74% of Citizens Use Games... Korea Creative Content Agency Publishes '2022 Game User Survey' Report

Game Usage Rate Increased by 3.1%p Compared to Last Year
59.3% of Parents Enjoy Playing Games with Their Children

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] More than 74% of the population use games, indicating that gaming has become the most popular leisure culture.

The Korea Creative Content Agency announced on the 1st that it has published the '2022 Game User Survey' report in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

This survey was conducted from May 24 for one month, targeting 6,000 people nationwide aged between 10 and 65, investigating the ‘actual usage and status of game use’ and ‘perceptions of games.’ The survey combined online questionnaires and individual interviews and will be used as basic data for future policy-making to foster the game industry and create a healthy gaming environment.

74% of the Population Use Games

The survey results showed that 74.4% of the population used games in the past year, an increase of 3.1 percentage points compared to the previous year. The report explained that the continuous influx of new game users indicates that gaming is becoming the most popular leisure culture among the public.

The usage rates of game platforms among game users (multiple responses allowed) were ▲mobile games -6.7 percentage points (90.9%→84.2%) ▲PC games -3.4 percentage points (57.6%→54.2%) ▲console games -3.1 percentage points (21.0%→17.9%) ▲arcade games -0.4 percentage points (9.8%→9.4%) compared to the previous year. With the easing of COVID-19 social distancing and increased outdoor activities, the average daily gaming time per user decreased by 13 minutes on weekdays (145 minutes→132 minutes) and 23 minutes on weekends (232 minutes→209 minutes), suggesting a decline in users enjoying games across multiple platforms.

An interesting finding from this survey is that PC and console games had higher usage rates among male users (PC games: males (66.0%) / females (41.7%), console games: males (19.8%) / females (15.9%)), whereas mobile and arcade games had higher usage rates among female users (mobile games: males (79.9%) / females (88.6%), arcade games: males (8.7%) / females (10.1%)), indicating that while both genders enjoy gaming, preferred platforms differ by gender.

59% of Parents Play Games with Their Children

A survey of parents with school-aged children found that 59.3% of parents play games with their children. This is an increase of 1.8 percentage points compared to the previous year and has shown a steady upward trend since recording 37.8% in 2016.

By age group of parents, ▲those in their 20s had the highest rate at 80.2%, followed by ▲30s (73.3%), ▲40s (61.8%), and ▲50s (43.4%) in terms of playing games with their children. This indicates that younger parents familiar with gaming are increasingly using games as a means to communicate with their children.

Additionally, among parents who do not usually play games, 35.7% said they play games with their children if the children want to. This suggests that using games as a platform for empathy and communication with children could significantly contribute to creating a healthy gaming environment and fostering a sound gaming culture.

Decrease in Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in Games... KOCCA Plans to Expand Education

The survey found that 23.5% of game users have experienced sexual harassment or discrimination in games, a decrease of 3.1 percentage points compared to the previous year. The most frequent type of victimization was receiving sexual insults or attacks in text form through notes or chat messages (53.7%).

In response, KOCCA plans to expand game literacy education for youth, game users, and industry workers and continue efforts to reduce experiences of sexual harassment and discrimination in games through awareness improvement programs.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.