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

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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 demographicplatform, 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, sandboxsurvival 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.

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High Roller Technologies Signs Letter of Intent with Kindbridge Behavioral Health to Support Responsible Gambling in Ontario

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High Roller Technologies Inc., operator of the award-winning, premium online casino brands High Roller and Fruta, announced it has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) with Kindbridge Behavioral Health (Kindbridge) to support its commitment to responsible gambling in Ontario, subject to licensing and regulatory approval.

Through the planned partnership with Kindbridge, High Roller intends to offer eligible Ontario players who choose to self-exclude a confidential pathway to support that helps individuals understand their options and take next steps at their own pace. The experience begins with education and a guided triage process, followed by the option to connect with no-cost peer support and, when appropriate, licensed Canadian clinicians. Using a stepped-care approach, individuals can start where they feel ready and access additional support over time, based on their needs and goals.

“We believe entertainment should always be enjoyed responsibly. Partnering with Kindbridge reinforces our commitment to player wellbeing by ensuring that anyone who may be experiencing challenges with their gambling activity has access to meaningful, professional support. This collaboration reflects our responsibility not only as an operator, but as a trusted brand that puts people first,” said Seth Young, Chief Executive Officer at High Roller.

Kindbridge works with gaming operators across North America to deliver early-intervention programs designed to identify, assess, and support at-risk individuals, including integration with self-exclusion and responsible gaming workflows.

“Building strong, accessible pathways to support is an essential part of effective responsible gambling programs.nOperators are uniquely positioned to assist individuals who may be experiencing distress by helping connect them to appropriate care. We’re proud to work with High Roller to expand access to specialized clinicians and evidence-based resources, supporting healthier outcomes for players and more effective responsible gambling frameworks,” said Daniel Umfleet, Founder & CEO of Kindbridge Behavioral Health.

Seth Young, who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of High Roller, is a current shareholder, member of the Board of Advisors, and former member of the Board of Directors at Kindbridge.

The post High Roller Technologies Signs Letter of Intent with Kindbridge Behavioral Health to Support Responsible Gambling in Ontario appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.

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Brightstar Lottery PLC

Brightstar Lottery Delivers Industry-Leading Sales Force Automation Solution to Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation

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Brightstar Lottery PLC announced that it has deployed its Sales Wizard salesforce automation tool to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). Brightstar’s powerful, cloud-based Sales Wizard easily integrates with OLG’s central system and equips sales representatives with actionable insights and compelling data to identify lottery retail opportunities and make every retail visit more effective.

“Brightstar’s Sales Wizard is enabling OLG’s sales force with digital access to actionable data while unlocking operational efficiencies so that our sales representatives can make the best use of every retail visit. Sales Wizard is highly configurable so OLG can leverage this product in a variety of ways to meet our evolving business needs,” said Vanessa Theoret, OLG Sr. Director Retail Sales & Account Management.

“OLG joins 24 other lotteries in using Brightstar’s Sales Wizard to help responsibly grow sales. Sales Wizard was designed to be a flexible, convenient tool for lottery sales representatives to work strategically with retailers, providing data, reports, and insights to understand sales trends and optimize as needed,” said Scott Gunn, Brightstar Chief Operating Officer North America Lottery.

Sales Wizard is the industry-leading sales force automation tool that provides sales teams with timely, relevant information and is available in user-friendly mobile apps for greater efficiency in the field. Currently supporting more than 148,000 retailers globally, Sales Wizard provides data and insights on sales, instant ticket inventory, instant ticket facings, point-of-sale equipment and signage, and much more.

Brightstar serves nearly 90 lottery customers and their players on six continents.

The post Brightstar Lottery Delivers Industry-Leading Sales Force Automation Solution to Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.

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ComeOn Launches New Marketing Campaign in Ontario

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ComeOn Group has launched its new marketing campaign in Ontario. The campaign underscores ComeOn Group’s long-term commitment to sustainable expansion – powered by ComeOn’s proprietary technology and a clear focus on delivering standout, personalized entertainment experiences at scale.

Since entering Ontario in 2022 with its licensed online casino offering, ComeOn Group has steadily built its presence in one of North America’s most competitive regulated markets. In late 2024, the Group reached a major strategic milestone with the launch of its full proprietary sportsbook in the province, expanding its product portfolio and strengthening its position as a full-suite iGaming operator.

The addition of sportsbook enables ComeOn to offer both casino and sports betting within a unified entertainment ecosystem. This expansion aligns with the Group’s broader global strategy to accelerate sportsbook growth, leveraging its in-house platform, trading capabilities, and risk management expertise to scale efficiently across regulated jurisdictions.

To support this next phase of growth in Ontario, ComeOn Group has shifted to an independent media planning model, activating a bold, high-frequency presence across Linear TV, Connected TV (CTV), and Digital channels. This approach reflects the Group’s product-led philosophy- pairing increased brand visibility with a seamless, personalized player journey powered by a robust, in-house technology stack built for performance and scale.

At the centre of the campaign is a series of premium television commercials starring Jeremy Piven, a long-standing ComeOn brand ambassador. Piven’s high-energy presence and authentic connection to sports reinforce the brand’s entertainment-first positioning, bringing ComeOn’s sportsbook experience to life across TV and digital. Produced by ComeOn Group’s internal creative hub, the campaign provides a cohesive creative platform that clearly differentiates the brand in a crowded market.

Efi Peleg, Chief Commercial Officer at ComeOn Group, said: “Ontario is a critical and highly competitive market for us. By shifting to independent media planning and activating a true 360-degree marketing mix, we’re not just increasing awareness – we’re demonstrating the strength of our proprietary platform and our ability to deliver a superior, personalised player experience. Our headline campaign, led by Jeremy Piven, brings our entertainment-first proposition to life and reflects our broader strategy of driving sustainable growth in key regulated markets through differentiated products and data-driven execution.”

The post ComeOn Launches New Marketing Campaign in Ontario appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.

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