The great gap between men and women when playing video games: women prefer free-to-play titles and short sessions

Men and women play video games in similar proportions, but they do not do so in the same way. A study conducted by researchers from the European University Miguel de Cervantes (UEMC) in Valladolid and the University of Cádiz has identified a marked gender gap in video game consumption habits among Generation Z university students.

The main difference is not found in access to video games, but in how they are used. Spending, session length, the platforms used and engagement with e-sports competitions reveal distinct profiles among men and women.

80.9% of female university students play only free-to-play video games

The most notable finding of the research concerns the consumption model. 80.9% of women say they play exclusively free-to-play video games, compared with 28.5% of men.

The results point to a greater female presence in the free-to-play ecosystem, that is, in video games that can be used without making an initial payment. This trend is particularly associated with mobile devices and shorter gaming sessions.

In the case of men, the study reflects greater participation in paid video games, consoles and competitive modes. The difference does not mean that women do not play, but that their consumption habits develop differently within the gaming ecosystem.

Differences in session length

The time spent playing also creates a clear distinction between the two groups. 36.9% of women limit their sessions to a maximum of 30 minutes, while the percentage of men who play for such short periods is lower.

At the other end of the scale, 16% of men say they play for more than four hours per session. Among women, this figure falls to 0.9%.

These figures show that, within the sample analysed, women tend to concentrate their activity in shorter sessions, while men are more strongly represented among those who extend their playing time over several hours.

Less interest in tournaments and e-sports

The gap also extends to engagement with video game competitions. 86.9% of women say they do not follow tournaments or e-sports, compared with 64.8% of men.

The result shows significantly lower participation among female university students as spectators of this type of content. By contrast, men show a stronger connection with competitive spaces and with following video game competitions.

The research thus distinguishes between playing video games and participating in the gaming ecosystem as a whole. Although both sexes are represented among players, interest in competitions and content related to e-sports is not distributed in the same way.

A particularly marked economic difference

Annual spending on video games reveals another of the most significant differences. While eight out of ten women use exclusively free-to-play video games, 13.2% of men say they spend more than €200 a year on video games.

Among women, those who report spending more than this amount represent just 0.4%. The gap between the two percentages reinforces the conclusion that female consumption is concentrated on free offerings, while male consumption has a greater presence in paid video games and other formats that involve financial investment.

The study places the gap not in whether people play or not, but in how they access content, the money allocated to it and the degree of involvement in the sector’s different areas.

A study involving 603 students

The paper, published in the scientific journal Comunicación y Sociedad under the title “Prescription in the gaming world. An analysis of Spanish university students”, analyses the responses of 603 students.

The sample consists of students from the European University Miguel de Cervantes, the University of Cádiz, the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Algarve in Portugal. Through their responses, the researchers studied video game consumption habits, time spent playing, money invested and the participants’ relationship with the gaming ecosystem.

The study focuses on university students belonging to Generation Z and examines various aspects of their behaviour as video game users and consumers. The variables analysed include access preferences, session length, annual spending and following tournaments and competitions.

The research was carried out by Matías López-Iglesias, a lecturer and researcher at the European University Miguel de Cervantes, and Alejandro Tapia Frade, a researcher at the University of Cádiz. The work is based on a sample of students from four universities in Spain and Portugal.

The gap lies in how people consume

The researchers’ main conclusion is that the gender gap in video games is no longer found in access. Men and women participate in this area in similar proportions, but show significant differences in how they do so.

Spending, playing time, preferred platforms and involvement in competitive spaces are the factors that create the greatest distance. Women appear to be more closely associated with free-to-play video games, mobile devices and short sessions. Men, for their part, have a greater presence in paid video games, consoles, extended play sessions and following e-sports.

These results provide new evidence about the evolution of Generation Z’s digital consumption habits. They also offer information of interest to the video game industry, marketing professionals and communications specialists studying different player profiles.

The analysis shows that the gaming ecosystem brings together different forms of participation. Playing, spending money on video games, devoting several hours to a session or following a competition are related but not equivalent practices. In the case of the students analysed, these practices show a clearly differentiated distribution by gender.