Over half of gamers are female

More than half of gamers are now female, as the app market encourages more women to play video games, a survey has found.

The survey, by independent research agency Populus for the Internet Advertising Bureau, found 52% of people who have played some form of video game in the last six months were 25 to 44-year-old females – a figure up from 49% three years ago.

According to the results, 69% of the UK population plays videos games, equating to 33.5 million people. In the past six months, seven in 10 British people admitted to playing some form of video game, with more gamers being over the age of 45 (27%) when compared to kids or teens (22%).

Apps are now played by 55% of the online population, followed by online games (48%) and disc-based games (40%). Over half (56%) of women aged 45 and over cited trivia and puzzles as their favourite gaming genre and half of women aged 25 to 44 said the same.

Steve Chester, director of data and industry programmes at the Internet Advertising Bureau, said: "The internet and mobile devices have changed the gaming landscape forever.

"They've brought down the barriers to entry, making gaming far more accessible and opened it up to a whole new audience. In the past you needed to go out and buy an expensive console and the discs on top to get a decent experience, now you can just download a free app."

The survey found that the average gamer, aged 16 and over, spends an estimated 11 hours a week gaming, compared to eight to 15-year-olds who spend 20 hours a week gaming. The average Briton spends six hours per week playing games.

4,058 respondents from the UK aged 8-74 were surveyed online between 19-29 June 2014.