Nielsen has released a new paper called 360 Gaming Report that reveals some very similar worldwide gaming statistics. Across the globe, gamers spend between 8-15% of leisure time primarily playing on consoles and mobile devices with a nearly 50-50 split between male and female gamers. Console gamers tend to be in the 35 and under bracket with PC gamers averaging between 30-45 years old.
While there are similarities among the genres that gamers enjoy, different markets require different marketing strategies and approaches. Monetization is a good example. Specifically, gamers have very different preferences about how they want to spend their money. When given the choice, people will always opt for free games regardless of where they live. This isn’t too surprising from an overall perspective, but it’s worth noting that there are country-specific payment preferences. For example, in the mobile realm, gamers in China and the Latin America markets have the heaviest preference for freemium titles, while players in Germany have a strong preference for paid games.
Read the tl;dr version of the full report by visiting Nielsen.com.
