gaming infrastructure & consumer sentiment · 2019. 3. 4. · • more than 95% of pc and...

AKAMAI

GAMING INFRASTRUCTURE & CONSUMER SENTIMENT

2© COPYRIGHT 2015. ELECTRONIC ENTERTAINMENT DESIGN AND RESEARCH. PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4

GENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS 5

GENDER DEMOGRAPHICS 6

AGE DEMOGRAPHICS 7

RECENCY OF PLAY 8

ONLINE ACTIONS 10

INTERNET CONNECTIVITY 11

ONLINE ACTIONS 12

TECHNICAL ISSUES & IMPORTANCE TO PLAYERS 14

TECHNICAL ISSUES EXPERIENCED 15

CHURN 17

FUTURE PARTICIPATION 24

HACKS AND DDOS CONCERNS 26

GENERAL GAMING INFORMATION 28

FEATURES AFFECTING PURCHASE 29

PLAYER INVESTMENT 31

GENRES 33

APPENDIX 37

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 48

ABOUT EEDAR 48


EXECUTIVE SUMMARYGAMING INFRASTRUCTURE & CONSUMER SENTIMENT

CONSUMERS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HACKS & DDOS

• Consumers generally stated that they were concerned with hacks and DDoS attacks in relation to purchasing future games. About 93% of players said hacks were a concern when using an online service while 86% of users said the same regarding DDoS.

• Even though these security issues are concerns, they generally do not dissuade a user from interacting with an online vendor. About 60% of users stated that account hacks or DDoS concerns were not strong enough factors to boycott a service.

• For individual video games, players were much more unlikely to play if security concerns are present. About 86% of users stated they are extremely unlikely to play if hacks were an issue, while 71% said the same regarding DDoS.

GAMEPLAY-AFFECTING FACTORS LED TO CHURN

• Players pointed to game breaking bugs, corrupted saves, and laggy connections as technical reasons to churn. Over 40% of players who experienced such issues churned from the game.

• Outside of technical problems, players most often pointed to a loss of interest or other games as a reason to churn. About 84% of users left due to boredom, while about 70% discovered new titles.

MOST USERS ARE CONNECTED

• More than 95% of PC and smartphone gamers are connected to the internet. About 85% of 8th generation consoles (PS4 and Xbox One) are connected.

• More than 90% of users have shopped for a mobile game online or downloaded a mobile game via Wi-Fi. About 70% have played a mobile game online.

• Comparatively, only about 80% of current PC gamers have shopped using an online storefront, though 90% have played online.

PLAYERS CITED PRICE AND GAMEPLAY AS THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES WHEN CONSIDERING A PURCHASE

• When contemplating a purchase, consumers were most concerned with a game’s price followed by the genre, mechanics, story, and graphics.

• About a quarter of users were concerned with security, but these users had the most severe concerns. About 53% of users who saw security as a concern labeled it an extremely important factor.

• In comparison, only 44% of users saw price as a concern in games.

CONSOLE AND PC GAMERS ARE MORE CORE THAN MOBILE

• Console and PC gamers generally invested the most time and money into gaming.

• About 37% of console gamers and 45% of PC gamers played for more than 5 hours per week, compared to only about 30% of mobile gamers.

• About 87% of console players and 64% of PC players spent $25 or more annually on games. In comparison, 19% of smartphone gamers and 23% of tablet gamers spent $25 or more annually.

GENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS


GENDER DEMOGRAPHICSGENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS

Generally, the gender demographics for video game-related platforms skews male. When examining the population of PC or smartphone gamers as a whole, about 58% were men while 42% were female.

For core console gamers, the percentage of males often over-indexed. For PlayStation and Xbox consoles, male ownership varied from 62% to 64%, which was significantly higher than for PC or mobile gamers. Consoles offer a highly core gaming experience, attracting a larger percentage of men.

Within the mobile gamers group, those playing on smartphones had similar demographics to the overall sample, though users on tablets over-indexed in female representation; about 43% to 44% of tablet gamers were women.

