The study was conducted by Pew Research Center in an effort to analyse the growth and decline in popularity of various modern devices in the typical U.S. household. In total, 40 percent of the population now own a games console, a figure that has not moved during the past five years.
The discovery that more women own consoles than men will confirm reports that increasing numbers of women have been getting into gaming in the U.S. Females are increasingly participating in genres often associated with males including RPGs and first-person shooters.
Younger generations are more likely to own a console with 56 percent of people aged between 18 and 29 having one in their house. There are also differences to be observed between people in different income bands as consoles were present in only 33 percent of households receiving under $30k a year compared with 54 percent for those earning over $75k.
Portable gaming devices are less popular with only 14 percent of adults owning one. Males and females are equal here but younger people continue to be the most likely to own a device such as the PSP or Nintendo DS. Twenty-one percent of people aged 18-29 have one but are again influenced by their wealth with people earning over $75k 9 percent more likely to have a portable gaming system.
The study also revealed some interesting statistics about the usage of other kinds of device. Sixty-eight percent of the population now owns a smartphone, a substantial increase from 35 percent in 2011. Tablet computer ownership has also risen and now stands at 45 percent, up from 10 percent in 2011. The growth is tailing off though as the figure only represents a 3% increase over last year which itself exhibited lesser growth than between 2010 and 2013.
When discounting all kinds of mobile phone from the findings, the most popular device in the U.S. remains a desktop or laptop computer, owned by 73 percent of the population. The figure is a significant decrease from 2012’s peak at around 80 percent and puts ownership at around the same level as in 2004.
The category that declined the most is e-readers. Last year, 32 percent of people surveyed owned a dedicated reading device such as the Amazon Kindle but in 2015 the figure has fallen to 19 percent. E-reader sales have been falling amid a resurgence of paper books and the popularity of all-round devices like tablets.
Americans are apparently still hanging onto their old MP3 players, causing the devices to suffer a slow decline. Forty percent of adults own one, a 3 percent decrease from 2013 when Pew Research last assessed the category. Women are more likely to have one than men with 42 percent of females in ownership compared with 38 percent of men.
Pew Research Center completed its survey mostly via telephone interviews in March and April this year. It involved 1,907 adults from all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, 1,235 of which were interviewed while on a mobile phone. Of those people, 730 said they had no landline telephone and only used a cell phone, indicating the shift in communications technologies towards mediums that can be used anywhere.
