Canada

FANDOM’S INSIDE GAMING REPORT UNCOVERS THE MINDSET & MOTIVATIONS OF GAMERS ACROSS GENERATIONS

Published

1 year ago

April 13, 2023

Video game franchises have taken mainstream media by storm and gaming as a pastime is showing no signs of slowing down – its a hobby that has captured the cultural zeitgeist and crossed generational lines, and there’s no such thing as a ‘typical gamer’ any more. Now more than ever the industry needs to adopt a more nuanced and generational approach to game development & marketing in order to make a true impact with gaming fans.

Fandom’s Inside Gaming report couples Fandom’s robust, proprietary user data with a custom global study that examines how gamer motivations and behaviors vary by generation and provides a playbook for the gaming industry at large on how to truly understand the mindset of a gaming fan. The findings from the 2023 Inside Gaming report will help brands stand out in this increasingly crowded marketplace while giving them the tools to identify, interact and more precisely connect with today’s gaming audience. This deep dive into the generational differences in gaming uncovered findings in three key areas:

Brand & Advertising Impact – examines generational motivations on gaming influence and intent to purchase, as well as which advertiser categories and specific brands are primed to make a huge splash with gamers
Gamer Motivations by Generation – explores the differences between major generational groups and their motivations & influence within the gaming space

Co-Gaming – highlights positive findings around gaming between parents & kids while also providing unique insights to fuel advertising strategies when aligning with families in the gaming space

KEY FINDINGS:

Over the past five years, engagement with gaming has increased across every demographic, platform, and genre – 45% of gamers are spending more time gaming than ever before
80% of gamers of all ages are interested in playing games regardless of whether they are already fans of a franchise – which creates significant opportunities for content creators as they look to mine alternate IP for new gaming franchises
Despite teens and Gen Z spending more time gaming than they did last year, older generations of players are spending more hours per week gaming
Building off that, Millennials are a key (and untapped) audience in gaming – 52% of Millennials rank gaming as their #1 interest

75% of Fandom gamers eat and drink while gaming, making Food & Beverage a key non-endemic category for gamers
More parents and guardians are seeing benefits of gaming with their kids than ever before: co-gaming parents are +83% more likely to agree that gaming fosters leadership skills, +77% more likely to agree it teaches important life skills and +38% more likely to agree it establishes teamwork & collaboration
Top 5 games parents play with their kids are Mario (50%), Minecraft (48%), Roblox (37%), Super Smash Bros (33%) and Kirby (32%)

“More than 150 million gaming fans come to Fandom and our 100K+ gaming communities each month, allowing us to unlock precise and unmatched insights about gamers across generations and platforms,” said Stephanie Fried, Fandom’s CMO. “These new insights into the behaviors, attitudes and perceptions of today’s gamers will enable marketers and studio leadership to drive better fan experiences and incremental revenue.”

The study uncovered huge opportunities for brands to more strategically tap into gaming audiences – namely in the CPG and QSR industries – and identified the generations that represent the biggest untapped opportunity for marketers. Findings include:

86% of Fandom gamers are influenced to purchase a brand or product that invests significantly in the gaming space, and nearly half are heavily influenced to do so.
Millennials are the largest untapped target in the gaming space:
40% of Fandom’s Millennial audience spend over 22 hours per week gaming, compared to only 29% of tweens.
Influence to purchase brands that have investments in the gaming space gets stronger with age: Millennials are more than +24% more likely to be heavily influenced to purchase compared to the average user on Fandom.

75% of Fandom gamers eat and drink while gaming, making the Food & Beverage industry one of the most influential outside categories for gamers.
Gamers are +71% more likely to be most inclined to purchase Caffeinated Energy Drinks that heavily invest in the gaming space, ranking highest among F&B categories.
Snacks, soft drinks, and “Heat & Serve” meals trailed with 58%, 42% and 39%, respectively.
Gaming-adjacent items are extremely important to the game-play experience: Fandom gamers rank high speed internet (88%) peripherals (i.e. mouse, keyboard etc.) (74%) and gaming accessories (i.e. gaming chair) (41%) as most critical to their gaming experience

There isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach to understanding and marketing to gaming audiences. Motivation and influence vary by generation, so it’s critical to understand the mindset of a gaming fan in order to make a true impact in the marketplace. Findings include:

Overall, 45% of gamers are spending more time gaming; and while Millennials are spending more time gaming per week, the biggest growth in overall time spent gaming vs last year was seen among tweens and teens, with 63% and 48%, respectively.
The top-ranking factors for trying new games are: (1) game quality, followed by (2) storyline & plot, then (3) design and visuals, suggesting that gamers across the board are looking for more immersive and engaging experiences.
Still, younger generations are more likely to be influenced by “cultural hype” while older audiences are more influenced by the immersive and deep characters and storylines.
This points to the importance of building strategies to cater to different audiences – building viral programs that lead to cultural buzz is key to aligning with younger audiences while building programs that allow players to immerse themselves in the universe & connect to the characters and storyline is key for older audiences.

The top-ranking overall motivations for Fandom gamers are:
Stress relief (48%)
Relaxation (47%)
Escapism (45%)
Younger generations of gamers are more interested in competitive gaming and making social connections, while older gamers gravitate more toward games with potential for intellectual stimulation.
Among gaming genres, adventure, sandbox, survival and fighting games are most popular with Fandom gamers of all ages.
Tweens, however, are most likely to play battle royal (49%), racing (46%) and survival games (39%); while millennials gravitate more toward MMO (41%), strategy (27%) and RPG (26%) genres, with games like Elden Ring or World of Warcraft.
The biggest drivers for Gen Z and Millennials are character and storyline, with rich and complex backgrounds; while younger gamers gravitate more toward competitive games, with an emphasis on coordinated teamwork.

With the gaming industry booming, time spent gaming increasing, and gaming IP’s seeing huge success crossing over into TV and movies, gaming as a pastime is here to stay. Interestingly, the findings uncover benefits for parents co-gaming with their kids, as well as co-gaming motivations by age group:

Within the co-gaming ecosystem, gaming isn’t the only motivator for parents and their children. They also enjoy discussing strategy (47%) and research (37%).

Parents who choose to game with their kids do so for these main reasons:
As a fun activity to do together (56%)
Kids ask them to play (44%)
Parents are avid gamers themselves and want to continue the trend (41%)
Age does affect behavioral motivations in co-gaming, particularly among parents with children aged 3-8 as they are +89% more likely to co-game in order to better understand the content of the games their kids are playing.

Parents of teens are +46% more likely to play games with their kids.

The top-ranking benefits of gaming for parents include:
Establishes teamwork and collaboration (33%)
Teaches important life lessons (26%)
Fosters leadership skills (25%)
The leading games for parents to co-game with kids 7-12 years old are Super Smash Brothers, Fortnite and Roblox.
Parents who co-game with their teenage children aged 13-17 play Rocket League, Cuphead and Splatoon.

Methodology:

The 2023 Inside Gaming report identifies macro-level entertainment patterns and trends based on a survey of 15,000 Global Fandom users. These insights were validated and deepened through Fandom’s robust user data – more than 350 million monthly unique visitors, 45 million pages of content across 250,000 wikis – and qualitative and quantitative insights from Fandom’s proprietary fan panel. This methodology provides a 360-degree view of what’s happening in the gaming landscape through the eyes of Fandom.

Canada

Play’n GO announces partnership with Canadian operator Loto-Québec

Published

2 days ago

May 16, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

play’n-go-announces-partnership-with-canadian-operator-loto-quebec

Play’n GO, the world’s leading casino entertainment provider, has today announced a partnership with Canadian operator Loto-Québec, launching the Swedish gaming giant’s games into another Canadian province.

Already active in another Canadian province , this partnership sees Play’n GO’s content available in the province of Québec exclusively with Loto-Québec, a state-owned corporation, where online players now have access to titles such as Tome of Madness.

Magnus Olsson, Chief Commercial Officer, Play’n GO said: “At Play’n GO, we have always been clear in our vision to be active in every regulated market in the world, and this partnership with Loto-Québec is the next step on that journey.

