The Leisure Software program Affiliation (ESA) confirmed survey outcomes highlighting the advantages of video games for U.S. veterans, with 77% of veterans saying they imagine video games have a constructive affect on their lives.
The ESA stated overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that online game play supplies a wholesome outlet for stress and nervousness (86%), helps them address troublesome occasions (81%), presents a precious technique of staying related with others (77%) and that online game communities have a constructive affect on their psychological and emotional well-being (74%), stated Stanley Pierre-Louis, CEO of the ESA, in an interview with GamesBeat. It’s a means for the ESA to help veterans throughout Navy Appreciation Month, he stated.
Equally, when requested to mirror on their time within the service, they indicated that taking part in video video games helped them loosen up and unwind and escape the stressors of navy life (85%), boosted morale and strengthened camaraderie (78%) and offered an efficient software for fostering teamwork and cooperation (73%).
“We have long seen the benefits of video games beyond entertainment, and this new data offers an especially compelling example of the power of play,” stated Pierre-Louis. “We take great pride in the positive impact of video game play in supporting mental health, fostering social connections and enhancing overall well-being, and it’s deeply rewarding to know these benefits are felt by those who have served our country.”
Stephen Machuga, a veteran and founder and govt director of Stack Up, a nonprofit devoted to supporting veteran’s psychological well being via video gaming, added, “Every day, I see first-hand the positive impacts video games have on veterans and service members. Video games have proven to be a powerful tool for stress relief, a way to connect with friends and fellow service members and a positive outlet for relaxation and mental health.”
“There’s been a growing body of research confirming the positive mental, social and emotional benefits of playing video games,” Pierre-Louis stated. “We wanted to understand how those research findings apply to the US veteran population, and we were really pleased with the results that came in. So our 2025 survey among US veterans shows that playing video games has a positive impact on their mental health and emotional well being that helps them stay connected with others.”
He added, “While veterans certainly play for entertainment, they also play to release stress and anxiety and to stay connected with each other and with friends, which really ties well together with a lot of good research we’ve done on all populations, you know, and we’ve also seen efforts from organizations like the nonprofit groups Stack Up And Warfighter Engaged — who highlight how video games and the video game industry positively impact veterans and active service members by supporting mental health, fostering connections and improving well being.”
By way of a number of the particular findings, on common, the ESA discovered that veterans who play video video games had been male. I believe it’s about 63% male, 37 years previous, school educated, employed full time, married with kids within the family, and so they had been enlisted for a median of six years.
“The majority of veterans believe that video games provide a healthy outlet for stress relief and anxiety and contribute to social and emotional well being,” Pierre-Louis stated. “You’ll see some stats we have in the study that 86% feel that playing video games provides a healthy ‘outlet.’”
Who’re they and the way/what are they taking part in?
Stack Up exhibits the flag at gaming occasions.
Along with the affect and position of video video games within the lives of U.S. veterans, the survey explored who’s taking part in, how they play and what they’re taking part in. On common, veteran video avid gamers are male, 37 years previous, school educated, employed full-time and married with kids within the family. They had been enlisted and served a median of six years.
The overwhelming majority (79%) are taking part in with others on a weekly foundation. They like taking part in on a console (74%) over private computer systems (63%) and smartphones (62%) and revel in taking part in all kinds of video games throughout genres. When requested what they play most frequently, their prime desire is for motion shooter video games (55%), role-playing (RPG/MMORPG) and multiplayer on-line battle area (MOBA) video games (39%), sports activities (31%) and action-adventure (28%).
“When it comes to making connections, we found that video games bring veterans together,” Pierre-Louis stated.
Survey methodology
YouGov performed a web based survey amongst 22- to 50-year-old laptop/console video avid gamers within the U.S. from January 14-27, 2025 to know the affect and position of video video games within the lives of U.S. veterans. Pattern measurement = 1,096 veteran video avid gamers, 508 non-veteran video avid gamers.
Based in 2015, Stack Up brings each veterans and civilians collectively via a shared love of gaming and geek tradition. By applications akin to Provide Crates, bins of video games and equipment despatched around the globe to veterans in want, their suicide prevention efforts via the Stack Up Overwatch Program (StOP) and their Los Angeles based mostly group middle, Phalanx Home, Stack Up has helped greater than 60,000 U.S. and Allied navy service members get via deployments to fight zones and get well from traumatic bodily and emotional accidents via the facility of video gaming.
ESA’s detailed findings on veterans and video games.
Veterans are having a tricky second, given federal layoffs at authorities establishments within the U.S. just like the Veterans Administration. However the timing of the report is a coincidence, because the ESA’s intention was to have fun veterans firstly of Navy Appreciation Month, Pierre-Louis stated.
“We’ve heard [positive results from game playing] from military veterans. We’ve heard it from members of Congress who serve on the relevant committees. We wanted to test how the general research on the effective games might apply to the U.S. veteran population,” Pierre-Louis stated. “We heard so much about it, and so we really did it, thinking about how we could contribute to the great stories about our veterans during military history month.”
That is the primary time that the ESA did a report on veterans and video games. Machuga of Stack Up shall be one among our audio system at our GamesBeat Summit 2025 occasion on Might 19-20 in Los Angeles. The ESA can be doing a session on accessibility in video video games at our occasion.
“We just found that games are an opportunity to bond and an opportunity to really provide relief from the anxiety and stress of what they were doing,” Pierre-Louis stated. “When it comes to making connections, we found that video games bring veterans together. We focused on veterans, but they also talked about the effect that that was positive during their active service. So we saw that as a net plus that impacted them in a positive way during service, but also helped them maintain those core connections afterward.”
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