According to a new report by market researcher IDC and digital advertising platform LoopMe, about 75% of the pandemic-induced trend increase in mobile games will continue indefinitely.
The report analyzes one of the biggest questions in the gaming industry regarding the pandemic: Will gamers who make up the habit of gaming during restrictions and quarantine continue to play when they can go out and engage in other social activities?
According to a survey of thousands of smartphone users, 63% of respondents said they would continue to play. In addition, according to the information given by IDC analyst Lewis Ward, approximately 75% of the popularity and preferability of the mobile gaming industry will continue to be maintained after the pandemic is over.
A survey of mobile gamers was conducted in collaboration with IDC and LoopMe
A survey of approximately 3850 smartphone users was conducted in April in the US, UK, Japan, Germany, Brazil, and Singapore. It is stated that these countries were selected to obtain a mix of countries affected by the pandemic. At the same time, the data were normalized to account for population and gender differences by country.
“There was a huge increase during the epidemic,” Ward said. “We’ve seen this on mobile, console, and PC gaming. It was everywhere. We wanted to learn what the new normal will look like from the rearview mirror after the pandemic.”
IDC collaborated with LoopMe to analyze the survey of mobile gamers in six countries, asking respondents their intentions regarding current gaming activities and future playtime commitments after the pandemic was largely contained in their home countries.
What do the survey results show for the gaming industry?
The survey found a correlation between total time spent playing mobile games and local pandemic impacts. About 4% of gamers reported playing for fun or just to pass the time; 4% said they play to engage in “safe” virtual social interactions, especially those powered by multiplayer games. Overall, however, multiplayer mobile games appear to outperform other game genres in 2020.
About 6% of today’s mobile gamer community were not gaming prior to the pandemic; These new players looked a few years younger than their male and broader base of pre-pandemic mobile gamers.
After the pandemic is largely over (probably late 2022 in most countries), the survey shows that 25% of the net increase in mobile gaming activity caused by the pandemic will dissipate, but 75% of the net increase will remain indefinitely; Ward said this “new normal” will vary significantly by country, but in part depending on the severity of the local pandemic.
Largely due to the effects of the pandemic, IDC and LoopMe said the worldwide player base playing monthly on a smartphone or tablet grew by 12% in 2020 compared to 2019, reaching roughly 2.25 billion last year.
