, but they are not
willing to fork out the cash. Software Engineering majors like myself,
definitely. This has always been dominated by unconventional age groups and
classes such as 'middle aged women'. This article is funny because it is NOT
news.

