IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Game Consoles Owned by 80 Percent of Teenagers, says Study

Posted February 5, 2010 by David Radd

It's well known that game consoles have become a staple of young adults and the Pew Research Center [thanks Kotaku] put a more tangible number on just how many. As part of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which mostly concentrated on American usage of the Internet, Pew found that 80 percent of teens aged 12 to 17 own a game console.

Breaking it down by gender, 89 percent of boys have a console compared to 70 percent of girls. "While younger and older teens are equally likely to have a game console, boys are more likely than girls to have one," Pew noted.

51 percent of teens own a portable console such as a PSP or DS. That breaks down to two-thirds of 12 and 13 year-olds and but only 44 percent of teens aged 14 to 17.

"As with consoles, boys are more likely than girls to own a portable gaming device; 56 percent of boys own one, as do 47 percent of girls," Pew said. "Beyond the age and gender differences in ownership, portable and console gaming platforms are equally likely to be found in households regardless of race, ethnicity, household income or parent's education."

David Radd has worked as a gaming journalist since 2004 at sites such as GamerFeed, Gigex and GameDaily Biz.