It's gaming, the entire survey isn't terribly useful (at least to us as consumers) it is however of interest.

Does it really matter what gender you are?

This data wasn't collected and published to satisfy the curiosity of consumers. It is useful to industry stakeholders.

It seems you are a "video gamer" if you play a game of Scrabble on your iPhone or Farmville on Facebook. According to this there is no distinction between that and Skyrim.

Not to mention that "The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the U.S. association exclusively dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish computer and video games for video game consoles, personal computers, and the Internet." In other words, this is marketing, not research. The point of this is to normalise the idea of gaming to broaden the gaming audience and drive sales.

How is it of use to them if it doesn't say what the genders are actually playing?

It could be a plot for a new Torment game... ;-)

The ending to the article is fun.

"More women are getting involved, both behind the scenes and as educated consumers," Chobot said. "The boys' club attitude in gaming needed to stop yesterday."

I got this picture from a while back the expresses some feelings people are having towards "necessary" changes in gaming and this is not just concerning the particular things that are being discussed in this thread, but some of them are included. The image is a bit rough on the edges and fairly straightforward, but I think it carries a very basic point across why are people having problems with all of this bullshit lately.

Because it is irrelevant (at least in terms of genre.) There are other aspects far more important when it comes to targeting audiences. This data reveals the market shares those demographics represent so you can decide whether you want to publish a FPS like Call of Duty or Portal, for example.

You still need to know what are they playing and on what devices. You can't just invest into a random game that has shit that women would appreciate and hope it goes well.

I find it amusing you're assuming a much different gender makeup between those two games. If only we had hard data on what the genders are actually playing, then we wouldn't have to assume. Too bad a study has not shown that information, wouldn't you say?

In all seriousness I don't really know what agenda would push someone to say it doesn't matter. Of course it matters. The data is of most use when advertisers, developers, publishers and journalists know what those percentages are playing and how the "50/50" split is actually reflected in games as diverse as Skyrim, Call of Duty, Peggle and Farmville.

Do you stick to one genre only or do you buy games that have shit you appreciate?

We're not talking about people have been playing for a while and have knowledge and experience in most if not all the genres.

To give a slightly related quote from the article:
"Control schemes need to do more to take into account people who didn't grow up with a controller in their hands," said Colleen Hannon, a senior editor for the website Gamers With Jobs. "I'm not saying make the game easier; I'm saying give people who need to learn those basic skills a path to learn that doesn't belittle or sideline them."

Some people stick to Angry Birds for a reason and that's useful information to have.

The fact that someone has played a game of some sorts don't make them a driving force in the industry.

And yet an article on CNN, something produced entirely for curious consumers, is making use of it to push the writers agenda. This is why accuracy is relevant and is also why people are now curious to see something more in depth.

Langur, this argument / fear is not logical. A relative share (%) is not an absolute number (#).

The absolute numbers of games designed for males may go down or up regardless of share designed to cater female tastes. You assume it's a zero sum "market" in absolute terms but what we have experienced recently is huge explosion in number of games created.