American adults spend a lot on video games, playing mostly on smartphones

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The average American gambler is 33 years old, prefers to play with his smartphone and is spending a lot of money on content – 20% more than a year ago and 85% more than in 2015, according to a report released on Thursday. .

The Entertainment Software Association's (ESA) annual research comes as more and more US households are rethinking how to set boundaries for kids who love games and how to divide their entertainment budgets into the era of streaming.

The $ 43.4 billion spent in 2018 was primarily devoted to content, as opposed to equipment and accessories. Among the paid games, "Call of Duty: Black Ops III", "Red Dead Redemption II" and "NBA 2K19" took first place for most units sold, but the list did not include free games such as " Fortnite. "

"The games are an important link to American culture," said Stanley Pierre-Louis, acting president and CEO of ESA. "That's what makes it the main form of entertainment today."

Nearly 65% ​​of American adults, more than 164 million people, play games. The most popular genre is casual games: 60% of players play on their smartphone, but about half also play on personal computers and specialized consoles.

The study shows that parents limit screen time to their children and use the ratings of video games to view the content. 87% of parents require an authorization to buy new games.

Some 46% of all players are women, although they prefer different types of games than men, depending on their age.

Gamers aged 18 to 34 years prefer "Candy Crush", "Assassin's Creed" and "Tomb Raider" and play mostly on smartphones, while their male counterparts play mostly consoles, including "God of War "," Madden NFL ". "And" Fortnite. "

Generation X members, aged 40 to 54, turn to "Tetris", "Pac-Man", "Call of Duty", "Forza" and "NBA 2K".

Male boomers aged 55 to 64 like "Solitaire" and "Scrabble", while women bend over to "Mahjong" and "Monopoly".

Players are no more inclined than other Americans to lead isolated, sedentary lives, according to the report.

Americans will soon have even more ways to play video games.

Apple Inc. is launching a game subscription service and Google, Alphabet Inc, announced the end of the year a video game streaming service.

The new services will present challenges to established video game developers such as Electronic Arts Inc, maker of "Apex Legends"; Riot Games of Tencent Holdings Ltd, manufacturer of "League of Legends"; Valve Corp, owner of "Counter-Strike" and the Steam distribution platform; and Activision Blizzard Inc, owner of "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush".

Ipsos has collected data from more than 4,000 Americans to conduct the study on behalf of ESA.