Gaming
Digital Consumer Trends 2022
The Digital Consumer Trends Survey is a global report measuring consumer preferences and habits around digital products and services. Spanning over a decade, our research in this field has tracked consumer behaviours across the history of smart devices - from the early adoption of smart phones through to the growth of smart speakers and the introduction of 5G.
Over the past 13 years, the Digital Consumer Trends Survey* has become firmly established within the technology, media and telecoms industry as a measure of digital consumer preferences and behavioural changes. The 2022 data set includes approximately 36,150 respondents across 21 countries and 4 continents.
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Highlights
- Two thirds (67%) of adults play games on any device, with the most popular genre being Casual/Puzzle games
- More than half (55%) of those who play games regularly do that on a smartphone, and 37% use a games console
- Among players, nearly half (48%) hold a gaming subscription, with 20% using PlayStation Now / PlayStation Plus and 15% using Xbox Live Gold/Game Pass
- 25% of gamers have purchased in-game currency and 36% have used either money or said currency to purchase digital content for games.
The Metaverse
- 65% have at least heard of the metaverse, but 29% have never heard of it
How we game…
This year has seen the continued growth of the gaming console rising from a low of 34% in 2020 to 41% in 2022. However, the smartphone remains the most popular device to play games at 55% compared to the console itself at 37%.
Figure 1. Smartphones are the most owned and used device to play video games. 37% of respondents who own a games console use it regularly to play video games.
This year has seen a +50% in the ownership of Virtual Reality (VR) headsets rising from 7% in 2021 to 11% in 2022. However, there seems to be a long way to go for gamers to use them more regularly with only 7% of owners using them on a regular basis and only 3% played augmented reality games in general. What is holding VR back…37% of respondents were not interested in VR, followed by the cost of the VR sets themselves.
Figure 2. 37% of respondents do not own a VR headset since they are uninterested in VR whereas 24% respondents found the VR headsets way too expensive.
Monetising gaming
There have been some significant gaming related acquisitions in the last 12 months, with Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard a leader in game development and interactive entertainment content publisher for $68.6 billion being the most notable.
Access to paid gaming services are increasing, rising to 18% in 2022 from 15% in 2021. For those with gaming subscription services Playstation Now at 20% is the most popular, followed by Xbox Live at 15%. In-game currency is embedded now in games, with 25% purchasing in-game currency in the last 12 months. Purchase of in-game currency is higher among the younger age groups with 47% of respondents in the age group 18-24 purchasing in game currency. Respondents typically purchased season passes (15%) or game expansions (10%) related digital content with either money or in-game currency.
Figure 3. 36% of respondents used money or in-game currency to purchase digital content for games. Game Season Pass was the most purchased digital content for games followed by game expansions.
The metaverse
One of the largest developments in the virtual reality space, the metaverse – a digital world in which a person can control an avatar and interact with the avatars of others remains an underdeveloped concept for Irish consumers. The term hit mainstream only 12 months ago and 65% of people have heard of it with 35% at least familiar with what the metaverse is. However, again the 18–24-year-old category are more aware, with 57% of them knowing something about the metaverse. Awareness is starkly different between men and women, with 44% of men knowing something about the metaverse compared to 26% of women.
Figure 4. 65% of respondents have heard of the Metaverse with 35% knowing something about it.
