6 Key Marketing Trends Changing the Gaming Industry
For a long time, games were seen as a niche market for young people and hardcore fans. Today that perception is slowly breaking down, and it’s becoming clear that games are for everyone. There are opportunities in the industry for artists, businesses and players alike.
This huge growth has also brought radical change. Interest that was already rising before the pandemic accelerated sharply during it. Today, interest in esports, digital game sales, live streaming and cloud gaming platforms is at an all-time high.
GeForce Now, which entered the Turkish market through a partnership with Turkcell, now removes system requirements even for the latest releases, opening the market up even further.
According to research by Google and OC&C Strategy Consultants, these are the six core marketing trends changing the gaming industry.
You can download the full research here.
1. Growing adoption of digital distribution
As digital sales and distribution become more common in gaming, physical game sales are falling. Faster internet, bigger storage on devices and fewer people visiting retail stores are all accelerating the growth of digital sales. Smartphones, fast wireless connections and rising network speeds are changing how consumers access and own music, films and now games. We’re watching the shift from physical to digital media in all of these areas. Digital sales and distribution of games keep spreading, so publishers need to prioritise digital distribution when they set their marketing strategies.
2. Changing business models
Revenue models in the games market are changing, and that affects both game life cycles and game mechanics. Models like free-to-play keep drawing attention as more franchises across every platform adopt microtransactions. Mobile games continue to lead the way. Companies that want to capture maximum value by keeping up with changing consumer behaviour and recurring revenue models have started changing their revenue models on console and PC too. Marketers who want to reach audiences likely to spend need to understand which player-behaviour signals they’re measuring, and then feed that data into their marketing.
3. The rise of gaming as a social forum
COVID-19 lockdowns strengthened the trend of using games as a way to socialise. Virtual spaces inside games with large player bases are also used as gathering places, where players hang out and attend live events. We’ll keep seeing online multiplayer services offer immersive experiences that pull players in. Virtual live concerts watched by tens of millions of people show that connecting video games and music can be a recipe for success. We expect a growing number of developers to create new reach opportunities to make the most of what this space offers.
4. The popularity of creators and live streaming
COVID-19 increased the number of people live streaming games and creating content in this space. The demographics of people interested in this kind of content are changing too, and the kinds of game content being watched are diversifying. Viewers say they build an emotional connection with streamers who create authentic communities. Esports gives streamers an extra way to earn money, and brands get a chance to reach audiences that are normally hard to reach.
The biggest change of the last decade is the interest in, and the influence of, game streaming.
5. Data and customer analytics
As the gaming industry’s move to digital speeds up, more detailed data becomes easier to access, which makes closed-loop marketing strategies easier to build. It will matter more and more for developers to get customer analytics on the most-played parts of a game, spot retention problems and signals, and find where extra monetisation can help profitability. As the industry moves towards closed-loop marketing, every game marketer will have to go through these stages. Leading marketers are focused on building up their teams’ skills with the technical capabilities and processes that help them hit their goals.
6. Cloud platforms will drive the next big disruption
Cloud gaming platforms could radically change publishers’ traditional marketing routes by offering Netflix-style access to libraries of instantly playable games. The cloud gaming landscape is shaping up to be extremely competitive, and standing out from rivals will play a big role in success. Marketers need to understand which platforms are positioned to win players and keep them engaged. They will also need to decide on a platform strategy, choosing between staying platform-agnostic and forming closer partnerships.
Every marketer is trying to get to a point where they can map the consumer journey accurately for different types of audiences. Marketers need to understand the impact of every touchpoint where a potential player sees or learns about a game, and how each of those touchpoints affects user acquisition. With that knowledge, businesses can decide how much to spend on each touchpoint based on a player’s predicted, or sometimes known, lifetime value. Finally, they can also understand where and how much to spend to keep players engaged.
As the industry goes fully digital and brings technology, people and processes into line, game marketers who adopt closed-loop marketing strategies have a huge opportunity to grow their audiences efficiently. Advertisers outside the gaming industry have lessons to learn from this shift too.
Source: Think with Google