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Video games a hobby for majority of Americans, study says
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Three-quarters of Americans have at least one gamer in their household, and 70 percent of families have a child who plays. (Shutterstock/Oleg Krugliak)
V
ideo games are enormously popular in the United States, with 164 million people -- or 65 percent of adults -- playing regularly, according to a study released on Thursday.
The study by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and Ipsos reflects the shifting landscape of modern gaming: 46 percent of those playing are women, while 60 percent of the 4,000 people surveyed play on their smartphones.
The median age of gamers is 33, a decrease from 34 in last year's study and 35 in a study released in 2016.
Read also: Google moves to disrupt video games with streaming, studio
Adult gamers play with others 63 percent of the time, spending nearly five hours per week online or three-and-a-half hours against opponents who are physically present.
Three-quarters of Americans have at least one gamer in their household, and 70 percent of families have a child who plays. In 79 percent of cases, the person in the household who games is an adult.
From their beginnings in arcades, video games have grown into a lucrative industry in the US, with sales surpassing $43.4 billion in 2018, according to the ESA.
