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Study Reveals Surprising Results About Time Spent by Kiwis Playing Videogames

A ‘Digital New Zealand 2020’ survey carried out by Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) on 2255 Kiwi nationals and 801 Kiwi households recently revealed that the average age of a videogamer in New Zealand is 34 years and almost half of all gamers in the country are girls and women.

The survey also revealed that an average working age Kiwi resident spends close to 90 minutes each day playing videogames, while the retirement age adults indulge in the activity for 79 minutes on a daily basis. Children on the other hand play videogames for close to 84 minutes per day.

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The study was a part of a wider one conducted by the Queensland Bond University, which also discovered that older Kiwis are equally attracted to the videogames as people in any other demographic. In fact, 42% of people over 65 years in age identify themselves as gamers. On the whole, 78% of gamers in New Zealand are more than 18 years in age.

Dr Jeff Brand, Professor, Bond University who is the lead author of this study which was incepted almost 10 years ago revealed that the reasons behind Kiwis indulging in videogames continue to grow. During the formative years of this study, their team did away with the stereotyping of average gamers, but recently they have been able to get behind the deeper reasons why Kiwis love videogames. While the fun factor continues to be the most important reason for New Zealand gamers, it isn’t the only one. Many of them play these games for upscaling and educational purposes, while others do it to form emotional and social connections. Another set of people indulge in videogames to reduce stress, stay fit and maintain their overall health and wellness.

And then there’s the booming industry of online casino games. The appeal of these games obviously comes down to the same reason why brick and mortar casinos are still incredibly popular: the chance to win actual, real-world money. This means that casino games don’t need to feature quite the same level of immersive gameplay and lifelike graphics and sound as traditional videogames. What they do require that regular videogames don’t, though, is reliability and extra tight security to prevent hackers or cyber thieves from not only stealing your winnings but potentially cleaning out the entirety of your bank account. Fortunately, the best casino games online do have the sort of security measures that banks use so players can just focus on the games themselves.

The Digital New Zealand study highlights the role played by videogames in defining the new age New Zealand culture, considering the global digital economy and technology ecosystem. The videogames sales in New Zealand have been growing at 15% per annum (CAGR) from 2013 to 2018. 72% of the adult Kiwis believe that videogame manufacturing helps the Kiwi economy significantly.

Interactive Aotearoa

Another recently released report called Interactive Aotearoa, by New Zealand Game Developers Association in collaboration with WeCreate, NZTech and multiple government agencies identified this sector to have excellent potential of creating new jobs and increasing export earnings in the future. The net earnings generated by the New Zealand’s videogame industry stood at $ 143 million last year. Considering that the global market for this industry is close to $ 258 billion, there is vast potential for the Kiwi industry going forward.

The study highlighted the fact that even increasing the country’s contribution to the global videogames industry by 1% would generate an additional $ 258 million in new export revenue for the country each year. And progressing in that manner will make it a $ 1 billion industry for the country by 2024.