SOURCE: EEDAR


AGE DEMOGRAPHICSGENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS

For PC and smartphone gamers, the average age was 27.7 for men and 28.7 for women. The PC population followed this split closely, though mobile audiences were far more split. While Apple users were generally younger, Droid owners were older.

The population for console owners represented the youngest subset, ranging from 26 to 27 depending on console maker and generation.

Generally, male owners were 1 year younger than their female counterparts.

SOURCE: EEDAR


RECENCY OF PLAYGENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS

For the majority of video game-playing platform owners, gaming is a regular occurrence. Some 84% of PC gamers stated that they played a video game on their computer in the last month while 90% of smartphone gamers had played on a smartphone in the past month. Smartphone gamers also led in terms of the amount of people, at roughly half, who had played in the past day.

The most frequent monthly gamers were those who owned an 8th generation console, as over 92% stated they had played on a PS4 or Xbox One in the last month.

Tablet and PC gamers were actually the most infrequent by month, with tablet users reporting last month gaming usage by about 86%-88% of the population. The PC, likely due to its ubiquity and wide range of functions, only saw play in the last month from 83% of its audience though it held the third highest rate, at 43%, of users who had played in the past day. Ultimately, while the PC sees a large variety of users, it also boasts a highly dedicated core group of gamers.

SOURCE: EEDAR


RECENCY OF PLAYGENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS

In the ensuing segments, EEDAR denotes current gamers as those who have played a video game on a platform within the past month. EEDAR chose to focus on this subset of gamers to provide a better view of the current platform gamer rather than also incorporate potentially lapsed users.

SOURCE: EEDAR

ONLINE ACTIONS


INTERNET CONNECTIVITYONLINE ACTIONS

The vast majority of video game players also have their platforms connected to the internet. Smartphone users and PC players were the most well connected, with 96% or more of these platform owners having internet access.

Tablets were the next most connected devices with an excess of 86% of the population, which was roughly tied with 8th generation consoles. The 7th generation of consoles, which includes the PS3 and Xbox 360, had the lowest connection rates at 78% and 74%, respectively. Across the board, users who had played in the past month also showed a greater propensity for internet connection.

SOURCE: EEDAR


ONLINE ACTIONSONLINE ACTIONS

Mobile gamers have mostly taken advantage of their online options when it concerns gaming. About 90% have shopped for a game through the store, while a massive 94% have downloaded an app through Wi-Fi. About 70% have used their data plan to facilitate a download while roughly half, at 44%, have downloaded additional updates or patches. Some 70% of users have played a game online.

Across mobile platforms, current tablet users were generally more active in terms of online behavior. A larger number of tablet gamers have shopped for a game, downloaded via Wi-Fi, downloaded a patch or update, and played online when compared against current smartphone gamers. Tablet gamers were only less likely to download via a data plan, which points to how many tablet users mostly rely on Wi-Fi rather than purchasing data.

SOURCE: EEDAR


ONLINE ACTIONSONLINE ACTIONS

The general PC owner isn’t necessarily someone that regularly plays games. Instead, only about 70% of the surveyed PC owners have shopped via an online portal (such as Steam or Origin) while three quarters have downloaded a video, installed an update, or played online.

Yet when examining PC users that have played a game in the past month, every category dramatically rises. For current PC gamers, about 80% have shopped using an online portal, while roughly 90% have downloaded a video, installed an update, or played online. A drastic difference is seen between current PC gamers and those who have played in the past.

SOURCE: EEDAR

TECHNICAL ISSUES & IMPORTANCE TO PLAYERS


TECHNICAL ISSUES EXPERIENCEDTECHNICAL ISSUES

When examining the technical issues observed by PC or mobile gamers, the vast majority have not experienced any issues created through DDoS or hacking attempts; only 14% and 10% of users reported those technical experiences, respectively.

Instead, most gamers simply reported low-level bugs. About 80% of players have experienced some minor bug or lag issues, while three quarters have been disconnected from their games. About half of players have encountered a game breaking bug while a third have had a save file corrupted.

