The demographic spread of gaming is impressive.
The demographic spread of gaming is impressive.
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Gaming’s demographic reach: 36% of people ages 80 to 90 play video games | ESA

Every year, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) releases data that impresses us, with 64% of the U.S. population playing games — or 205.1 million gamers, up from 61%, or 196 million, a year ago.

But the demographic reach of games is even more crazy, as 36% of the Silent Generation (ages 80 to 90) is now playing video games weekly.

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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.