Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

March 14, 2011

Facebook game maker Zynga says that the new hardcore gamer is not that teenager playing Halo or Gears of War, but the 40-year-old woman playing games such as Farmville and Cityville. Zynga brand advertising head Manny Anekal says that the company's explosive growth would not have been possible if not for that particular segment of the market.

"More women are playing Farmville than watching soap operas," Anekal told WebProNews recently.

He added that 40-year-old women spent more time playing Zynga games than any other demographic and are the same segment that spends the most money on virtual purchases.

Figures from Anekal suggest that 55 percent of all social gamers in the US are female while, 53 percent of Zynga players are females between 25 and 44.

Of course, since Zynga does not compete in other spaces - such as on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, or Steam - so Anekal cannot make a serious comparison to the traditional hardcore category (14 - 34 year old males).

Source: Develop

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Comments

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by NEON_N64 on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 02:14.

Ah, the good old "Hardcore Vs. Casual" argument.

Most of the time Hardcore means something along the lines of "I want to be special, I like to think of myself as some kind of elite player, a videogame gourmet, and since Hardcore sounds cool, I'm going to call myself Hardcore".

Basically, a form of elitism ("I'm a Hardcore gamer !! I'm smarter, cooler and better than those filthy Casuals !!" ) and a futile attempt to shake off the nerd or geek stigma.

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by tallimar on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 12:30.

hardcore gamerz? no. more like addicted consumers of interactive multimedia.

*prepares for flaming posts*

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 13:44.

That sounds about right...flash/web games are evil!!!!

I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/cigital-disobedience/

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Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 14:14.

There's a lot of good ones, but, Zynga shouldn't confuse their success with their games being good.

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by lomdr on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 16:23.

Pretty much. Mouse Hunter kept most of its socialness in the background during the first few minutes of the game that I played it. I kept on getting in game popups in FrontierVille about trying to get people connected to your game around every 3-5 minutes. And the animation looked pretty sloppy too in the latter game's case.

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by tallimar on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 21:19.

ive seen farmville in action several times and it kept reminding me of the original Harvest Moon, except stripped down with shittier graphics and all the good and interesting parts gutted out of it.

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by killatia on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 11:23.

Sorry but if your only playing Zynga Games then your no hardcore gamer.

http://www.magicinkgaming.com/

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 11:00.

Whatever you have to tell yourself to justify your sleazy practices Zynga.

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by Zerodash on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 10:45.

Hardcore gamers are too hardcore for COD, WOW, StarCraft, Street Fighter, etc?

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 11:01.

Technically yes LOL

I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/cigital-disobedience/

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Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 10:26.

Er I would not call your avrage farmvile,flashtrep or bejewled nut case hardcore, they are casauls that love dumb flash games.

Tho your avrage modern hardcore gamer loves dumb modern games...so meh.... whats in a name.....

I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/cigital-disobedience/

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Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by lordlundar on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 10:37.

That's the thing, define "hardcore gamer". I've seen it applied to time playing a game(I play 60+ hours a week! I'm hardcore!, the type of game (I only play madden and Call of Duty, I'm hardcore!), the developer (Bungie only makes games for hardcore gamers like me!), etc. All considered proper and none of which really define "hardcore". The only thing they seem to have in common is that the term "casual" is the enemy that needs to be crushed.

The funny thing is that a lot of "casual" gamers play more hours in a week (just in shorter bursts) and tend to have a broader experience in the variety of games that most self proclaimed "hardcore" gamers (who tend to stick to one or two genres, if not games), making those titled "casual" gamers more hardcore gamers than the proclaimed "hardcore" group.

So I say again, what's the difinitive definition of "hardcore" and "casual" that anyone who fits the description of either qualifies as without falling into the realm of the other?

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 11:05.

As a mechanic nazi I would say those able to see and comprehend mechanics, if you can do that(and diss games that have wonky mechanics) than your hardcore under the older definition of 10+ years ago.

The most widely used definition of hardcore is the regular consumption of AAA games.

I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/cigital-disobedience/

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Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by SpencerRuler on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 17:41.

I'd have to agree with this. You could be a Hardcore Farmville player if you bothered optimising your crop because you understood the underliying mechanics, but I don't think people who play Zynga's games would continue playing if they did understand the mechanics.

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Living in Canada can be a very good thing, you know. We enjoy the universal healthcare and gun-free environment of an European country while getting all of our games released at the same time as in the US.

Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 18:50.

Ture but you still have hardcore ("gamer") enthusiasts vrs hardcore players, the hardcore players bought anything and played it alot(Halo,COD,ect) they mainly consumed AAA or branded games or even stuck to a grene (FPSs).While enthusiasts stuck with mechanics and tended to be annoyed about the industry maneuvering to graphics and a more "popy"(casual) mechanic aesthetic.

Now that gaming has added social gaming to its list of genre's you have a sub-sect of the populace playing them and playing them alot, but there again these people where the same ones playing solitaire for so long.

Ok so they are gamers since they play video games but is what they are playing near the core of the industry, and whats at the core of the industry tends to be you typical action,shooter,MMO,rpg,ect. So they can not be called hard core simply because they are not supporting the industry as much as a "normal" gamer. While casual gaming might be quality challenged its where most of the business is at thus why you have typical game gernes being casualized to get more people playing.

I know I know stream of consciousness it hurts brains...anyway

IMO hardcore has 2 different definitions, those that can mince and diagnoses mechanics and those who buy and play alot of AAA or branded or popular games. And I suppose with that farmvil it might just be hardcore...but not today dammit :P

I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/cigital-disobedience/

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Re: Zynga: The New Hardcore Gamer is 40, Female

Submitted by SeanB on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 10:24.

Wont somebody think about the children?

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