"40% of Xbox Live Users...

[Moth_Monk]

Are female!"

During a financial analyst meeting yesterday Microsoft revealed that women now made up 40 per cent of the audience for its online service Xbox Live.

"That's a giant change from when we launched our platform," said COO Kevin Turner, as reported by All Things D....

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-09-20-40-percent-of-xbox-live-users-female

So does that mean there's angry thirteen year old girls on COD too?

 

[Stephen St.]

So does that mean there's angry thirteen year old girls on COD too?

Sure, but probably quite a bit less then 40%. They are likely just counting total accounts registered, not active accounts. I think even my mom has an account, that she used like 2 times to test kinect.

Also your image isn't working

 

[Moth_Monk]

Fixed the image? xD

 

[Erttheking]

Hmmmmmm. Certainly an interesting statistic. People who always said that the majority of female gamers were only causal gamers who played mobile games just...kinda rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. Now that doesn't mean that they're hard core gamers on the level of the average Escapist goer, but I think they're a lot more active than people have been giving them credit for.

*Reads article* Oh for the love of Christ, Microsoft, STOP TALKING ABOUT TV! It's getting embarrassing.

 

[Thr33X]

I would sure like to know what game or games a majority of that 40% play...even though I could probably venture to guess.

 

[Moth_Monk]

I would sure like to know what game or games a majority of that 40% play...even though I could probably venture to guess.

...Please, do go on?

 

[Thr33X]

That

I would sure like to know what game or games a majority of that 40% play...even though I could probably venture to guess.

...Please, do go on?

That game that involves Calling Duties, of course. Not say it's the only game...but it probably is in the top 5.

 

[Hover Hand Mode]

I bet they're not REAL gamers /sarcasm

 

[Caiphus]

You would have thought all of the swearing 13 year olds would have scared them off. Fairer sex and all that.
Xbox live is clearly no place for a lady. As any cursory glance at fatuglyorslutty.com shall tell you.

Edit: I got the website mixed around because it's 3am.

 

[LaoJim]

66% of the profiles on my Xbox are female.

Me -> Gamerscore approx 55,000
My Wife -> Gamerscore approx 600: She plays Dirt 2 once in a blue moon and spent a few evenings playing Plants vs Zombies before getting bored.
My Mother -> Gamerscore approx 100: When I first got the console she played a few of the games. A week later she got her own. Last time I looked her Gamerscore on that was about 10,000.

That 40% of users are women doesn't really tell us anything useful.

As I've complained before on these forums, we really need Microsoft (and Sony) to release real statistics on this rather that just sound bites. For example it would be good to know, for each of a selection of top games, how many users have at least one achievement, what the average (and standard distribution) of the gamerscore is, how many gamers have the Completed on Normal (or harder) achievement for games which have such a thing etc. And have all this broken down by gender.

That would allow us to talk about gender in gaming in an intelligent way.

 

[Thr33X]

As I've complained before on these forums, we really need Microsoft (and Sony) to release real statistics on this rather that just sound bites. For example it would be good to know, for each of a selection of top games, how many users have at least one achievement, what the average (and standard distribution) of the gamerscore is, how many gamers have the Completed on Normal (or harder) achievement for games which have such a thing etc. And have all this broken down by gender.

That would allow us to talk about gender in gaming in an intelligent way.

This is completely possible. Sony even based a major point of Infamous: Second Son off of what they got from trophy data (being that a majority of Infamous 2 players chose the "good" ending rather than the "bad"), so specific statistics could actually be tracked. Then of course it becomes a matter of privacy and all, so I doubt they will ever actually do such a thing in a general context, but for specifics, it's not only doable, but been done.

 

[Lilani]

Me -> Gamerscore approx 55,000
My Wife -> Gamerscore approx 600: She plays Dirt 2 once in a blue moon and spent a few evenings playing Plants vs Zombies before getting bored.
My Mother -> Gamerscore approx 100: When I first got the console she played a few of the games. A week later she got her own. Last time I looked her Gamerscore on that was about 10,000.

That 40% of users are women doesn't really tell us anything useful.

...

That would allow us to talk about gender in gaming in an intelligent way.

So accusing people of not being "real" gamers because they have low gamerscores is discussing gender in gaming in an intelligent way? I didn't realize "dick hats" [http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b258/SpikyBry/080313.jpg] were such an important indicator of a gamer's worth.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

So if 40% of all Xbox Live accounts are registered on women, do women make up for 40% of the gaming time and online players? if not, how can that be changed?

Those are the intelligent questions to ask in discussions like these. Not dismissing the statistic as "those accounts don't belong to real gamers".

