6mo ago

63% of Gen Z Would Rather Play Video Games Than Watch a Movie — GamerBlurb

gamerblurb.com 63% of Gen Z Would Rather Play Video Games Than Watch a Movie — GamerBlurb

The battle between the Video Game and Movie industry continues on, driven by Generation Z's preference for video games over movies. According to a 2024 report by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a staggering 63% of Gen Z individuals prefer playing video games to watching films (compared

23 comments

I spend $12 on a movie ticket. I watch for 2 hours. $6/hr entertainment, maybe a little less if I think about the movie after I leave, maybe a lot more if i also buy a popcorn.
I spend $30 on a game for sale on steam. I play it for 100 hours over the course of 4-5 weeks. $0.30/hr entertainment.
Just the value math alone checks out, regardless of the fact that the video game is a more interactive and interesting experience compared to the vomit that Hollywood spits out these days.
- That's assuming you only see movies in a theater or rent them. You can get plenty of hours of movie watching by subscribing to a single streaming service.
  
  You know that there are free altwrnatives to streaming? I still enjoy (paid) games more than free movies/series.
- I mean, the people making them, for one.

duh? One is a completely passive ‘experience’, while the other is more akin to a hobby: You perform an action, gain a skill and overcome obstacles that become more and more difficult.
- Not to mention some (many) games include a social aspect which appeals to a significant portion of the audience (maybe not to all, but to many).
- The time of entertainment per dollar is probably a bit different too I think. Depending on the replayability of the game in question, one can buy a game and get enjoyment out of it for hundreds or in some cases over a thousand hours. Meanwhile, even if you really enjoy a movie and rewatch it like 10 different times, that's still only like 20 hours. Movies tend to be cheaper to buy than games individually, but I suspect that buying enough movies to make up the time difference would make the movies significantly more expensive.
- Best skills from video games:
  Puzzle solving / abstract thinking
  Hand / eye coordination
  Not flying into a blind rage when playing Rocket League, Apex, Deadlock, etc.
  Still working on that last one.
  
  I remember when Rocket League first came out and I thought it was going to be this silly, fun game. Boy, was I wrong. Totally not my crowd.
- I think this is more to have a look at a generational shift; Adults and elders may be still more familiar with movie stars, movie streaming services, Saturday cartoons, or things like those "Disney adults" I eared speak recently about, new generations just don't seems to feel it anymore: all those paradigm may go into the background such as a play and opera.

Call me a grumpy old man but I'm not sure this is significant beyond "young people play (video) games". The report seems to show little difference in % of adults gaming between 2004 and 2024
- Must be a slow news day 😅😂

I mean, I rotate between games, movies, and series. But then again I’m a millennial on the wrong side of 35, so get off my lawn, you goddamn hooligans

I'm in my 40s and I'm with them. Movies can be cool, but I tend to like an interactive experience more.

In fairness, movies these days aren't as good as they were in the eighties, and video games in the eighties... mostly weren't amazing, and people still play the ones that were good. You can only watch a good movie every so often, but you can play a great game for ages. It'd be weird if we didn't see this trend.