GWI Gaming explores the gaming landscape, from player attitudes to devices and services.

You’ll find market coverage, annual sample sizes, and data set details on our coverage page.

GWI Gaming is asked the same way in every market, allowing you to understand and compare audiences globally. While the questions remain consistent, surveys are shown in each respondent’s local language, and answer options, like brand lists, are localized to ensure relevance.

GWI Gaming runs twice a year in Q2 and Q4. As gamers' habits can shift with the seasons, you can combine both waves for a full-year perspective or use the latest wave to capture the most recent trends.

GWI Gaming represents internet users aged 16-64 who are ‘gamers'. Starting in Q2 2024, we began including respondents aged 65+ in Canada, Japan, the UK, and the US, and from Q2 2025 in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Everyone who uses at least one device to play games in GWI Core is invited to take part in GWI Gaming. Before starting the GWI Gaming survey, we ask respondents how frequently they play video/computer games. Those who play games qualify to take the survey.

The universe sizes for GWI Gaming are weighted to mirror the GWI Core universe of ‘gamers’ by age, gender, and education.

Note that this audience isn’t always what you'd expect. A widely held misconception is that gaming, as a hobby, is male-dominated. However, this isn’t the case. Although audiences of heavier gamers tend to include more men, there are many more women who play a lot of games than is often assumed.

GWI Gaming doesn’t just represent console and PC gamers. Less visible types of gaming, like handheld and smartphone, make up the majority of gamers, and both of these groups are female-dominated.

GWI Gaming respondents have all completed GWI Core (including the Brand & Media module) at some point in the last six months. For example, respondents from Q2 of GWI Gaming all completed either Q4 or Q1 of GWI Core.

This means questions can be compared across the two data sets, letting you combine the depth of GWI Gaming with the breadth of GWI Core. For further information on how to combine GWI Core with an add-on, click here.

Taking part in GWI Gaming is a straightforward process for our respondents because: