Toward the end of 2019 the Facebook Gaming Marketing team got together to discuss what trends we thought would impact games’ marketers in 2020. We had no idea then that such a seismic event would impact people across the globe and fundamentally change how people interact with the world, how they consume media and entertainment, and how business is conducted.
Back then we identified 4 key trends:
And finally, and most importantly...
Back then we identified 4 key trends:
- The impact of 5G, especially relating to emerging markets, but also on delivery models such as the increase in subscriptions, streaming and cloud gaming
- The role of community within games and the role of games within communities
- The increased impact of personal connection: As mobile games become commoditized we predicted the value exchange between game and player (or their time) would increase in importance.
And finally, and most importantly...
- Genre diversification: An increased fluidity across genres and how player preference impacts what genre’s people play and why.
All things considered, I think we did fairly well in terms of identifying key trends; 5G while slower to roll out outside of the US and some APAC markets, continues apace especially with increased demand on bandwidth.
Community and connection will always play a part in gaming but we could never have predicted the impact COVID-19 would have on gaming businesses. During the pandemic, people turned to games as a way to stay in touch with loved ones that they couldn’t physically be with.
This, of course, made the personal connection and value exchange exponentially more important, so we feel like we got that one right.
However, the trend we found most interesting, even before the pandemic, was that the “profile” of mobile gamers was continuing to become more diverse. On top of that, more genres and subgenres were emerging and players were willing to try more genres than ever before.
This, of course, made the personal connection and value exchange exponentially more important, so we feel like we got that one right.
However, the trend we found most interesting, even before the pandemic, was that the “profile” of mobile gamers was continuing to become more diverse. On top of that, more genres and subgenres were emerging and players were willing to try more genres than ever before.
So what was special about this trend in particular? At the end of 2019 our colleagues at Facebook IQ were conducting research around genre and player preference while our APAC team were working with our partner GameRefinery on a genre feature analysis masterclass for their clients.
The data started coming back suggesting more fluidity between genres amongst mobile gamers around the world and the GameRefinery masterclasses resonated so well with clients that we knew we needed to go deeper on this emergent trend.
As a result, the team behind the marketing trends report joined forces with Facebook IQ and GameRefinery to try to pair the in-depth player preference research with GameRefinery’s industry-leading feature ranking system. We then took a step back to see if there were connections between why people played certain genres, and the features used by the top-performing games in those genres.
What has come out of 6 months of analyses, insights and crafting is a report that threads the needle from who (demographically) players of 4 chosen genres are, across 4 markets, and why they choose to play the genres they play, analysed across 4 key pillars:
- Why they choose a given genre and how well the genre fulfills that preference
- The role of community in why a player chooses to play a genre
- What type of monetization strategy suits each genre
- How to tailor your ads to attract players of each genre
Then, across these 4 key pillars, we applied GameRefinery’s analysis to identify what features enhanced the performance of each of these factors, and looked at where there were opportunities to provide a more satisfying gaming experience to those players.
The result is a truly comprehensive report that looks at the preferences of RPG, Strategy, Puzzle and Hyper-Casual gamers in the US, UK, Japan and South Korea and how the features of games in those genres deliver against what players say they want from a genre, as well as how they feel about community and ads.
We have found this to be a fascinating exercise and are really excited to share it with the industry. At Facebook Gaming we strive to build the world’s gaming community and if we can connect developers to players and help marketers bring the right games to the right people, then we think everybody wins.
You can get the report right now here . Sign up for our monthly gaming marketing newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on the our trends report for 2021 coming later this year.
The result is a truly comprehensive report that looks at the preferences of RPG, Strategy, Puzzle and Hyper-Casual gamers in the US, UK, Japan and South Korea and how the features of games in those genres deliver against what players say they want from a genre, as well as how they feel about community and ads.
We have found this to be a fascinating exercise and are really excited to share it with the industry. At Facebook Gaming we strive to build the world’s gaming community and if we can connect developers to players and help marketers bring the right games to the right people, then we think everybody wins.
You can get the report right now here . Sign up for our monthly gaming marketing newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on the our trends report for 2021 coming later this year.
Tim Lion
Vertical Marketing Lead - EMEA Gaming
