Gaming comes into its own: capitalising on shifting consumer behaviours

In this report we take an in-depth look at gaming, including current consumer trends. Gaming is a popular pastime for people of all ages and our consumer survey across 20 major countries reveals that most adults play games at least once week. The report explores gamer engagement across all device types, with smartphones leading the way as the most popular device for gaming. However, around half of adults do not play games on smartphones; using insights from our survey, we examine the reasons for this and consider how cloud gaming and 5G will provide a boost for smartphone gaming.

We then explore the different gaming business models. Free gaming, which includes both free-to-play games enabled by an advertising model and freemium games, currently dominates. But gaming subscriptions and mobile subscriptions that include gaming are both set for growth. The report also analyses competition in the gaming market, with case studies on select gaming industry players such as Google and Epic Games.

Finally, we identify the four potential routes to gaming for operators. These routes are not mutually exclusive – for many operators, the gaming strategy chosen will be a combination of different routes. We highlight the main factors for operators to consider when choosing their gaming routes, as well as the four areas that will determine their success in gaming.

Explore the full dataset of the surveyed gaming population in the accompanying dashboard, which features pre-laid out charts and is also viewable filtered by relevant segmentations, such as by demographics, gaming device or 5G upgrade intent.