Gaming

Playing Dirty: Research Reveals The Nationalities That Cheat The Most At Video Games

Published

3 years ago

May 14, 2021

Reading Time: 3 minutes

UK gamers ranked 16th – more likely to cheat than their Aussie counterparts, but less likely to do so than players in the US
Russia, Italy and Israel are the top three countries that cheat at gaming the most
The US placed as the 11th worst cheaters, with Texas, California and Nevada residents revealed as the three most likely states to use a cheat code
Gamers in Iceland are the most likely to cheat at the Assassin’s Creed series, Turkey takes the crown for GTA, while UK gamers are the biggest culprits for Animal Crossing cheats

Many people use video game cheat codes to boost their chances of winning, but which nation is home to the world’s biggest cheaters? Uswitch did the research to find out, and it’s revealed Russia, Italy, Israel, Japan and Sweden are the top five countries where gamers cheat the most.

The World’s Biggest Gaming Cheaters

By analysing Google search volume data, Uswitch calculated how many people were actively seeking ‘cheat codes’, ‘cheats’ and cheat codes for specific games, in every country around the world, along with every state in the US.

The search volumes were then adjusted to account for each country’s population to create an index score, to make sure the data compared like for like. The results expose the top 20 countries most likely to cheat while playing video games.

The top 20 countries that cheat the most at video games (and the cheating index score):

Position	Country	Index ranking score
1	Russia	18.40
2	Italy	16.58
3	Israel	4.87
4	Japan	4.48
5	Sweden	4.03
6	Romania	3.13
7	Portugal	2.36
8	Turkey	2.34
9	Brazil	2.32
10	Denmark	2.28
11	United States	2.10
12	Ireland	2.00
13	Argentina	1.92
14	Poland	1.77
15	Croatia	1.52
16	United Kingdom	1.43
17	New Zealand	1.41
18	Canada	1.35
19	Australia	1.28
20	Bulgaria	1.13

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A

Half the countries in the top 20 are in Europe – Italy, Sweden, Romania, Portugal and Denmark all make the top 10, and gamers in the United Kingdom ranked as the 16th most notorious cheaters.

The US falls just outside of the top 10, in 11^th position. Close behind in 12^th is Ireland, Canada comes in in 18^th and Bulgaria rounds off the list in 20^th position.

From Minecraft to Mario Kart – Which countries cheat the most at different games?

The study also looked into more than 50 of the world’s most popular video games to discover which country cheated the most at each game. Interestingly, Iceland features a massive 18 times – being found to cheat the most for a wide array of games, from the stealthy Assassin’s Creed series to beloved titles like Super Mario.

Malta clocks up eight appearances for games including the classic Resident Evil and Tomb Raider franchises, along with Borderlands and Crash Bandicoot. Turkey, Germany and Ireland all have three mentions and the UK appears twice, coming in as the biggest cheaters at Animal Crossing and LEGO Marvel Superheroes.

The no.1 country that cheats the most at different video games (and their cheating index score):

Game	Country	Index ranking score
Animal Crossing	United Kingdom	0.35
Ark	Turkey	0.37
Assassin’s Creed	Iceland	0.15
Battlefield	Iceland	0.09
Bioshock	Iceland	0.15
Borderlands	Malta	0.05
Call of Duty	Belize	0.28
Crash Bandicoot	Malta	0.27
Crysis	Iceland	0.21
Death Stranding	Slovenia	0.03
Doom	Iceland	0.50
Fable	New Zealand	0.04
Fallout 4	Germany	0.66
Far Cry	Malta	0.18
Final Fantasy	Indonesia	0.31
Fortnite	Germany	0.46
Forza	New Zealand	0.03
Ghost of Tsushima	Italy	0.03
Gran Turismo	Indonesia	4.77
Grand Theft Auto	Turkey	2.74
LEGO Marvel Superheroes	United Kingdom	0.44
LEGO Star Wars	Iceland	0.26
Little Big Planet	Ireland	0.01
Mafia	Czech Republic (Czechia)	0.29
Mario Kart	Barbados	0.10
Metal Gear Solid	Iceland	0.12
Minecraft	Turkey	5.40
Mortal Kombat	Indonesia	0.28
NBA 2K	Iceland	0.29
Need for Speed	Iceland	0.18
No Man’s Sky	Iceland	0.15
Pokémon	Barbados	0.70
RDR2	Ireland	1.19
Red Dead Redemption	Iceland	0.50
Resident Evil	Malta	0.07
Rocket League	Iceland	0.29
The Sims	Netherlands	2.12
Skate 3	New Zealand	0.43
Skyrim	Germany	1.15
Sonic The Hedgehog	Ireland	0.03
Spider-Man	Iceland	0.12
Spyro	Malta	0.29
Starcraft	Iceland	0.44
Super Mario	Iceland	0.26
Tekken	Malta	0.04
The Last of Us	Iceland	0.18
The Witcher	Malta	0.07
Tomb Raider	Malta	0.09
Tony Hawks	New Zealand	0.02
Uncharted	Iceland	0.12
Warcraft	Iceland	0.26

Which US states cheat the most at video games?

