According to the first annual market report from the Casual Games Association, 75% of such game purchases are made by women. However players of casual games are divided evenly between the sexes.  Said CGA’s managing director Jessica Tams:

It was really shocking for everybody. We knew these guys were playing these games.  But the hard-core gamer who is playing Halo with his buddies isn't going to brag that he just beat the next level of Zuma.

Apparently men can’t resist the siren call of pick-up-and-play titles like Bejeweled or Bookworm.  But while women seem to have no issue buying such titles, men are more likely to find a free version or go the piracy route.

The reported popularity of casual games with both sexes is no doubt music to the ears of developers who are already expending resources on casual games for cell phones and the Nintendo Wii.  Tams remarks that social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook would do well to take advantage of the burgeoning causal games market too.

You have these two big draws, Facebook and MySpace, but the big problem they've been having is that they haven't been able to monetize their consumers yet and video games are a way for them to monetize...

Well, at least the female consumers.

Via: Reuters

-Reporting from San Diego, GP Correspondent Andrew Eisen