Just under half of gamers worldwide are women, according to a new report published by the Entertainment Software Association.

The 2025 Global Power of Play report was compiled in partnership with trade associations across six continents, including UKIE, Video Games Europe, and the International Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) in Australia and New Zealand.

This is the second time the report has been conducted, and includes findings from a survey of 24,216 active (weekly) players over the age of 16 in 21 countries.

The results were collated by global consumer research company AudienceNet.

Looking more closely at the global gender ratio of players, ESA president Stanely Pierre-Louis tells GamesIndustry.biz that “there are more women players than men players in 10 of the 21 countries, and two more countries have a 50/50 split.”

Two of these countries included Brazil (57% women to 43% men) and South Africa (58% women to 41% men).

“While mobile is the runaway preferred device for women (64% play on mobile), nearly half of men play games on mobile devices and it’s their most used device as well – so the gap isn’t as wide as people would suspect,” says Pierre-Louis.

Mobile is the preferred device for players overall at 55%, while 21% of those surveyed prefer playing on PC or laptop as well as console and handheld.

When the ESA conducted its first Global Power of Play report in 2023, the sample size was just 12 countries. Pierre-Lewis emphasises the importance of increasing this number to ensure it’s “telling an accurate and complete story” of gamers worldwide.

“When we decided to do another global survey this year, we were committed to having more countries involved and voices from every continent,” he explains.

“We worked with AudienceNet to identify additional countries to capture more of the world’s population and to feel like ‘global’ was more accurate than our first report in 2023 without being cost and time prohibitive.”

“When we decided to do another global survey this year, we were committed to having more countries involved and voices from every continent”

Returning to the report’s findings, the ESA identified that “having fun” was the most important reason for playing games at 66%, followed by stress relief at 58% and mental stimulation at 45%.

Speaking of mental benefits, players also shared the most important skills that they believe are improved by playing video games.

Improving creativity came out on top at 77%, while problem solving was important for 76% of those surveyed followed by teamwork and collaboration skills at 74%.

The ESA noted that “adaptability, critical thinking, and communication skills” also ranked highly among respondents.

Elsewhere, half of players across the globe said that playing games “has directly bolstered their professional and education through technical or behavioural skills.” Under half said that gaming had “influenced their career or educational path.”

Overall, Pierre-Louis hopes the ESA’s 2025 Global Power of Play report will demonstrate the “positive influence of games beyond entertainment.”

“Gameplay brings families together across generations, doctors use games and game technologies for treatment and therapies, and the industry’s creative works and technologies influence nearly every single industry, from entertainment to retail, and sports to fashion,” explains Pierre-Louis.

“I hope that this report dispels some outdated and unfortunate stereotypes about who plays games and casts a bright light on the enormous benefits available to players.”

He concludes: “Ultimately, we want people to remember that billions of people around the world play video games and, while they play different games and on different devices, everyone can experience the benefits of play because games are good.”