According to the study, gamers in Texas are more likely to cheat than any other US state, and California, Nevada, Georgia and New Mexico make up the rest of the top five.

When looking at the specific index scores of each US state – although none are as high as Russia’s or Italy’s in the worldwide list – Texas’ score of 2.6 is roughly around the same level as Portugal, which made it to 7^th place in the global analysis.

The top 10 US states that cheat the most at video games (and the cheating index score):

Position	US State	Index ranking score
1	Texas	2.60
2	California	2.25
3	Nevada	2.19
4	Georgia	2.12
5	New Mexico	2.06
6	Hawaii	2.03
7	North Carolina	2.02
8	New York	1.90
9	Maryland	1.88
10	Tennessee	1.81

To see the full research, including the top 50 countries that cheat at video games the most, visit: https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/worlds-biggest-gaming-cheaters/

Gaming

Flexion Enters into Partnership with Jam City

Published

1 week ago

May 9, 2024

Niji Narayan

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Reading Time: < 1 minute

Flexion, the games marketing company, has partnered with Jam City, a leading mobile entertainment company behind some of the world’s highest-grossing and most enduring mobile games, to bring a selection of the publisher’s best-in-class games to the Alternative App Stores: Amazon Appstore, Huawei App Gallery, Aptoide, ONE store, Samsung Galaxy Store, DT Hub and Xiaomi GetApps.

“We are always looking for new opportunities to build our network of global players, and Flexion is a proven partner that will help introduce our award-winning titles to new audiences in the alternative stores,” Curtis Barnes, Senior Director of Publishing Operations for Jam City, said.

“We’re all about helping developers like Jam City reach the full potential of their games. We’re delighted they have chosen us to add revenue and audiences for their games on the alternative app stores,” Jens Lauritzson, CEO of Flexion, said.

The post Flexion Enters into Partnership with Jam City appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Gaming

Mobile Games Index: Analysis of 95M Game Interactions Reveals Shifting Engagement Trends, Available Now

Published

2 weeks ago

May 7, 2024

George Miller

mobile-games-index:-analysis-of-95m-game-interactions-reveals-shifting-engagement-trends,-available-now

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The anticipated fourth edition of the annual Mobile Games Index, powered by adjoe and Statista, is now available.

The latest report offers a clear look into the current state of the mobile gaming sector, analyzing the past 12 months of the first-party data from 95 million app interactions across 27 million users. The MGI 2024 reveals what people choose to play on their mobile devices, filling the gap in industry knowledge and enabling game developers and user acquisition specialists to benchmark their products and ultimately target the right audiences with the right content.

Moving forward, it is up to the industry decision-makers to analyze the findings and promptly adapt to the newly-emerged engagement trends from MGI 2024, effectively engaging desired audiences.

A Peek at Shifting Engagement Trends to Capitalize on

Based on predictions from Statista, the overarching trend in the market is its robust growth with a forecasted expansion from $166.1 billion in 2024 to $227 billion by 2028.

Remarkably, Card games are expected to grow the most dramatically at 13.8% a year, nearly doubling their global revenue by 2028. Judging from the engagement charts of MGI 2024, the main driver of growth in this category is Solitaire games. The audience is showing a clear preference for Solitaire – these games hold 7 out of 10 positions in the top list of card games worldwide by time spent with titles from MobilityWare, Gimica, Scopely, and Playvalve, among others.

What allows the market to show revenue growth is the positive changes in global daily time spent. After the dip in engagement highlighted by the last year’s Index, adjoe confirms that average daily sessions have rebounded to 21.5 minutes from 17.3 minutes reported last year, marking a 22% increase.

The most engaged demographic of mobile gamers globally is the 40-49 age group, which has experienced a remarkable 33% increase in daily gaming time, now at 23 minutes daily. The strategies targeted at older demographics over the past 12 months can be deemed successful. However, this has led to a loss of focus on engaging Gen-Z, which has shown only modest growth in time spent.

The MGI also reveals that women are outpacing men in daily gaming time across most genres – as reported for the 4th edition in a row. This consistent and high performance makes the female audience a continuously safer bet when it comes to user targeting.

Another continued trend is the dominance of top publishers such as Supercell, Garena, King, and Playrix, while there’s still space to occupy for smaller publishers. For instance, ForgeGames tops the engagement charts with their game Special Forces Group 2 – capturing over 43 minutes of average daily engagement.

The insights continue in the MGI 2024, going granular to segment and visualize global mobile game engagement data from adjoe by genre, region, and demographic. At the same time, Statista’s extensive market research provides a macro-view of the current and future industry, offering figures for global downloads and revenues with forecasts extending to 2028.

