Nintendo Wii pulls in 80% of female gamers

Wii players
Nintendo says the Wii is the console of choice for female gamers

We all know both that playing computer games is a largely male-dominated arena and that Nintendo has long had an eye on changing that, but we didn't know just how successful the company has already been.

According to a presentation given by Nintendo bigwig Reggie Fils-Aime, the number of female console gamers found in his US research currently stands at around 11.7 million.

Nintendo out in front

While that's still just under a third of the 33.3 million male players, it's a far more impressive stat than might have been expected just a few years ago.

Naturally – and this was Fils-Aime's point, of course – most of that cadre of female gamers are adherents to the Nintendo faith.

The Nintendo of America research showed that 80 per cent of them get their fix through the Wii, leaving just 11 per cent on the Xbox 360 and 9 per cent on the PS3.

J Mark Lytle was an International Editor for TechRadar, based out of Tokyo, who now works as a Script Editor, Consultant at NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Writer, multi-platform journalist, all-round editorial and PR consultant with many years' experience as a professional writer, their bylines include CNN, Snap Media and IDG.