A recent report indicates that LGBTQ gamers prefer Nintendo platforms over Xbox or PlayStation. But rather alarmingly, "the Nintendo Switch Store has the lowest percentage of available games that contain LGBTQ characters or storylines."
A recent report from GLAAD looked into the LGBTQ community and their relationship to gaming. And besides the numbers of LGBTQ gamers, which is on the rise, the report also revealed what platforms the queer community prefer. Despite Nintendo offering very few games that include LGBTQ storylines and characters, their platforms were still the preferred choice for the queer community.
Sony and Microsoft actually offer more games that represent LGBTQ folks, but for some reason they just aren't as popular in that community.
Nintendo Switch Is The Most Popular Console Among LGBTQ Gamers
According to GLAAD, a non-profit LGBTQ advocacy group, "39% of LGBTQ gamers play on the Nintendo Switch consoles [... and] LGBTQ gamers are also more likely than non-LGBTQ gamers to play on a Nintendo Switch Lite". But bizarrely, their research also discovered that Nintendo offered the fewest games with LGBTQ representation. So why are the queer community picking Nintendo?
GLAAD offer one potential explanation for this pattern. They suggest it might be because Nintendo has a lower cost of entry and LGBTQ folks have lower average incomes:
One potential explanation for the popularity of the Switch consoles among LGBTQ gamers might be the lower cost of entry, compared to other platforms, and the fact that LGBTQ gamers in our study have relatively lower incomes than non-LGBTQ gamers.
This feels like a bit of a stretch, given the Xbox Series S is currently the cheapest console on the market, but it could be the case. They don't hazard a guess at any other possible reasons, and we shan't either, but the research is fascinating.
You can read the full report from GLAAD here. Are you an LGBTQ gamer? And if so, what's your preferred platformed? Let us know in the comments.