Hello. This is my first post here, so let me know if I should change anything.
I discovered while researching my upcoming game: Gravity's Great Betrayal, that there isn't really any information on this. So I did a survey and here are the results. There are other limitations that I mention later, but also just note that this was for a college (high school) project and I'm by no means an expert on any of this. With that said, I couldn't find much information on this, so I hope this will be useful to someone. Anyway, here you go:
Original document with better formatting
Demographics of Players of Platformer Games (2D and 3D)
Literary Review
From what I could find, there isn’t that much research into the demographics of this sub-genre. There are a few studies into the demographics of players by genre[1,2,3,4], but most of these don’t include platformers specifically. However, they include some information demographics of action games, which platformers are a subgenre of[8], but I feel this is too broad of a category for the demographic statistics to be that relevant.
However, I did find good study on the gender split of games by genre[4], which included platformers. I plan to compare my data to it in order to get an idea of the accuracy, although I unfortunately won’t have anything to compare the age data to, since the study didn’t collect that information[4].
Methodology
In order to gather information on this topic, I created a Google Form[9] for respondents to fill out. I deliberately kept it as short as possible in order to maximise the number of responses. In the form, I asked:
Which category the respondent best fit in
How they rate that genre (only for option 1, 2 and 3 in the first question)
What their gender is (male, female, other and prefer not to say)
What age range they are in (<18, 18-22, 23-27, 28-32, 33-42, 43-52, 53+ and prefer not to say)
The first question of this form is particularly important, as it categorises the responses in a way that allows for further analysis. These were the different ones:
“I like 3D platformers and prefer them over 2D”
“I like 2D platformers and prefer them over 3D”
“I like both equally”
“I rarely/never play either, but I'm still a core gamer (i.e usually I set aside at least 3 hours a week to play games)”
“I'm a casual gamer (e.g I mostly play mobile games to kill time)”
“I don't play any games/Other”
The last 2 aren’t particularly interesting, but I figured I might as well include both. I think having at least a combined option for this also does a better job at maintaining data quality than simply asking those people not to do the survey. This is because some people might not read the message, but they’ll probably read the questions.
I just made the age ranges the same as the gamer data dump[3] in order to enable easy comparisons. I chose to use ranges rather than exact ages to increase anonymity, since I didn’t see much benefit to asking for exact ages anyway.
I quickly realised before I sent the survey out that sending out to my classmates and friends would practically be the definition of platform bias. I might have been able to gather some data on how popular the genre is in the <25 male demographic, but I wouldn’t be able to find out much more than that. Because of this, I deliberately avoided sending it out to anyone I knew, I also think it’s unlikely that anyone found it specifically because they know me.
Instead, I sent it out online in the following places:
The Unity Forum[14]
r/casualnintendo[16]
r/gamedev[17]*
r/3DPlatformers[18]
r/IndieDev[19]
r/Platformers[20]
r/SuperMarioOdyssey[21]
The Super Mario Odyssey Speedrunning Discord[15]
*Was quickly removed by a moderator. But I suspect they filled it out.
There were others I considered and tried. Notably, I didn’t send it out on any other 3D platformer subreddits or Discord[10] servers as I realised part way through that I had likely overrepresented the speedrunning audience already, and these communities may have a disproportionate number of speedrunners.
The form was open from March 19th, but I didn’t (successfully) post the link anywhere until I tried some other places the following day. Most of the posts were done that day, but I did 3 more the following day (the 21st). I closed the survey at about midday on the 23rd, after I didn’t get any responses since about 10pm the previous day.
Results and Analysis
Overall: Which Best Describes You?
Starting off with probably the least useful set of statistics in this study, with gigantic caveats I’ll talk about in the limitations section: apparently, 98% of people are core gamers! In reality, this just means that I mostly got responses from core gamers, and this number doesn’t matter much since the categories adjust for it anyway. It also shows that I probably overrepresented players of 3D platformers vs 2D platformers, almost certainly because I didn’t post it in any 2D platformer specific communities. And lastly, it suggests that a lot of people don’t have a preference for 2D vs 3D platformers, and that it’s generally a somewhat popular subgenre.
