History PeripheryDemographic / VideoGames

* A great many ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' fans are people who grew up playing said games. This qualifies because the series in general is and was designed to be for beginners. These people might have moved on in terms of skill but many of them gleefully return for each new installment, no matter how short or easy it is. Difficult extra modes, creative game mechanics, and [[SurpriseCreepy surprisingly]] [[VileVillainSaccharineShow creepy bosses]] may have something to do with it, with the latter in particular playing a significant role in [[{{Worldbuilding}} the series' lore]] which the fanbase loves to analyse at every opportunity. ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' also attracted the viewers due to its unique visual presentation.

* ''VideoGame/IdolShowdown'' was created primarily as a WebAnimation/{{Hololive}} fan-game with a plethora of in-jokes and references. However, due to its' well-designed gameplay the title has seen significant popularity in the UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity, even among people who aren't fans of [=VTubers=] as a whole.

* ''VideoGame/IdolShowdown'' was created primarily as a WebAnimation/Hololive fan-game with a plethora of in-jokes and references. However, due to its' well-designed gameplay the title has seen significant popularity in the UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity, even among people who aren't fans of [=VTubers=] as a whole.

** The UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} Deck is in a similar position to Ouya in that it can be easily made to run non-Steam software, including emulators, and this is made easy with the existence of Desktop Mode; as it turns out, the Steam Deck is literally just a portable Linux PC. However, since the Deck is designed to be used with one's Steam library, and Steam is easily the biggest PC digital distribution platform in much of the world, and games generally tend to sell much better if they are sold on Steam, Valve manages to avoid bleeding out revenue.

** The UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} Deck is in a similar position to Ouya in that it can be easily made to run non-Steam software, including emulators, and this is made easy with the existence of Desktop Mode. However, since the Deck is designed to be used with one's Steam library, and Steam is easily the biggest PC digital distribution platform in much of the world, and games generally tend to sell much better if they are sold on Steam, Valve manages to avoid bleeding out revenue.

* Surprisingly, despite skimpy costumes and fanservice, ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' has quite a few female fans in the west. After all, clothing or lack of it doesn't make a game good or bad - and women play games too, straight or [[LesYay not]]. The series also has a number of surprisingly strong feminist messages in it, once you get into it, with the characters never being questioned about their competence due to their gender[[note]]Blanc was questioned in the original and Vert in later entries, but this was due to being a goddess among mortals and completely willing to ignore her duties, respectively[[/note]], and characters refusing to conform to the feminity that’s expected in favour of doing what they want and ignoring gender norms if they get in the way.

* Surprisingly, despite skimpy costumes and fanservice, ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' has quite a few female fans in the west. After all, clothing or lack of it doesn't make a game good or bad - and women play games too, straight or [[LesYay not]]. The series also has a number of surprisingly strong pro-women messages in it, once you get into it.

* Despite definitely [[ColdBloodedTorture not]] [[KillEmAll being]] [[SerialKiller for children]], a major part of the fanbase of ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' are preteens and younger.

** [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by the UsefulNotes/{{Ouya}}. One of the console's selling points touted in its Website/{{Kickstarter}} campaign was that it would be an open console, and that users would be free to tinker with its software and install unlicensed games. However, after would-be hackers expressed interest in the console for this very reason, [[DidntThinkThisThrough the Ouya people realized that the reason console manufacturers crack down on homebrew is that their primary revenue stream is licensing fees from games, which allows them to sell their consoles cheaply]]. To make matters worse, the proliferation of homebrew software is often hampered in a console's early years not only by walled-garden ecosystem, but also due to the lack of development tools targeting the machine's proprietary architecture; this would ''not'' be the case for the Ouya, which was to be based on UsefulNotes/{{Android}}, the most popular smartphone operating system in the world that already had a plethora games available for it, with more to surely come due to Android's open SDK. This meant that the Ouya users would be able to install an enormous amount of games on day one, all without without paying an additional cent to the manufacturer if the machine was as open as originally intended. This realization led to the Ouya company reneging the openness that they had initially promised, causing hackers and homebrewers to lose interested in the machine, contributing to its eventual failure.

** [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by the UsefulNotes/{{Ouya}}. One of the console's selling points touted in its Website/{{Kickstarter}} campaign was that it would be an open console, and that users would be free to tinker with its software and install unlicensed games. However, after would-be hackers expressed interest in the console for this very reason, [[DidntThinkThisThrough the Ouya people realized that the reason console manufacturers crack down on homebrew is that their primary revenue stream is licensing fees from games, which allows them to sell their consoles cheaply]]. To make matters worse, the proliferation of homebrew software is often hampered in a console's early years not only by walled-garden ecosystem, but also due to the lack of development tools targeting the machine's proprietary architecture; this would ''not'' be the case for the Ouya, which was to be based on UsefulNotes/{{Android}}, the most popular smartphone operating system in the world that already had a plethora games available for it, with more to surely come due to Android's open SDK. This meant that the Ouya users would be able to install an enormous about of games on day one, all without without paying an additional cent to the manufacturer if the machine was as open as originally intended. This realization led to the Ouya company reneging the openness that they had initially promised, causing hackers and homebrewers to lose interested in the machine, contributing to its eventual failure.