SOURCE: EEDAR


TECHNICAL ISSUES EXPERIENCEDTECHNICAL ISSUES

When examining technical issues by platform owner, PC and console gamers generally saw the largest number of issues. PC gamers saw the largest number of mild bugs, but console gamers led or tied in nearly every other category.

In particular, current console gamers had the most issues with game breaking bugs, corrupted saves, long loading times, and lower than advertised graphics. PC and console gamers were roughly tied concerning DDoS or account hacks though.

SOURCE: EEDAR


CHURNTECHNICAL ISSUES

Video game players most often cited a loss of interest as their primary motivation to churn. More than 80% of gamers stated that losing interest in a game was the reason for quitting. The next two largest factors were wanting to play other games and encountering real money pinch points, at 68% and 65% respectively.

Only about 60% of users churned because they had completed the game’s content while roughly half either stated that the game became too time consuming or their friends stopped playing. Factors completely outside of a game’s mechanics, such as life becoming busy (33%), a hardware malfunction (17%) or poor customer service (13%) rated low as churn factors.

SOURCE: EEDAR



When examining the reasons for churn by platform, PC and console gamers generally over-indexed on factors that pointed to a more core experience. Gamers on those platforms over-indexed on churn due to wanting to play other games and completing the campaign content.

In comparison, mobile gamers were more likely to point at other factors including real money pinch points and a title being too time consuming.

SOURCE: EEDAR



Generally, players didn’t churn frequently from technical issues. It was truly only the game debilitating bugs that were called out, as players most often churned out for problems regarding lag (34%), game breaking bugs (29%), and disconnecting from the game (26%).

Instead, only about 14% of users churned due to mild bugs while a comparable percentage quit due to corrupted saves. Some 12% left due to excessive download times while a miniscule amount (about 2%-3%) left due to account hacks or DDoS.

SOURCE: EEDAR



The technical issues that were most often associated with churn had to do with problems that severely limited one’s ability to play. Lag and connection issues were the most prevalent, with more core platforms (console, PC, and tablet) over-indexing. Game breaking bugs, especially on consoles, were second while disconnects were third and were an even problem across all platforms.

Mild bugs and glitches were experienced by about 15% of the audience and slightly over-indexed on smartphone games. Corrupted saves over-indexed for console and PC, which is likely due to how these platforms generally have gameplay experiences that are longer and more narratively complex than their mobile counterparts.

SOURCE: EEDAR



EEDAR also examined the severity of various technical issues by looking at the percentage of churned users that experienced specific technical difficulties. The most severe technical difficulties also generally led to a greater percentage of churned users.

The two most severe issues were game breaking bugs and corrupted saves, which resulted in 58% and 42% of those experiencing those bugs to churn. Problematic game conditions, such as lag or disconnects, were the next most severe. Between account hacks and DDoS, a hacked account was much more severe, with 29% churn compared to 12%.

SOURCE: EEDAR



When players ranked their reasons for churning, players most highly cited a loss of interest as the most important, followed by real money pinch points. Players also churned due to the completion of content in addition to playing a game that wasn’t as advertised.

Players were generally much less concerned with issues such as a poor game community, hardware malfunctions, or customer service when it related to reasons for churning.

SOURCE: EEDAR



When ranking technical reasons for churns, players most often pointed to items that affected their personal gameplay. Something that completely cripples the ability to play, such as a game breaking bug, was ranked the most severe problem, followed by in-game lag, corrupted saves, and disconnects. Players were also concerned about their personal account getting hacked.

Problems that were less debilitating to gameplay, such as longer load times, weaker than advertised graphics, and DDoS issues, were ranked as less important by respondents.

SOURCE: EEDAR


FUTURE PARTICIPATIONTECHNICAL ISSUES

For future behavior, users stated that account hacks would be the most important reason to avoid a game, followed by corrupted saves, and DDoS attempts. Though game breaking bugs are generally the culprit for forcing players to churn out of a game, the general consumer is highly wary towards security concerns when deciding if they want to initially play a title.

