Go Casual and Get Your Game On!

September 28, 2007

It’s back-to-school time but is it all homework and no play at your house? Sure, the kids’ take-home assignments snag top priority but here’s a new reason to squeeze in special time for play: the results of a survey detailing some surprising attitudes of parents and grandparents toward their children/grandchildren’s time spent playing video games. Popcap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, recently unveiled the results of the largest survey of players of “casual” computer/video games ever conducted.

Among the nearly 7,500 adult respondents who took part in the survey, nearly a third (31%) indicated they had children or grandchildren under 18 who played these family-friendly puzzle, word and simple action games in their home. And of these 2,298 “family gamers,” fully 80% said they played casual games with their children or grandchildren. Conservative estimates peg the casual games market as being more than 200 million people in size, meaning more than 50 million casual game players are “family gamers” who enjoy experiencing the games in the company of younger family members.