Gaming in Numbers: facts and stats of an industry

The gaming industry is full of statistics and facts, from gaming units to social media platforms you cannot escape the figures. Maths and numbers are all around us (which isn’t great if you’re like me who hated maths and had to re-sit. I guess my teacher was right when she said that we will use maths even after secondary school. However, I still haven’t used fractions since so I would say I won that argument.) 

A data visualisation that showcases the best selling games throughout the decades

Credit to Captain Gizmo

As a practitioner, it is important to know the engagement that a platform can bring as you can then promote your key messages to a wide audience. It is also important to follow trends so you can understand what the current market wants. There are various tools and apps that allow practitioners to keep track of the industry but sometimes it can be as simple and inexpensive as a Google Trends search (which is great for a broke university student like myself.) This incredibly thrilling blog post /s will go through some facts and statistics I have found during my research and observe any key patterns or results. 

Click here to look at the Socials and Consoles infographic

Socials and Consoles

This infographic showcases the rise, stagnation or decline of various platforms or consoles. As a practitioner, if you are hoping to get across their key messages you need to find the right audience and platform but also which is the most active. It is also interesting to note the popularity of consoles and their player base.

Observations

When comparing the technology and user base on slide one there is a few keyworthy notes:

The most popular platform to play video games was the phone/tablet. As it was both popular with gamers and followers. This may be due to the ease and accessibility of the technology as many people have phones or tablets for other reasons like work or education and it is easy to download a game onto the device. 

It seemed that there was a large difference in regards to gaming influencers and what their followers play. As, the audience played longer on the computer, which is a common form of playing online, consoles, which like computers and handles could be due to Covid leading to a rise of video games being bought for communications, and handheld which is the same reason. 

Reviewing social media channels slides

When reviewing social channels: YouTube was the most popular for gaming, this could be due to the fact that they have comments, livestreams, shorts and many types of content can be uploaded. There is also a search bar which can help find content easier.

Instagram followed in popularity as it can be an effective format to upload content and engage with an audience due to  direct messaging, stories or just posts.

Twitch was also highly popular due to the live streaming and  real time interaction that can be provided.

Twitter in a similar format to instagram can alert the audience to new content as updates along with interaction and finding an algorithm with hashtags.

TikTok is still fairly new in the realm of platforms and many have been  able to manipulate the  algorithm (despite accusations of favouritism) yet while  communities have formed, it can still be limited.

Reddit, Discord and Podcasts also have fallen due to the closed off communities.   

Google and Youtube Search terms for gaming 

The search term seemed to be fairly popular in the early 2000s. While there is a decrease in the 2010s it  would steadily rise  until it hit its peak in 2020.      

The YouTube search for gaming gradually increased where it began to increase and peak throughout 2013-2016. This was a time where many popular creators were producing content however, maybe due to policy changes or just different opportunities creators may have left or changed their content or the audience may have changed their interests and it gradually died down. It would steadily increase before peaking in 2020. 

Comparrisons of social media platforms 

While Facebook has had a slow decline over the past few years, it still is vastly more popular than the other platforms. Twitter was the second most popular which could be due to the fact that communities can be formed through simple hashtags. Instagram was fairly limited in terms of audience, this maybe because the platform tends to be photo sharing and is limited to interactions. Discord was fairly limited as well, this maybe due to it only gaining relevance recently and Reddit, which is an online forum, did have some interactions based of forums dedicated to niche interests yet may have similar problems  regarding being limited to forums.

Twitch and YouTube comparisons

This Google Trends results graph shows that Twitch was a vastly more popular platform in terms of search results at least for gaming. This could be because of the fact that YouTube hosts various other content which may alter results as Twitch for the most part is known as a gaming platform so many who go there tend to just want that genre. It seems that Twitch hit its peak around 2021 which is the year that we were still facing the pandemic. Being cautious and at home may have led to more people livestreaming to stay in contact and foster communities.

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When looking at the statistics we must remember the contact surrounding the figures at the time as it can alter. An example is that dest these platforms are popular but they the that way or found mainstream again due to the pandemic forcing those indoors or it could have been just a regular trend online. This blog post had aimed to show you the importance of trends especially in the gaming community and how it is vital for keeping track of the public discussing your client or how you can use the opportunities presented by the constant revolving door of trends to your advantage by using memes or platforms to promote your client and get earned relations.