Unlike many other forms of entertainment, such as music, theatre, and television, gaming has long struggled to settle on an identity, largely due to the fact that the technology it relies upon hasn’t stopped changing since the seventies. In comparison, the amplifiers and electric guitars that put Jimi Hendrix or the Beatles on the rock music throne are still doing much the same thing today, without much in the way of major changes.
Casino Slots
In this new century, large parts of the gaming industry seem to have settled on mobile phones as the platform of choice, with both Rockstar and Microsoft recently acquiring major mobile publishers Zynga and King, respectively. Much the same can be said about casino operators like Betfair, which have been able to create online slots ready for the small screen due to the development of HTML5 and a much more ‘responsive’ internet.
Indeed, the percentage of gamers who use mobile phones to play conventional games has likely already tipped over 50% of the market, following predictions for the same by Statista at the end of 2020. This may mean that consoles and PCs could end up in decline – that is, unless the number of people identifying as gamers continues to increase. The current figure is around 3.24bn. A good 45% of that number are just from Asia.
As far as casino games are concerned, 37% of social players, i.e. those that prefer to play with pretend money, use their mobile phone as their primary playing device. Within that group of players, around half prefer slots over any other type of experience. The figure for real-money players is nearly identical, with 48% of users declaring the reels their favourite casino game. Many of these numbers are significant for one major reason – not changing much at all in recent decades.
One of the most striking statistics from the world of (regular) gaming is that the audience seems to be ageing. The group that likely grew up with the third and fourth generation of home consoles, a bracket that includes the Master System, Mega Drive, NES, and SNES, are the most likely people to still play games today. This means that the average age for a gamer is 34 for a male and 36 for a female player. For slots players, the most important demographic is aged 38-65.
Ubisoft Quartz
Attitudes, too, are changing. Society increasingly views gaming as a positive hobby, something that couldn’t be said during the early days of Grand Theft Auto, Doom, and Call of Duty. Even as recently as 2011, Rockstar’s legendary sim was causing strife among certain people. Although, let’s be honest, so did the release of Harry Potter, Dungeons & Dragons, and the music of the Beatles.
With that in mind, some things about society haven’t really changed at all. The penchant for multiplayer experiences over single-player ones is a new development, however. The Entertainment Software Association recently found that 53% of frequent gamers would rather opt for a social, competitive experience in their games, rather than the ‘me and the computer’-style environment common to RPGs.
Despite the large differences in target demographics, support for multiplayer games has recently started to creep onto casino websites, as well. Live lobbies, in which a player can play with a real dealer, are now offered for blackjack, baccarat, roulette, craps, and several other games.
This shift towards more social play has been received positively in the casino industry but it isn’t necessarily a good thing for conventional video games. Multiplayer titles and MMOs tend to be the most heavily monetized games out there. For example, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six developer Ubisoft is currently trying to persuade the world that Ubisoft Quartz, a platform selling NFTs, is good for gaming. When called on this point, the company doubled down by stating that fans “don’t get it”.
Overall, the interests of gamers seem to be on a slow shift towards multiplayer titles – yet the people themselves don’t seem to have changed much at all recently.
