Igem Digimonitor: How Switzerland gambles

More than half of the Swiss population plays games: 3.4 million (53% of the population) use digital games and 1.3 million (20%) do so every day. Gaming is most popular among young men: 86% of 15 to 19-year-olds spend their free time playing games and 34% of this group play every day. As men get older, their game consumption gradually decreases: Around four-fifths (81%) of 20- to 29-year-olds play games occasionally and just under two-thirds (64%) of 30- to 39-year-olds do so. Among 55 to 75-year-olds, the figure is just over a third (36%).

Women over 50 play games particularly often

Among Swiss women, gaming is similarly widespread across all generations. On average, around every second woman plays a game from time to time; only among young people is the proportion slightly higher at 61%. Surprisingly, the oldest group in the survey is in second place: 52% of women aged 55 to 75 spend their time playing games. In contrast to men, women's game consumption increases with age: a fifth of 35 to 54-year-olds play games every day and the figure is as high as 25% among the over 55s. By comparison, only 13% of 15 to 19-year-old women play games every day.

Educational games dominate over digital card and board games

Memory, brain and educational games are the most popular among the Swiss: 2.0 million (32% of the population) use games to learn or keep mentally fit. Card games (24%), board games (23%) and puzzles (21%) are also very popular. This means that games with educational content and low-threshold, mostly free casual games such as Angry Birds are significantly more popular than paid console or computer games. Almost half of users play such games every day, including significantly more women than men.

Jump'n'Run dominates core games

Core games, which are aimed at die-hard gamers, have a younger and predominantly male audience. The most popular genre among console and PC games is "Jump'n'Run": 1.2 million (19% of the population) enjoy jumping through fantasy worlds with Super Mario or other game characters. Racing games such as Gran Turismo (17%) and the action and adventure (15%), shooter (13%), strategy (12%) and sports (11%) genres are also very popular. These are followed by sandbox games such as Minecraft, simulations and role-playing games (10% each).

Most people play on their smartphones, Sony Playstation is the top console

The most popular gaming device is the smartphone: 2.5 million (40% of the population) play on their cell phone. In second place are games consoles with 1.4 million (23%). Men use these more than twice as often as women, with the devices being particularly popular among 15 to 34-year-olds. The most popular console is Sony Playstation (13%), followed by Nintendo (8%) and Microsoft Xbox (3%). The tablet is used more often for gaming (18%) than the laptop (15%), especially by older people. The PC (14%) is mainly used by core gamers who play daily.

Almost only men pay for games

The majority play free games. 2.4 million (37% of the population) use free games with advertising, including just as many women as men. 1.6 million (26% of the population) are prepared to spend money on games, and the majority of buyers are male: the proportion of men buying physical media is 71% and the proportion buying games online is 77%. Game buyers are 33 years old on average, with the youngest customers buying in-game items - purchasable extras within games.

Multiplayer particularly popular with younger people

The majority of the population play games on their own: 3.2 million (51% of the population) play single-player games. 1.7 million (27%) play multiplayer games with friends or family. People who only play single-player games are on average 52 years old, while multiplayers are significantly younger at 31. Massively multiplayer online games (MMOG), which are played online with countless other users, only reach a minority of 370,000 people (6%). However, MMOG games such as World on Warcraft or Final Fantasy are more popular than average among daily gamers.

The study Digimonitor has been surveying the use of electronic media and devices in Switzerland every year since 2014. As of 2024, the data is representative of the internet-using Swiss population aged 15-75 (6.3 million people). One focus of this year's survey was on gaming. The online survey took place in April-May 2024. On behalf of Igem Interessengemeinschaft elektronische Medien and Wemf AG für Werbemedienforschung, Intervista surveyed 1,970 people, 1,008 of them in German-speaking Switzerland, 762 in French-speaking Switzerland and 200 in Italian-speaking Switzerland. The confidence interval is a maximum of +/- 2.2 percentage points.