According to a 2007 study by the Casual Games Association, there are around 250 million casual gamers worldwide, or as many casual gamers as there are Buddhists. The typical casual gamer is a 45-year-old woman living in North America, most likely a housewife, although those parameters do differ from country to country. For instance, the average age of casual gamers in Russia is lower (20-39). In addition, that market is made up of mostly working women.
In the summer of 2009, Alawar Entertainment surveyed visitors to its Web site (www.alawar.com) with the intent of learning about their casual game preferences as well as creating a sociological portrait of the typical casual gamer.
According to the survey, the main reasons people playing casual games are: 1) a desire to eliminate stress (63%) and 2) a desire for a short break (51%). Moreover, when choosing a game, users primarily base their choice on 1) game genre (60%) and 2) the description of the game on its download page (56%). The most popular payment methods today are credit cards (85%) and PayPal (32%).
