The Entertainment Software Association says 61% of the U.S. population plays games.
The Entertainment Software Association says 61% of the U.S. population plays games.
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61% of Americans, or 190.6M people, play video games | ESA

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) reported that 61% of Americans ages five to 90 — 190.6 million people — play video games.

In its annual Essential Facts About the U.S. Video Game Industry report for 2024, the ESA also offered qualitative insights into the positive impact of games across all demographics, including race, gender,
ethnicity and age. This year’s report also marks the first time that children ages 5-17 are included in the quantitative data, based on interviews with kids with the permission of their parents.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.