Interactive Australia 2009 Survey

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

The Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia just released its Interactive Australia 2009, which has uncovered a broad range of very interesting findings about the nature of games and gamers in Australia. You can download the entire survey here (2.8 MB PDF), but some of the key findings are so fascinating that I’m going to reprint them here.

• 88% of homes have a device for playing computer or video games.
• 68% of Australians play computer or video games.
• The average age of an Australian gamer is 30 years.
• 63% of adults do not know that Australia has no R18+ for computer and video games.
• 91% of adults (including gamers and non-gamers) say Australia should have an R18+ classification for games.

With figures like these, it is staggering that many of our politicians still consider games an unimportant past-time for children. Gaming is a huge industry both in Australia and abroad, and with an amazing 91% of Australians backing an R18+ rating it’s time that games, and the people of all ages who play them, were treated with the respect they deserve.