90%+ of tweens play online games

A report entitled ‘Kids and Games: What Boys and Girls are Playing Today’ by M2 Research claims that 93 per cent of girls aged 8-11 play online games. For boys the number is 91 per cent.

It adds that while Nintendo still dominates the portable games space, the growing popularity of both the iPhone and iPad is making Apple an ever more important player in the space, particularly in the female market.

In addition, the PSP is said to suffer the largest gender discrepancy, with 44 per cent of teenage boys playing games on the handheld but just 17 per cent of girls doing the same.

Mario is the most popular franchise amongst girls with 20 per cent of those asked naming as their favourite. And despite being a mature rated game, 36 per cent of teenage boys named Call of Duty as theirs.

We have found kids tend to play a wide variety of games, and their favorite games and gaming sites change often,” M2 Research analyst Louise Curcio stated. There are opportunities for companies, and we believe the kids market has been overlooked.”

The full report can be purchased here.