I'm 52. I got back to gaming in 2020, just as I turned 50. I always wanted to play Quake 4, so I created an account in GOG and purchased it. I keep gaming till today.
My father turns 74 this year. He still will very proudly 100% a Legend of Zelda title without looking up an FAQ.
The whole reason I play video games is because my parents did. Some of my earliest memories was being crammed on the couch with my parents and sister, trying to wrap my head around Missile Command on an Atari VCS (2600) before the age of three. When we got an NES, the common thing was after we were put to bed, we'd hear the screeching of tires in R.C. Pro-AM. Or the music from Ice Climber. Or the frantic quacking of Duck Hunt.
Many years ago I gave my folks a Nintendo DSi XL for the holidays, with a bunch of games. When I went back for Mother's Day, I noticed the DSi XL was blue instead of white... because they bought a second (blue) one so they could both be playing games at the same time.
Dad plays a lot more on his iPad nowadays given his vision, but things like Chris Sawyer's top-notch iOS port of Roller Coaster Tycoon. He'll AirPlay it to the TV so him and mom can collaborate, or to show houseguests his parks. Or he plays Firaxis's great ports of the modern X-COMs. Mom likes Stardew Valley quite a bit, though still breaks out the Professor Layton series on the DS.
I think my parents realized when they were adults (late 20s, early 30s) is that games had staying power and were potentially evergreen entertainment. They could see it was more than a fad, especially when N years later their kids are playing with the same things (plus Lego) all the time, and weren’t asking for the new whatever toy.
Games get old, but the good ones hold up. Some of my favorite games from 35+ years ago still hold up extraordinarily well. It’s rare that you’ll watch a single movie hundreds of times, but there’s games where you easily can. Certainly not all, but a good chunk of them.
My folks put them down because of real life and because their son could demolish them in anything competitive (heck, I did speedrunning for a bit at some of the highest levels), but when you give them some top quality games and they have the time, they remembered the value pretty quick. As they’re moving into a very fixed income, they see the value for money they get from them.
Granted, they lucked out that one of their kids keeps a pulse on what’s good for all audiences. I don’t think my mom would’ve stumbled onto Baba Is You if I didn’t gift it to her. Dad would’ve never found his ideal digital train set (I now have my father’s trains) in OpenTTD if I didn’t point him in that direction.