Overall: Popularity of Platformers
I’ll get onto the individual graphs in the later sections, but this averages out to:
24% (10/42) of people who like platformers gave the genre a 3 out of 5
40% (17/42) gave it a 4 out of 5
36% (15/42) gave it a 5 out of 5
That makes the average score out of people that like platformers 4.12 out of 5, based on 42 responses. Since the speedrunners I overrepresented likely voted higher than most for 3D platformers, the results excluding people who chose the 3D platformer option are likely more accurate:
27% (6/22) of these results were a 3 out of 5
41% (9/22) gave it a 4 out of 5
32% (7/22) gave it a 5 out of 5
Out of those now 22 responses, that averages out to only a slightly lower 4.05. Meaning that either platformers are very popular among the general core gamer audience or, I’d say slightly more likely, the genre is only somewhat popular and a number of speedrunners voted that they like both 2D and 3D ones equally. It’s hard to say how many votes were from speedrunners though, as asking them was somewhat unplanned so I didn’t think to alter the form to avoid them affecting the results too much.
Overall: Gender
Here are the gender distributions for each section, excluding the casual gamers and people who chose option 6, since I only got 1 in total in these categories and they aren’t particularly relevant to this study:
Option 1: “I like 3D platformers and prefer them over 2D”
Option 2: “I like 2D platformers and prefer them over 3D”
Option 3: “I like both equally”
Option 4: “I rarely/never play either, but I'm still a core gamer”
Excluding the 5% (2/43) of people who preferred not to say, the gender split of core gamers is 80% (33/41) male to 20% (8/41) female, with no-one choosing other. Although, I suspect this set of statistics is somewhat inaccurate as I’ll research in the limitations section.
Out of just the people who like 3D platformers (the first 3 options), it’s barely any less male (only 1 person chose option 4), at the same 80/20 ratio (32/40 vs 8/40). Again, since speedrunners might be affecting things, without 3D platformers it’s slightly lower at 76% (16/21) male to 24% (5/21) female. Interestingly, that matches up better with the other study, which has it at 75/25[4].
Overall: Age
Like the last section, excluding results from option 5 and 6, here are the age distributions for each section:
Option 1: “I like 3D platformers and prefer them over 2D”
Option 2: “I like 2D platformers and prefer them over 3D”
Option 3: “I like both equally”
Option 4: “I rarely/never play either, but I'm still a core gamer”
Between these categories, excluding the 2% (1/43) of respondents who chose not to say, this averages out to:
36% (15/42) of core gamers are under 18
17% (7/42) are 18 - 22 (inclusive)
19% (8/42) are 23 - 27 (inclusive)
12% (5/42) are 28 - 32 (inclusive)
7% (3/42) are 33 - 42 (inclusive)
10% (4/42) are 43 - 52 (inclusive)
0% (0/42) are 53+ (inclusive)
Which means according to this survey, the average age of a core gamer is 24 years old (assuming all the participants are at least 13). Interestingly, this is a little higher than the average of 21 the gamer data dump got[3]. The under 18 category is largest at 36%, with 23 - 27 in 2nd at 19%, resulting in a 17% difference between the sizes of the 2 groups. After that, the older categories have less and less people in them, with the exception of 43 - 52, possibly due to that including the average age of game developers[12].
Excluding the 1st option again:
17% (4/23) of core gamers are under 18
30% (7/23) are 18 - 22 (inclusive)
17% (4/23) are 23 - 27 (inclusive)
9% (2/23) are 28 - 32 (inclusive)
9% (2/23) are 33 - 42 (inclusive)
17% (4/23) are 43 - 52 (inclusive)
0% (0/23) are 53+ (inclusive)
That averages to a higher average age of 27, with 18 - 22 now having the most people. However, I expect the first figure is more accurate, as game developers are on average about 40 years old[12] and might also be overrepresented in this survey. Based on what I remember from the speed of the responses and when I posted each link to the survey, I suspect the amounts from each balance each other out. So including the 1st option is probably more accurate for the average age of a core gamer.
So using by using all of the first 3 categories, we can get the age distribution of players of platformer games:
37% (15/41) of core gamers are under 18
17% (7/41) are 18 - 22 (inclusive)
20% (8/41) are 23 - 27 (inclusive)
12% (5/41) are 28 - 32 (inclusive)
7% (3/41) are 33 - 42 (inclusive)
7% (3/41) are 43 - 52 (inclusive)
0% (0/41) are 53+ (inclusive)
Averaging out to the same 24 years old for the average age of players of platformer games. While I don’t think it’s possible to calculate the average age of players of action games for the gamer data dump[3], this result is loosely in line with it: the majority of respondents were 13-17 years old and that range liked action games the most[3].
Demographics of Players of 3D Platformers* (option 1)
The gender split for players of 3D platformers is a little more male than that of players of platformers generally at 84/16 male to female, compared to 80/20 generally.