Mobile Games Index 2024 Is Available in Open Access

The MGI 2024 goes deep below the surface of market data and creates a comprehensive snapshot of the mobile gaming industry today. Inside are

For developers and marketers, this report is the green light to benchmark performance against industry leaders and align their products with the rising expectations of mobile gamers. This comprehensive tool is now available for free to inform decision-making and help optimize strategies for short- and long-term actions.

The post Mobile Games Index: Analysis of 95M Game Interactions Reveals Shifting Engagement Trends, Available Now appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Gaming

The German Games Industry Association congratulates all winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2024

Published

4 weeks ago

April 22, 2024

George Miller

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Reading Time: 3 minutes

• “EVERSPACE 2” by ROCKFISH Games is ‘Best German Game’ 2024
• Pixel Maniacs from Nuremberg wins in the ‘Studio of the Year’ category
• ‘Best International Game’ is Baldur’s Gate 3
• ‘Player of the Year’ is Maurice Weber

High-quality games, great entertainment and many well-known personalities from the games industry and the cultural, societal and political spheres – the German Computer Game Awards 2024 (DCP), presented this evening in Munich, featured all that and more. Numerous guests celebrated the best games from Germany and the creative minds behind them in person at Eisbach Studios in Munich. The award show, which was hosted by Katrin Bauerfeind and Uke Bosse, was additionally followed by hundreds of thousands of viewers via live stream. A total of 800,000 euros was awarded in cash prizes. “EVERSPACE 2” by ROCKFISH Games was chosen ‘Best German Game’. The ‘Studio of the Year’ award went to Pixel Maniacs from Nuremberg, which has made a name for itself with successful games like the party racing game “Can’t Drive This”, its multifaceted involvement in the game industry and its promotion of young talent, as well as with its innovations in the area of marketing. The ‘Special Jury Prize’ was awarded to the project “Gaming ohne Grenzen” (Gaming without Borders), an initiative that enables young people with disabilities to participate actively in game culture – for example, by assessing in inclusive game testing groups the accessibility of various games as well as the ability of certain technologies to help overcome barriers in video games. In voting by the community and the jury, Maurice Weber was selected ‘Player of the Year’. The games editor and Twitch streamer regularly analyses current developments in the games industry and takes a critical look at them, while at the same time formulating a clear stance for more diversity and against extremism in games and society.

The German Computer Game Awards, which honour the year’s best German-produced games, are hosted by the German Federal Government, represented by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and game – The German Games Industry Association.

‘Congratulations to all winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2024!’ says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game. ‘Even in these very challenging times for many German firms in the industry, German games companies have created high-quality and successful games that have deservedly been honoured on the big stage of the DCP. Around half of these outstanding games were developed with the support of federal game funding. This once again demonstrates the potential that we can leverage when the underlying policy framework for game development in Germany provides for truly predictable and internationally competitive conditions – conditions that allow games from Germany to shine even more brightly all over the world and achieve even greater success on the national as well as international stage. We must make this our goal!’

Overview of all winners:
Best International Game (not endowed)

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

Best German Game (endowed with 100,000 euros)

EVERSPACE 2 (ROCKFISH Games)

The other nominees will each receive 30,000:

Atlas Fallen (Deck 13 Interactive/Focus Entertainment)
Fall of Porcupine (Critical Rabbit/Assemble Entertainment)

Best Family Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Spells & Secrets (Alchemist Interactive/rokaplay)

Newcomer Award – Best Debut (endowed with 60,000 euros)

Ad Infinitum (Hekate/NACON)

The other nominees will receive 25,000 euros each:

Fall of Porcupine (Critical Rabbit/Assemble Entertainment)
Lose CTRL (Play From Your Heart)

Newcomer Award – Best Prototype (endowed with 50,000 euros)

Misgiven (Symmetry Break Studio)

The other nominees will receive 25,000 euros each:

Bloodletter (Katharina “Mikey” Müller, David Cafisso, Marvin Braun, Alica Schneider/Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin)
EcoGnomix (Lars Hinnerk Grevsmühl, Lars Eble, Bahy Nguyen, Marcel Zurawka, Alec Shae)
Footgun: Underground (Eduard Dobermann, Theo Lohmüller, Georg Nimke, Robert Pistea, Lukas Salewsky)
REPLICORE (Sarah Inés Roeder, Rody Nawezi, Leonhard Gläser, Maximilian Götz/ HAW Hamburg)

Best Innovation and Technology (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Marble Maze (Fox-Assembly)

Best Serious Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Friedrich Ebert – Der Weg zur Demokratie (Playing History/Stiftung Reichspräsident-Friedrich-Ebert-Gedenkstätte)

Best Audio Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Ad Infinitum (Hekate/NACON)

Best Game Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Lose CTRL (Play From Your Heart)

Best Graphic Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)

The Bear – A Story from the World of Gra (Mucks! Games)

Best Mobile Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Cat Rescue Story (Tivola Games)