Habits of underaged gamers. Sources of new games

When compared to 2018 and 2019, in 2020 the share of children playing free games available on the Internet on personal computers or smartphones decreased. However, that group still constitutes 56% of playing children. The second place was occupied ex aequo by two answers at the level of 28%. The first refers to gifts received from the family and was at a similar level in the previous year (29%). It is surprising that the share of parents purchasing the games directly specified by children increased, while the parents who independently buy the games of their choice for children decreased (29% in 2020, decrease by 9 percentage points YoY). That answer confirms the trend of lower involvement of the parents in controlling the contents consumed by their children. The parents are more willing to allow their children to individually choose their games than in the previous years; additionally, more children purchase games for their own money (increase by 6 percentage points YoY) than in 2018 and 2019. The children less frequently borrow games from friends (decrease by 4 percentage points YoY), but it may be directly connected with the coronavirus pandemic.

_{Chart 1 Base: Parents of children up to the age of 18 who play games, N=425
Now, please consider all your children under the age of 18 playing computer games. Where do the games your child \ children come from?
Chart 2 Base: Parents of children up to the age of 18 who play games, N=425
How many games have you bought for your child \ children in the last 12 months?}

During the survey, parents of children playing video games were asked about the average number of games they purchased for their children within the last 12 months. The results are similar to the previous year. The highest number of parents purchased one (29.5%) or two (34.5%) games. 17% of parents purchased three games, 19% – four or more.