Facebook’s new report examines how gaming preferences have evolved over the last year.
Facebook released the latest edition of its Games Marketing Insights for 2021. The study explores the impact of COVID-19 and evolving customer habits on games marketing. The study that polled over 13,000 participants across nine countries found that gaming audiences grew dramatically since March 2020.
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Shelter-in-place and physical distancing measures have led to a surge of new gamers as people look for new forms of entertainment. To understand the impact, it is important to look at how many more people are playing games since the beginning of COVID-19. The U.K. registered the highest growth in gaming audiences with 8.6 million new gamers representing a 50% increase. The U.S. witnessed the most number of new gamers with 28 million people taking to gaming in absolute numbers.
Understanding New Gamer Behaviors
Although new and existing gamers report playing a similar number of sessions per week, new gamers play more hours per week than existing players in all markets.
The study also found that new gamers’ favorite genres skewed significantly more core than existing players in the U.S and the U.K., compared to Germany and South Korea, where they liked similar genres.
In terms of social activities, the study found that gamers across the market prefer single-player mobile gaming experiences to multiplayer. Nonetheless, new gamers are more open to cooperative, multiplayer experiences and chatting with others in-game compared to existing players.
Across the U.S., U.K., and Germany, new gamers were significantly more likely to engage in social activities within the game. These would include playing with others online, participating in in-game tournaments, or getting/giving advice on how to play better. In South Korea, the cohorts engaged equally in these types of activities.
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While there are 2.5 billion gamers in the world, representing a diverse range of interests, behaviors and attributes, the research found some interesting similarities among new and existing gamers. It also highlighted regional nuances, especially when it comes to the reasons people spend money on mobile games.
Across all markets, new and existing gamers cited similar reasons for playing mobile games. Relieving stress, passing time, and generating a sense of accomplishment were consistently the top three reasons, and confirmed earlier data from Facebook’s Genre and Great Games report, published in 2020.
Perhaps understandably, new gamers started playing during the pandemic because they had more free time (41%). Other reasons included looking for ways to destress (16%), and it was simple and easy to start playing (11%).
Spending Habits Across Key Markets
Compared to existing players, the study found that new gamers were significantly more likely to report spending money on mobile games after the initial COVID-19 peak in all markets. They also reported spending more money per month on mobile games.
However, when it comes to why people spend money, there was more variety across markets than between the cohorts, some of which were tied to the genre. In the U.S. and U.K., people were particularly motivated to pay to remove ads. In South Korea and Germany, people said they pay to avoid waiting or to skip difficult points (more typical of puzzle games).
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Previous research by Facebook showed that people are open to seeing ads in games. Mobile gamers across all markets said they prefer free-to-play, ad-supported games. In the US, UK, and Germany, ad-supported models’ preference was stronger in existing players. On the other hand, new players were more open to alternative monetization models such as in-app purchases.
When it comes to gaming ads, both cohorts of gamers have similar preferences: everyone prefers to see the main gameplay and characters/story. There are some nuances by market consistent with what we saw in Facebook’s Genre and Great Games report. For example, in South Korea – a strategy and RPG-heavy market – players prefer to see character progression.
Not only have online shopping behaviors shifted, but 70% of people also reported spending more time on their mobile devices since the start of COVID-19. As consumers spend more time searching and discovering products through mobile, navigating shopping risks remains key. Consumers face new friction points instore and online making an always-on mobile-first presence imperative for discovery.
Conclusion
To succeed in 2021, marketers will need to think about how their marketing activities and strategies should shift to reach these new audiences, such as broadening campaign targeting and developing creative that will capture and engage to speak to a broader audience.
COVID-19 has led to an unprecedented surge in the number of people playing mobile games compared to pre-pandemic. But it decreased gamers’ likelihood to spend money. Given gamers are open to seeing ads, as well as make in-app purchases, marketers could consider adopting a mixed monetization model to take advantage of this increased engagement.
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Mobile game marketers can learn from the console industry when it comes to storytelling, considering that people like to see gameplay in ads. By telling rich stories through immersive experiences and new formats, you can create familiarity, which drives discovery. Marketers can integrate creative elements in their ads with other creative means of engaging players such as streamer partnerships which have the potential to influence prospective gamers.