Videogames get age-old push

Games use triples among those 65 and over, while VOD use lags

By Danny King -- Video Business, 11/6/2008

NOV. 6 | U.S. videogame sales might be getting a push from an unlikely source: the geriatric set.

Videogame console sales among those over 65 have surged, marking one of the few entertainment sources where adoption among the elderly is outstripping younger users, many of whom are already active gamers.

Console sales to those over 65 tripled from a year earlier, while games penetration of consumers 18 to 25 was unchanged, according to a report from ABI Research released late last week. Citing a poll of about 1,000 video consumers, ABI didn't say what percentage of people over 65 owned consoles.

Videogames mark one of the few entertainment categories that people over 65 are adopting at a faster rate than consumers decades younger. Just one in three of those polled who were over 65 have used video-on-demand, or about half the rate of those in their mid- to late-20s, while Internet downloading and video cell phone use have yet to gain popularity among older consumers, ABI said, adding that digital video recorder ownership was consistent across most age groups.

"The willingness to adopt new forms of entertainment delivery is in many cases determined by the age of the consumer," Steve Wilson, principal analyst at ABI Research, said in a statement. "That means that market growth is simply a matter of time."