Eight-five percent of people aged over 65 play video games every week.
These figures are from a poll of those over 65 who are already playing games or interested in gaming, so they cannot be applied to the overall population.
Recent reports have wrongly suggested that most people over the age of 65 regularly play video games.
News outlets including MailOnline and The Sun reported the findings of a survey conducted by electronics giant Samsung, which claimed that 85% of those over the age of 65 were playing video games once a week and that about a third (36%) were playing such games on a daily basis.
The Sun calculated that this meant more than three million people aged 65-80 and 240,000 over-80s were playing video games every day.
However, the figures from the Samsung survey cannot be applied to the population as a whole because the survey was based on a poll of over-65s who were already playing video games or had expressed an interest in doing so.
Although this information was mentioned at points in the MailOnline article, it was not reflected in the headline or opening paragraphs.
Honesty in public debate matters
You can help us take action – and get our regular free email
Data from Ofcom shows that around 26% of over-65s ever play video games. This works out to be just over three million people, but it doesn’t mean that over three million play video games every day, as the Sun suggested.
We contacted Samsung about its original press release. A spokesperson told Full Fact: “The purpose of the research was to find out more about the gaming habits of over-65s and it unearthed some interesting insights. As noted, we qualified in the press release that we polled 1,000 UK adults aged 65+ who have played, or would be interested in playing, computer/video games.
“We recognise that we could have made that clearer in the body of the release and apologise for any confusion this may have caused. We have taken the article down and will be amending this.”
The company has since issued an updated version of its original press release which makes it clearer that the results relate to a limited sample of the population aged over 65, rather than over-65-year-olds in general.
We contacted MailOnline which has since amended its original article to more accurately reflect the limitations of the survey.
We also contacted The Sun which also amended part of its story. However, the article continues to use the erroneously calculated three million figure.
As detailed in our fact check, Samsung issued an updated version of its original press release.
MailOnline amended its original article to more accurately reflect the limitations of the survey and the Sun amended part of its story.
Add your name and join the fight for higher standards.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.