* Most any adult player of ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'', ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', or any other mainstream, M-rated, online multiplayer FPS will tell you about the curious presence of children and tweens there, who pull no punches in their use of swearing and ethnic slurs. Arguably, the game being rated M - and thus traditionally out of their demographic - constitutes much of the appeal for them. Another factor is that, unlike most single-player games that have finite amounts of playtime, online multiplayer games have theoretically infinite amounts of play time, and thus make them appealing to these kids parents who are looking for an electronic babysitter to keep their kids occupied, which is enough to make them overlook the high age rating.

* Any console that is easily modded in order to run homebrew will attract a following of hackers, developers, and security researchers, who enjoy the challenge of bypassing the console's security, running homebrew applications such as multimedia players and emulators, as well as, of course, pirated games. Consoles of this sort include the original UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable, UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

* ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' is marketed towards children, but it immediately developed a large young adult fanbase thanks to the aesthetics heavily invoking childhood nostalgia (particularly for the 1990s and early 2000s) and for being an intuitive and frantic ThirdPersonShooter/PlatformGame that lends itself well to {{tournament play}}.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' is marketed towards children, but it immediately developed a large young adult fanbase thanks to the aesthetics heavily invoking childhood nostalgia (particularly for the 1990s and early 2000s) and for being an intuitive and frantic ThirdPersonShooter/PlatformGame that lends itself well to {{tournament play}}.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' was intended is for young children, but it happens to be very attractive to a young adult demographic, mainly because the character designs have strong similarities to the 90s cartoons they grew up watching as well as it being an intuitive and frantic ThirdPersonShooter slash PlatformGame. Also, in a rare in-universe example, a song that is at the core of Inkling society actually has [[spoiler:Octarian commander DJ Octavio]] jamming to it.

* The UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online subscription service has a Family Membership option that costs 35 USD per year as opposed to 20 USD per year for an individual membership. As the title implies, it's meant to be used by families, but since nothing in the terms states that all members of the subscrption must reside in the same household, it also sees wide use amongst non-family groups of friends who want to save money; 2 people sharing the same subscription group means the cost comes out to 17.50 USD per person, while a full group of 8 means the cost is only about 4.38 USD per person.

** The Wii Remote in particular gained a lot of popularity amongst hackers due to the potential wide applications for the Wii Remote's motion sensors and pointer functionality, being one of the earliest successful examples of controllers with motion and infrared sensors. One popular early example of head-tracking displays [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw uses the Wii Remote in reverse]], with the Remote fixed in front of the TV and the user wearing infrared lights on their head.

* ''VIdeoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is a game that has similarities to ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' and is liked by fans from that game, but ''Undertale'' also is ''massively'' PopularWithFurries; it's not just because it has humanoid animal characters in the game, but said characters are written very well and are shown to be very likable, whereas animal characters in other games are often seen as generic or cliched by most in the furry fandom. The game goes so far as to poke fun at this, since this fanbase first appeared while the game was still in development.

* It may be rarer for a ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' fan to have actually played the games, rather than be drawn to it by the [[FantasyKitchenSink setting]], the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters massive, colourful cast]] (and equally massive amounts of fan art) and/or the [[AwesomeMusic/TouhouProject awesome music]] (and equally awesome arranges).

* The otherwise forgettable SNES game ''VideoGame/SpeedyGonzalesLosGatosBandidos'' is popular among developers and testers of SNES emulators, since it features an obscure bug that only occurs on emulators that don't perfectly mimic the console's behavior, and requires a 100% accurate emulator to work properly, thus it is most commonly used nowadays as a benchmark of emulator accuracy.

* The otherwise forgettable SNES game ''VideoGame/SpeedyGonzalesLosGatosBandidos'' is popular among developers and testers of SNES emulators, since it features an obscure bug that only occurs on emulators, and requires a perfectly accurate emulator to work properly, thus it is used as a test of emulator accuracy.

* ''VideoGame/WiiSports'', especially bowling, found a surprisingly large fanbase in nursing homes and senior centers due to being small, easy to set up, easy to play, and not likely to hurt one's foot if you dropped the "ball."

* A great many ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' fans are people who grew up playing said games. This qualifies because the series in general is and was designed to be for beginners. These people might have moved on in terms of skill but many of them gleefully return for each new installment, no matter how short or easy it is. Difficult extra modes, creative game mechanics, and [[SurpriseCreepy surprisingly]] [[VileVillainSaccharineShow creepy bosses]] may have something to do with it. ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' also attracted the viewers due to its unique visual presentation.