6 Marketing Trends Affecting The Gaming Industry
Even before COVID-19, the gaming industry has grown a lot in the last few years, but there have also been a lot of changes. This change happened in many ways, like when a free-to-play revenue model was adopted, when live streaming and cloud gaming platforms became popular and when digital sales of games and esports grew.
During COVID-19, several gaming companies took out loans such as emergency loans for the unemployed and money loans to market their newly launched games. This was their best move, as their games were able to reach every household in the UK.
In addition, more than half of adults in the UK have played at least one video game in the past year. In the past, gaming was seen as something that only die-hard fans and young people did. Here are some marketing trends that helped the gaming industry.
6 Key Marketing Trends
1. Growing Digital Distribution
The move toward digital distribution and sales of video games has made traditional retail purchases of games less popular. Digital sales are growing even faster because of many things.
Some of them are faster internet, more storage space in hardware, and less foot traffic in traditional stores. Smartphones, fast WiFi, and faster networks have become more common. Consumers’ ideas about accessing and owning music, movies, and games have changed from physical to digital.
Games are being sold and distributed digitally. Therefore, game makers should give digital distribution the most attention when they make their marketing plans.
2. Evolving Business Models
The ways that video games are sold and used to make money are constantly changing, which affects not only how long a game will last but also how it is played. The use of microtransactions in many franchises and platforms has helped revenue models.
The free-to-play model continues to grow in popularity. The mobile gaming industry is still setting the pace. AAA titles (games with big budgets that big studios make) on consoles and PC are starting to change to get the most value out of them.
This is because consumer behaviour is changing, and people are becoming more open to recurring revenue models. The pace is still set by mobile gaming.
Marketers need to know what they are measuring when they look at how gamers act so that they can use that information in their marketing campaigns. This, in turn, will help them reach people who are likely to buy something.
3. Games As A Way To Socialise
During the COVID-19 lockdown, the number of people who choose to socialise through video games has increased significantly. People who play games with many players are using the games’ virtual worlds more and more as places to meet, talk to each other, and participate in live events.
Online multiplayer services will keep getting better at making the experience more immersive. Virtual live concerts have shown that music and video games can work well together.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, the number of people who choose to socialise through video games has increased significantly.
Here are the statistics on UK’s video gaming market:
Between 2019 and 2020, the number of people in the UK who play video games went from 33 million to 36 million.
The value of the video game market in the United Kingdom has gone up to 5.3 billion British pounds because more than half of the people there play games for fun, entertainment, or to take their minds off the pandemic.
People in the UK are buying fewer physical video games and more digital ones. This has made digital and online games the most expensive type of video game for consumers to buy. Mobile gaming is another industry that has grown a lot in recent years.
4. Popularity Of Content Creators and Live Streaming
People from different backgrounds are watching video games. COVID-19 is helping to speed up the growth of new streamers and content providers. People are also watching more and more different kinds of video game content.
The feedback we get from viewers shows that they care about streamers who do a good job of building communities. Esports gives publications another way to make money and gives brands a way to reach consumers who would be hard to reach in other ways.
5. Data And Customer Insights
The gaming industry continues to move toward digital platforms. Therefore, it will be easier to make closed-loop marketing plans and have better access to more detailed data. It will be necessary for developers to get feedback from players on the parts of the game.
They are used the most to notice any signals or concerns about retention. This can help to figure out where adding more ways to make money could help increase profits. As closed-loop marketing gets closer, all of the marketers are playing a travel game with the same name.
The most successful marketers put a lot of focus on giving their teams technological tools and processes. This will help them use data effectively to reach their marketing goals.
6. Cloud-Based Service Delivery
The promise that cloud gaming platforms make fast access to game collections, like Netflix, threatens the traditional distribution channels publishers have used in the past.
The market for cloud gaming platforms is starting to look like it will be very competitive. And standing out from the crowd will be necessary for success. Marketers need to know which platforms give them the best chance of getting gamers’ attention and keeping it.
They will also have to decide what their platform strategy will be. Plus, how much they will stay platform-neutral instead of looking for deeper partnerships and possibly an exclusive deal.
The ultimate goal of every marketer is to get to the point where they can accurately map the customer journey for a wide range of different audience groups.
The people who sell video games need to know how vital each “touch point” is. A “touch point” occurs when a potential player sees or hears something about the game. Also, they need to know how each touch point affects the process of recruiting the user.
This lets companies decide how much money to spend on each of these contact points. These points are based on how much the player is expected to be worth over their lifetime or how much the player is already worth.
And finally, where should they put their money, and how much should they spend to keep the player interested? As the gaming industry moves toward being digital only, marketers have a tremendous opportunity to build their audiences using closed-loop marketing.
The industry must bring together its technology, people, and processes to do this. Gaming companies should start advertising their games in other industries. If needed, they can apply for instalment loans or emergency loans for the unemployed for their advertisement. Moreover, these loans can benefit them the most as they don’t need collateral or high credit scores for approval.
Conclusion
As technology gets better, both how games are made and how they are played are constantly changing. The mobile game market is always changing, and it doesn’t look like it will slow down any time soon.
During the pandemic, the number of people using and watching mobile games went through the roof. This means mobile games will have a 3.1-times global advantage over gaming consoles in 2022.
People are spending more time at home, and gaming gives them a way to keep having fun and stay in touch with their friends.
