Half of Gen Z and Gen Alpha spend money on games

More than half of Gen Z (born 1995-2009) and Gen Alpha (born 2010 or later) players now spend money on video games, according to a new report from Newzoo.

52% of Gen Z and 51% of Gen Alpha players that participated in the company’s survey said that they made an in-game purchase over the last six months. Among Gen Alpha, 33% of them spent money on mobile games, 27% spent on console games and 18% spent on PC games. Among Gen Z players, 33% of them were mobile payers, 23% were console payers and 22% were PC payers.

Meanwhile, 42% of players from other age groups surveyed reported spending money on games in the last 6 months. 26% of them were mobile payers, 20% of them were console payers and 18% of them were PC payers.

The Gen Alpha & Gen Z – The Future of Gaming report also revealed how often the different generations play games across different platforms.

Over the last 6 months, Gen Alpha users spent 6 hours 49 minutes, Gen Z spent 6 hours 10 minutes and the other generations spent 5 hours playing games per week on average. 

Mobile was the most popular platform for playing games among all the generations. 73% of Gen Alpha participants said they played games on their mobile devices in the last six months, compared to 69% of Gen Z and 60% of the other demographics. Meanwhile, 41% of Gen Alpha, 42% of Gen Z and 34% of the total online population said they played on their PCs. 

Console was the second most popular platform among only Gen Alpha players with 46% of them reporting they played console games over the same period, compared to 38% of Gen Z and 31% of the other generations.

The report also found that 28% of Gen Alpha and 30% of Gen Z players think multiplayer and social aspects are the most attractive features of a video game. The ability to explore new worlds is another important factor for them when choosing video games.

In addition, younger generations interact with video games in ways other than only playing them. 70% of Gen Alpha and 68% of Gen Z said they also watch gaming content. Esports content is very popular among both generations, with 32% of Gen Alpha and 33% of Gen Z players reported viewing such content.

According to another recent report from Newzoo, player spending on games in Brazil surpassed $2.7 billion.