The digital association Bitkom published the results of a survey on computer games and fitness during the Corona pandemic today. The results show that 59 percent of German consumers, who play video or computer games, at least occasionally kept in shape at home with fitness and exercise games during the lockdown.
For this representative study, Bitkom Research on behalf of the digital association Bitkom, interviewed a total of 1,269 people in Germany aged 16 and older, including 635 gamers, by telephone from mid-June to mid-July 2021 regarding their personal use of video and computer games.
These are further details:
- 59 percent of German consumers who play video or computer games at least occasionally said they keep in shape at home with fitness and exercise games.
- Fitness-oriented games such as Ring Fit, Wii Fit, Zumba and Co. experienced a significant growth since the start of the Corona pandemic. In 2019 they were used by merely 39 percent of gamers.
- Primarily the age groups of 50- to 64-year-olds (68 percent), 16- to 29-year-olds (66 percent) and 30- to 49-year-olds (57 percent) kept fit with these video games. Only 32 percent of the elderly aged above 65 years used video games to stay fit.
- Respondents who use fitness and exercise games named the following benefits: Motivational help to exercise (67 percent), an alternative to the normal sports program given bad weather or a lack of time (64 percent), being able to do sports exercises within their own four walls and without being watched by others (57 percent), helpful support to get through the pandemic (35 percent) and compensation for missing a visit to the gym or sports club (31 percent).
- Nevertheless, for the majority of 76 percent of respondents, fitness and exercise games cannot truly substitute for exercising in the traditional way.
- Only one in six (17 percent) preferred fitness and exercise games to regular sports, and just as many said they would not do any sports at all without such games.
Sebastian Klöß, Bitkom's Head of Consumer Technology and AR/VR, noted: "Fitness and exercise games have become an alternative to sports in clubs or gyms during the Corona pandemic. With such video games, you can keep fit in your own four walls – and in a much more entertaining way than with mere push-ups or sit-ups."
Source: Bitkom
More information