The average is slightly lower than the overall average at 21 with an age distribution of:
58% (11/19) of players of 3D platformers are under 18
0% (0/19) are 18 - 22 (inclusive)
21% (4/19) are 23 - 27 (inclusive)
16% (3/19) are 28 - 32 (inclusive)
5% (1/19) are 33 - 42 (inclusive)
0% (0/19) are 43 - 52 (inclusive)
0% (0/19) are 53+ (inclusive)
Weirdly, none of the respondents were in the 18 - 22 age range, although I suspect this is a statistical anomaly.
Demographics of Players of 2D Platformers* (option 2)
Interestingly, according to this survey, players of 2D platformers are more likely to be women than men, with a gender split of 40/60 male to female. However, given that this is based on a sample size of 5, I’d say this statistic just suggests the ratio is more balanced for 2D platformers than the others.
The average age for this category is 22, which is a year older than that of players of 3D platformers, but still slightly younger than the overall average. Its distribution is:
17% (1/6) of players of 2D platformers are under 18
50% (3/6) are 18 - 22 (inclusive)
17% (1/6) are 23 - 27 (inclusive)
17% (1/6) are 28 - 32 (inclusive)
0% (0/6) are 33 - 42 (inclusive)
0% (0/6) are 43 - 52 (inclusive)
0% (0/6) are 53+ (inclusive)
In contrast to the players of 3D platformers, 23 - 27 is the largest demographic and under 18 is relatively small. But like the gender statistic, this statistic is also based on a small sample size, of 6 in this case. I suspect the spread from players of 3D platformers is closer to the truth than these numbers, minus the anomaly.
*Yes, technically this data is actually for a subset of them (people who prefer that particular variant (2D vs 3D) over the other). But I’d argue that it’s more relevant to look at your more die-hard fans when targeting a game, which is what I’m doing here.
Demographics of Players With No Preference (option 3)
Despite more people choosing option 1, this is likely still the majority opinion due to the overrepresented speedrunners. 16 people chose this option compared to 20 for option 1.
The gender ratio for players with no preference between 2D and 3D platformers is 87/13 male to female. Surprisingly, this is somewhat more male than that of the people who prefer 3D platformers, who likely have a disproportionate number of speedrunners.
The average age is 28, 4 years above the overall average. This is distributed as shown below:
19% (3/16) of players players with no preference of 2D vs 3D platformers are under 18
25% (4/16) are 18 - 22 (inclusive)
19% (3/16) are 23 - 27 (inclusive)
6% (1/16) are 28 - 32 (inclusive)
13% (2/16) are 33 - 42 (inclusive)
19% (3/16) are 43 - 52 (inclusive)
0% (0/16) are 53+ (inclusive)
Limitations of this Study
Aside from the obvious detraction of the small sample size, I think there’s a significant amount of platform bias. The most significant aspect is likely the heavy use of Reddit[5] for distributing the form, as its users are disproportionately young and men[6][7]. Discord is also similarly skewed in this way[13].
This survey likely also overrepresented developers and speedrunners, as I suspect at least 7.5% of the responses were from the Unity Forum post[14] or the Super Mario Odyssey Speedrunning Discord server[15]. However, I suspect these have balanced each other out to some degree because, as I mentioned previously, the average age of a developer is about 40 years old[12] and at least anecdotally, a lot of speedrunners are under 18.
A slight missed opportunity of this survey is the first question. While the results supposedly reveal the number of core gamers, this statistic is made virtually useless by the platform bias. The results also don’t say anything about the popularity of platformers, 2D vs 3D and in general. This is again because of platform bias. But, this could only really be resolved by sending the survey out to a much larger sample of the general population, which isn’t really practical for me to do.
References
1: Study #1 into the Demographics of Players by Genre
Gamify, unknown year, “Game Genre & Statistics: Not All Games Are Created Equal (part 1)”. Accessed 28/3/23.
https://www.gamify.com/gamification-blog/not-all-games-are-created-equal-pt1
2: Study #2 into the Demographics of Players by Genre
GameTree, 2019, “Industry Results: Genre and Platform Preferences (Age & Gender) | GameTree Blog”. Accessed 28/3/23.
https://gametree.me/blog/global-gamer-insights-report/
3: Study #3 into the Demographics of Players by Genre
GameTree, 2020, “Biggest Gamer Data Dump EVER! 50+ Infographics! | GameTree Blog”. Accessed 28/3/23.
https://gametree.me/blog/biggest-gamer-data-dump-ever-60-infographics
4: Study #4 into the Demographics of Players by Genre / Study on Gender Splits, Including Players of Platformers
Quantic Foundry, 2017, “Beyond 50/50: Breaking Down The Percentage of Female Gamers By Genre”. Accessed 28/3/23.
https://quanticfoundry.com/2017/01/19/female-gamers-by-genre/
5: Reddit
Reddit Inc, 2023, “Reddit - Dive into anything”. Accessed 17/3/23.
6: Study #1 into Reddit Demographics (more recent)
Pew Research Center, 2016, “Reddit news users more likely to be male, young and digital in their news preferences | Pew Research Center”. Accessed 28/3/23.
7: Study #2 into Reddit Demographics (older)
Published by BuzzFeed, sourced from Google Ad Planner, 2017, “Social Media By Gender: Women Dominate Pinterest, Twitter, Men Dominate Reddit, YouTube (INFOGRAPHIC) | HuffPost Women”. Accessed 28/3/23.
8: Platformers are a Subgenre of Action Games
MasterClass, 2021, “Learn About Platform Game: 7 Examples of Platform Games - 2023 - MasterClass”. Accessed 28/3/23.
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/platform-game-explained
9: The Google Form
Nicholas Clack, 2023, “Platformer Demographics (2D and 3D)”. Accessed 28/3/23.
10: Discord
Discord, 2015 - present, “Discord” (Windows/MacOS/Linux/Android/iOS/Xbox One/Xbox Series/PS5).
11: How GameTree Collected its Data
GameTree, 2019, “Industry Results: Genre and Platform Preferences (Age & Gender) | GameTree Blog”. Accessed 31/3/23.
https://gametree.me/blog/global-gamer-insights-report/
12: Average Age of Game Developers
Zippia, Inc, 2022, “Video Game Developer Demographics and Statistics [2023]: Number Of Video Game Developers In The US”. Accessed 31/3/23.
https://www.zippia.com/video-game-developer-jobs/demographics/
13: Discord Demographics
Similarweb LTD, 2023, “discordapp.com Market Share, Revenue and Traffic Analytics | Similarweb”. Accessed 23/4/23.
https://www.similarweb.com/website/discordapp.com
14: Unity Forum
Unity Technologies, 2023, “Unity Forum”. Accessed 23/3/23.
15: Super Mario Odyssey Speedrunning Discord Server
DillyP96, Tomshi and other moderators, 2023, “Super Mario Odyssey Speedrunning”. Accessed 30/3/23.
https://discord.com/invite/smospeedruns
16: r/casualnintendo
IwataFan, KetchupTheDuck and other moderators, 2023, “A Celebration of all things Nintendo!”. Accessed 20/3/23.
https://www.reddit.com/r/casualnintendo/
17: r/gamedev
kiwibonga, goodtimeshaxor and other moderators, 2023, “gamedev - game development, programming, design, writing, math, art, jams, postmortems, marketing”. Accessed 20/3/23.
18: r/3DPlatformers
hierarchyhitmann and destructor_rph (moderators), 2023, “3D Platformers”. Accessed 19/3/23.
https://www.reddit.com/r/3DPlatformers/
19: r/IndieDev
llehsadam (moderator), 2023, “IndieDev”. Accessed 20/3/23.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/
20: r/Platformers
BruceSerrano (moderator), 2023, “News and Discussion about Platformers”. Accessed 20/3/23.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Platformers/
21: r/SuperMarioOdyssey
epicluca, KenshiroTheKid and other moderators, 2023, “Super Mario Odyssey”. Accessed 20/3/23.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SuperMarioOdyssey/
Bibliography
(most is more related to the other documents so not much is listed here)
https://www.speedrun.com/speedrunning/thread/vloai/1
https://i.imgur.com/fzFXLjr.png
https://www.reddit.com/r/speedrun/comments/a0y0lm/what_is_the_average_age_of_people_who_watch/
https://gist.github.com/Corvimae/5a0970e67406fbae44348c1c99d10c22
Finally a market research. Its refreshing to see such things nowadays, people tend not to do any sort of market research, even when this is such a crucial part of development as well.
Your research tells me mostly youngsters, girls, and newcomers enjoying 2d games, it seems an experienced player would not enjoy playing with a 2d title in 2023. And i would agree with them, in 2023, anything 2d just screams ,,low effort'' or some ad revenue gathering website spamgame. Like the 2d dating simulator which got deleted from steam recently, because the anime girls were asking for users credit card number as random number seed for their fortune telling algorithms.