Survey reveals 74% of gamers enjoy reading books

In honor of All-Russian Reading Day, game publisher and developer Astrum Entertainment conducted a survey among gamers to find out how and what they read.

The survey shows that 74% of the respondents enjoy literature, and 63% listen to audio books. Speaking of formats, 52% prefer paper books, 30% read electronic ones, and 18% choose audio books.

The majority of players, 49%, buy books in stores, 27% prefer online libraries and services, 21% read books there via subscription, 16% borrow books from friends and relatives, 13% listen to audio books on streaming services, and 11% get paper books from libraries. In addition, 78% of the respondents read books with their children.

Video game fans turned out to enjoy science fiction — 68% of the respondents prefer this genre. Another 32% like various kinds of fiction, 16% read educational books, 14% choose thrillers and horrors. 12% of respondents read books on popular science, and 9% enjoy non-fiction.

Gamers prefer modern authors to classic writers — 72% vs 54% (it was possible to choose both answer options).

As for situations the respondents prefer to read in, the results are as follows: 81% read at home, 33% in transport, 30% at school or work, 22% on vacation, 11% outside.

The survey also helped find out how much players read. 15% of the respondents have read more than 15 books this year, 6% — more than 10, 22% — from 6 to 10, and 58% — up to 5 books.

Stephen King is by far the most popular writer among video game fans, followed by the Strugatsky brothers, Sergei Lukyanenko, Andrzej Sapkowski, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Victor Pelevin, Boris Akunin, and Terry Pratchett.

Among the books that have recently impressed them, respondents named Atomic Heart. The Story of Facility 3826 by Harold Horff, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski, and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Many respondents would like to see more books on game universes, in particular Atomic Heart, Fallout, Skyrim, Cyberpunk, Evil Dead, Half-Life, and Elden Ring.

We also asked the respondents which book or series of books they would like to see as a game. The most popular answers included books by Sergei Lukyanenko, 1984 by George Orwell, The Master and Margarita by M. Bulgakov, and books by Stephen King.

As for book characters they would like to appear in games, respondents named Erast Fandorin from books by Boris Akunin, Corwin from The Chronicles of Amber, Anton Gorodetsky from books by Sergei Lukyanenko, cat Behemoth or the Cheshire Cat, Pennywise, and even themselves.

In total, more than 2,300 people took part in the survey.

 

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Astrum Entertainment is one of the biggest Russian developers and publishers of PC and mobile games. The company's portfolio includes more than 20 games, including such hits as Warface, Lost Ark, Perfect World, Allods Online, and Atomic Heart. Astrum Entertainment works with products of different genres: MMORPG, shooters, strategies, and others. The company's highly professional team includes pioneers of Russian game development.