Survey: 68% of Americans regularly play video games – including boomers

A survey recently published by CenturyLinkQuote.com studied the gaming habits in Americans ages 16 to 54+ and produced some interesting findings – especially about the population who used to tell their children to “turn off the video games and go outside.”
One of the more expected findings showed that 68% of Americans regularly play video games – a figure that skyrocketed during the first and second year of the pandemic. In 2021, Americans’ weekly time spent gaming with others increased from 6.6 hours in 2020 to 7.5 hours, according to Statista.
Boomers were split 50-50 between playing regularly or just “sometimes” and most commonly spend just one to three hours of gaming each week. But they aren’t fussing with HDMI cords or charging up controllers – 53% said they prefer mobile gaming.
In fact, the survey found that most Americans who game do so on their mobile devices rather than a console because of the convenience of having a console in the pocket. Call of Duty: Mobile was the most popular game, followed by Roblox and Minecraft as a tie for second.
Generation Z clocked the highest percentage of regular gamers with 73%.
The study was conducted through a survey of 1,000 Americans and then divided by their generations: Gen Z (16–24 years old), millennials (25–44 years old), Generation X (45–54 years old), and boomers (54+ years old).
Some other interesting facts from the survey:
  • Only 4% of Americans regularly play game marathons that run 13 or more hours. The largest share of Americans (46%) spend no more than one to three hours gaming in a row, a trend consistent across respondents of all ages.
  • Gen Z and millennials are the most likely generations to play to win, constantly trying to beat records and come out on top.
  • 37% of Gen Xers enjoy some competition, but it’s not the biggest reason they game.
  • 42% of boomers play noncompetitive games and like to go at their own pace.
  • Gen Z is the only generation that spends more time playing first-person shooter games than other genres (29%).