It's no surprise that the home is the primary location for gaming, especially considering the average school-aged child spends between 1.1 to 4.3 hours each day playing video games. The most significant split within the home is between shared and private spaces.
The Common Areas: Living Room and Beyond
For many younger kids, the living room or a general common area with a family TV remains a major spot.
Family Activity: Research indicates that 83% of parents play video games with their children, making the common area a hub for shared gaming experiences.
The Private Zone: Bedrooms
As children get older, the bedroom often becomes a preferred gaming location. A 2021 study of school-age children found that approximately 32.3% of video gamers played in their own room. This provides:
- Independence: Freedom to play when they want, often connecting with friends online.
- Extended Play: Teenagers (ages 12-17) are more likely to have extended screen time, with 50.4% reporting 4 or more hours of daily screen time, much of which includes video games.
The Winning Platform: Mobile Devices!
When we talk about where kids are playing, we also have to consider what they are playing on. The rise of mobile gaming (on smartphones and tablets) has made the "where" much more flexible, turning nearly any location into a gaming spot.
Mobile devices are the single most popular platform for children and teens.
- Platform Preference: Mobile gaming (55%) is more popular than console gaming (44%) and PC gaming (25%) among kids.
- Anywhere, Anytime: This device flexibility means that while gaming largely occurs at home, it can also happen during car rides, waiting rooms, or at friends' houses.
Gaming = Social Playgrounds
While the home is dominant, gaming is also a social tool:
- Social Gaming: 74% of players play with others either online or in person. Playing at a friend's house with a mobile device (or console) is a core way for kids to socialize.
- Minimal Out-of-House Play: When looking at general location, a study on school-age children found that only about 10.8% of video game play occurred ‘out of house’, confirming that the home remains the central gaming location.
The way kids play is constantly evolving, but the data clearly shows a fascinating balance: while the mobile device grants the freedom to game virtually anywhere, the home remains the undisputed central hub. Whether it's in the living room (forging strong family bonds), or the privacy of their bedroom (fostering deep online friendships), gaming is an essential, location-based part of modern childhood.
Leveraging mobile gaming's status as a central element of younger audiences' day-to-day lives, brands are uniquely positioned to discover opportunities through scalable strategies that effectively reach individual gamers in flexible, on-the-go environments.
Stacey McDowall