“Our past success in Canada gives us confidence that players in Québec will enjoy the best Play’n GO content, and we look forward to many years of success with Loto-Québec in the province.”

Stéphane Martel, Head of Product and Innovation at Loto-Québec added: “As the sole iGaming operator in Québec, we pride ourselves on offering titles that truly add value to our platform, lotoquebec.com. We are happy to bring Play’n GO games to our players.”

Canada

Court Decision Upholds iGaming Ontario’s Model

Published

3 days ago

May 15, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

court-decision-upholds-igaming-ontario’s-model

iGaming Ontario has welcomed the decision of the Ontario Superior Court, which found that iGaming Ontario’s model is consistent with the Criminal Code and that iGaming Ontario is conducting and managing igaming in the province.

“We have always been confident in our model and are pleased that the court has ruled in our favour, and that Ontarians can continue to play with confidence in our regulated igaming market,” said Martha Otton, Executive Director of iGaming Ontario.

“Ontario’s model meets the requirements and contributes to the public good by protecting players, their data and their funds, while helping to fund priority public services in Ontario, and bringing well-paid, high-tech jobs and economic development to Ontario,” Otton added.

In dismissing the application brought forward by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK), the Superior Court found that iGaming Ontario is the “operating mind” behind Ontario’s competitive igaming market in accordance with the conduct and manage requirements of the Criminal Code.

iGaming Ontario will continue to conduct and manage igaming as it has since the launch of the regulated market on April 4, 2022.

Bragg Gaming Group

Bragg Gaming Appoints Renowned iGaming Executive Neill Whyte as Chief Commercial Officer

Published

1 week ago

May 10, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

bragg-gaming-appoints-renowned-igaming-executive-neill-whyte-as-chief-commercial-officer

Bragg Gaming Group, a global iGaming technology and content provider, announced that Neill Whyte has been appointed as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), effective 1st May 2024, establishing a new global commercial structure at the Company and bolstering its leadership team.

Whyte brings over 18 years of experience in the iGaming sector, most recently in the role of Chief Commercial Officer at Digital Gaming Corporation’s (DGC), B2B iGaming Division. After joining DGC in early 2020, he was responsible for the commercially successful launch and growth of its content distribution business in the US.

Prior to joining DGC, Whyte held multiple positions in the gaming industry including as Head of Business Development at Isle of Man-based iGaming specialist Apricot Investments, as Board Member at Swedish iGaming product and Lottery content distributor Genera Networks, and in various senior roles over eleven years at leading iGaming content supplier Microgaming, including as Head of Product Channels.

In his new role with Bragg, Whyte will be tasked with leading the Company’s global commercial teams to drive growth across all of the Company’s product verticals which include proprietary online casino content from its Atomic Slot Lab, Indigo Magic and Wild Streak Gaming studios, exclusive content from content partners, HUB a leading casino content aggregation platform, Fuze player engagement, as well as its award-winning player account management (PAM) platform and turnkey solutions.

Matevž Mazij, Chief Executive Officer at Bragg, said: “I am very pleased to be announcing today the appointment of Neill Whyte as Chief Commercial Officer at Bragg. His iGaming product and market knowledge, together with his record in driving growth from developing successful and mutually beneficial commercial partnerships are exceptional.

“As we leverage our broad content and product portfolio to grow in existing and new markets, including in the United States, Canada, Latin America and Europe, Neill’s unique combination of knowledge, skills and experience in this sector are a perfect fit for our ambitions at Bragg.”

Neill Whyte, Chief Commercial Officer at Bragg, said: “It’s an honor to join Matevž and the wider teams at Bragg already in place across North America, Europe and in India. I have been impressed with the depth and quality of the content, product and technology offerings at Bragg, and its ability to rapidly adapt, certify and deploy this content and technology in newly regulated markets is a distinct advantage.

“We also have a huge opportunity to grow our footprint with our existing customers in markets in which we are already established. Our content and product roadmaps are second to none, and I’m planning to get on the road in the coming weeks and months to meet the team and our customers and to start building for the next stage of mutual growth. I can’t wait to get going.”