Players were less concerned with minor technical issues such as longer download times or lower than expected graphics. Only about half of users saw these issues as potential problems that would affect their gameplay.

SOURCE: EEDAR


FUTURE PARTICIPATIONTECHNICAL ISSUES

SOURCE: EEDAR


HACKS & DDOS CONCERNSTECHNICAL ISSUES

Generally, players did state that hacks and DDoS issues were a concern when debating whether to use an online service. Only about 7% of users stated they weren’t at all concerned with hacks, while 14% of users said they weren’t concerned with DDoS attempts.

Overall, hacks proved to be more of a concern than DDoS attempts. About 44% of users said that hacks had them extremely or very concerned compared to about 31% of users who said the same about DDoS attempts.

SOURCE: EEDAR


HACKS & DDOS CONCERNSTECHNICAL ISSUES

Overall, the majority of gamers weren’t highly dissuaded by security concerns to stop using a service. About 60% of players stated that neither had dissuaded them from interacting with an online storefront, and this held constant throughout platform owners.

About 37% said that account hacks were a factor in not using an online service, which was roughly twice as many users who stated that DDoS attacks made them shy away from online storefronts. Similar concern levels were present throughout all platform owners.

SOURCE: EEDAR

GENERAL GAMING INFORMATION


FEATURES AFFECTING PURCHASEGENERAL GAMING INFORMATION

When examining the factors most likely to affect a video game purchase, users most strongly pointed to price followed by in-game factors. Over 87% of players said that price would be an important factor, while roughly 80% chose genre. A game’s mechanics, story, and graphics were all important considerations by more than 60% of the audience. Generally, players were least concerned with connection quality or security, which both received concern by less than a third of respondents.

Generally, PC and console gamers responded similarly regarding their concerns. Mobile gamers were less concerned with gameplay issues, under-indexing on mechanics, story, graphics, and multiplayer. Mobile players also under-indexed on franchise and publisher, which may point to a still developing market with less loyalty to current leaders. Mobile gamers did over-index for one factor: a game’s popularity.

SOURCE: EEDAR


FEATURES AFFECTING PURCHASEGENERAL GAMING INFORMATION

Of those respondents who selected a particular feature as important, EEDAR also asked how important each feature was. While only about a quarter of respondents selected security as a concern, those users who selected the feature were adamant regarding its importance. More than half of users concerned about security labeled it an extremely important matter.

After security, the features that saw the most severe concern generally related to price or gameplay features such as mechanics, the story, or genre. Overall, players were less seriously concerned regarding aspects such as file size, the publisher, the franchise, or game popularity.

SOURCE: EEDAR


PLAYER INVESTMENTGENERAL GAMING INFORMATION

On a weekly basis, PC gamers spend the most time gaming followed fairly closely by console gamers. PC players had about a quarter of their users playing for more than 8 hours per week compared to 19% of console gamers.

Mobile gamers generally played the least, as 68% of tablet gamers and 71% of smartphone gamers played less than 4 hours per week.

SOURCE: EEDAR


PLAYER INVESTMENTGENERAL GAMING INFORMATION

When examining annual spend on video game software, console players generally spent the most, followed by PC players. About 25% of console users spent more than $200 a year on games compared to about 10% of PC players who did the same. About 87% of console players and 64% of PC players spent $25 or more per year.

In comparison, the average mobile player doesn’t spend much annually on games. About 80% of smartphone gamers and 77% of tablet gamers spent less than $25 per year with about a quarter of smartphone gamers and a fifth of tablet users spending nothing at all.

SOURCE: EEDAR


GENRESGENERAL GAMING INFORMATION

On PC, gamers stated that their most played genres in the past year were Puzzle, RPG, and Action. Roughly 60% of users stated that they had played these genres at least once during the past year while more than 50% had played a Shooter or Arcade title.

The least played genres were Card Battlers (such as Hearthstone) along with MOBAs (such as League of Legends) and Horror. Only about a quarter of users had engaged with these genres over the past year.