 

[Atmos Duality]

So accusing people of not being "real" gamers because they have low gamerscores is discussing gender in gaming in an intelligent way? I didn't realize "dick hats" [http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b258/SpikyBry/080313.jpg] were such an important indicator of a gamer's worth.

To play Devil's Advocate..
Even subtracting all notion of "No True Scotsman" from the equation, more thorough usage data would still be useful in learning about behaviors and motivators, or potential significant differences between the gaming genders, if any (is it nuanced, broad?).

 

[Lilani]

To play Devil's Advocate..
Even subtracting all notion of "No True Scotsman" from the equation, more thorough usage data would still be useful in learning about behaviors and motivators, or potential significant differences between the gaming genders, if any (is it nuanced, broad?).

More data would certainly be useful, but there is more than one conclusion to be drawn than simply "there are girls, but they mostly play girly games so we can just ignore them." For example, the very fact that they have an Xbox and have an XBL user account means the biggest factors for keeping them from playing, or at least being introduced to AAA games are already out of the way. It is a HUGE marketing opportunity. Most gamers (and marketers with little foresight) would look at women being a sizable chunk of the gaming community but playing "casual" games as a sign that it's OK to keep marketing everything that isn't a casual game to men exclusively, and to continue to pander to the male gaze and such. A smart marketer would see this as a chance to snap up these customers who are literally within their grasp, not as an excuse to keep doing the same old song and dance.

 

[Raikas]

66% of the profiles on my Xbox are female.

Me -> Gamerscore approx 55,000
My Wife -> Gamerscore approx 600: She plays Dirt 2 once in a blue moon and spent a few evenings playing Plants vs Zombies before getting bored.
My Mother -> Gamerscore approx 100: When I first got the console she played a few of the games. A week later she got her own. Last time I looked her Gamerscore on that was about 10,000.

Eh, I know plenty of guys who have low gamerscores too - usually people who only use it to play a single multiplayer game and and then have their kids mess around with multiple games that they start but never finish on the same profile, or who got the console free with certain TV subscription services. This kind of "people I know" thing is hardly going to be representative of anything.

 

[Angelous Wang]

I doubt it is 40%. Not to say there aren't a huge number of female gamers (there are), but I doubt the count is accurate because it doesn't/can't account for fakes.

I know a few males that pretend to be female online for kicks.

I myself have 3 female dummy accounts that I use as slave accounts for cheating multiplayer achievements/things for my real account (which is male).

Hell and it it also doesn't account for all the females playing male accounts to stop themselves being hassled ect.

 

[Yopaz]

Eh, those statistics don't mean much. I think I have 3 or 4 accounts on my Xbox used by my friends. Who also got multiple accounts that I use when I play on their console. On paper I am 4 guys on Xbox Live.

 

[Atmos Duality]

More data would certainly be useful, but there is more than one conclusion to be drawn than simply "there are girls, but they mostly play girly games so we can just ignore them." For example, the very fact that they have an Xbox and have an XBL user account means the biggest factors for keeping them from playing, or at least being introduced to AAA games are already out of the way. It is a HUGE marketing opportunity. Most gamers (and marketers with little foresight) would look at women being a sizable chunk of the gaming community but playing "casual" games as a sign that it's OK to keep marketing everything that isn't a casual game to men exclusively, and to continue to pander to the male gaze and such. A smart marketer would see this as a chance to snap up these customers who are literally within their grasp, not as an excuse to keep doing the same old song and dance.

I agree with that, as that was my point in essence.

Unless Microsoft (or anyone) releases more complete data, there are a lot of assumptions being made and not a lot of truth.
It'd be nice to be rid of some of those assumptions so we can start broadening the topics publishers are willing to approach in games. Rather than this stagnant slurry of generic mush based on assumptions ("Self-Fulfilling Prophecies").

"Oh, gamer girls only play shit like Bejeweled, or Coop games with their boyfriends.
Gamer guys only want to play generic action games starring Gravely McGrizzled, the 30 something ."

Well, realistically, it would take more than just Xbox Live usage data, but it'd be a start.

 

[Kyrinn]

Ok, so 40% of Xbox live users are female. I guess that's good since it's a significant increase, but what do we do with this information? We've been given nothing about which games this 40% like to play. Are most of them playing CoD? Halo? Mortal Kombat? Some other game? What percentage prefer different genres? How many hours are played a week? How many play 1 hour? How many play 6+ hours. Do they prefer multiplayer or single player?

Hell this would all be interesting to see broken down for the 60% male users so we can contrast and compare.
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