SOURCE: EEDAR



When ranking their favorite PC genres, users were generally fond of core experiences. RPGs received the most glowing ranks followed by MMORPGs, Shooters, and Action tittles.

Surprisingly, the MOBA genre was the least appreciated. It was voted the lowest among all PC gaming genres. Even though MOBA titles are widely popular, it’s possible that their high learning curve is an immediate turn off for beginners.

SOURCE: EEDAR



Of the mobile genres played in the past year, the most popular have been Brain (such as Words With Friends) and Matching games (such as Candy Crush Saga). The next three most popular were Arcade, Physics, and Strategy. Generally, the most popular genres on mobile related to gameplay experiences that allowed for quick bursts of gameplay rather than extended sessions.

On the opposite end, more core genres such as Card Battler, Shooter, Racing, and Combat City Builder were experienced by a much smaller percentage of players. A quarter or less of users had played these genres in the past year, even though Card Battler and Combat City Builder are some of the most lucrative genres on mobile. These genres have a comparatively smaller base of users who are more core in their investment.

SOURCE: EEDAR



For the favorite genres in mobile, users chose Matching games followed by a string of more core genres. RPG, Strategy, and Card Battler all made the top five.

Users were less enthused with genres such as Casino, Music, Racing, and Endless Runner. Casino, Music, and Endless Runners offer fairly shallow experiences on mobile, while Racing games are comparatively much worse on a mobile platform compared to their traditional home console.

SOURCE: EEDAR

APPENDIX


APPENDIX 1.1APPENDIX

SOURCE: EEDAR



SOURCE: EEDAR


METHODOLOGY & ABOUT EEDAR

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) gathers its information from a variety of sources. EEDAR goes to great lengths to verify the accuracy of its information, as detailed below.

Where information is publicly available from an authoritative source, such as the issuer or the responsible industry agency, that data is used as authoritative. All authoritative information is then double checked by an EEDAR researcher through direct observation or by cross referencing the data with other authoritative sources. Where possible, the data that is visible to the consumer is used: this includes information printed on the retail boxed product or displayed on the manufacturer website. When discrepancies arise between authoritative sources, additional sources are checked until a clear consensus emerges.

Where information is not publicly available, EEDAR’s internal staff performs directed studies to gather the appropriate data. Our researchers work using custom-built data collection and analysis applications. Each researched fact has an objective observation system which ensures that researcher bias is eliminated. Our data research is performed by multiple researchers simultaneously to ensure that individual facts are cross-checked before being input into the classification system established for that fact. Once information has been entered in the EEDAR Games Database, quality assurance staff reviews the data using boundary analysis tools to identify errors and pinpoint difficulties in the classification systems. Our quality assurance team maintains rigorous performance metrics and ensures that each report is validated to the highest quality standards.

EEDAR attempts to use standard industry vernacular and information classification whenever possible. Where industry standard vernacular or classification structures are not available, EEDAR uses its own vernacular and/or classification systems. This would occur in areas where no industry recognized authoritative body exists, or in areas where multiple authoritative sources use different classification systems. All of the classifications systems created for these reports by EEDAR researchers are detailed in the appendix sections of EEDAR documents. All data from sources other than the EEDAR Games Database are clearly cited.

ABOUT EEDAR

Founded in 2006 by video game industry veterans, EEDAR is the largest specialty video game research firm in the world.

Leveraging a proprietary database of over 165 million internally researched data points from more than 125,000 physical and digital video game products, EEDAR is the sole provider of end-to-end integrated data analysis solutions that allow for the examination of every factor influencing the success of past, present, and future video game titles.

EEDAR’s well-known services include GamePulse® (a continuously updated application converging data for physical and digital game industry research), sales forecasting, data feeds, discovery and recommendation technologies, and custom research services.

EEDAR is based in Carlsbad, California and has been recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of America’s Most Promising Companies and also holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of video game facts and information.

Visit www.eedar.com for more information on products and services.

gaming infrastructure & consumer sentiment · 2019. 3. 4. · • more than 95% of pc and...

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