The State of the Gaming Industry Going into 2022

Squark’s Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Dan Hess, spoke with Gaming Industry expert Michael Vorhaus, CEO of Vorhaus Advisors, about the state of the gaming industry. How did the gaming industry get here, where it is going, and how innovative tools are opening up new possibilities in understanding, actioning, and monetizing customer data to create even better user experiences.

Below is a summary of the conversation:

Dan: How has player behavior changed over the last year-two and what are companies doing to leverage that? 

Michael: About 25 years ago, people started to understand there were different types of gamers, that it wasn’t just young males. That’s when the four quadrants of gamers emerged, young males, old males, young females, old females. The younger groups were already at virtually 100% for playing games on at least one device, at least once a week. In the last two years, what happened [with Covid] propelled the older males, and especially the older females, to pick up more games. 

Additionally, people also picked up more platforms. Only 8% of people say that they picked up playing games entirely new, but 20% say they picked up a new platform.

All of this now means gaming is probably now broader than film and as broad as TV.

Dan: As you look at all these changes, from an innovation perspective, how are companies adapting? 

Michael: Better connection, speeds, compression technologies to allow for more real-time playing and developing the early days of playing games across platforms. And all this is building for more AR & VR games.

Other innovations include NFTs, AI gaming, gambling is continuing to grow, real-world matched competitions, and more mashed-up genres.

Also, with mobile and the app store, there is so much data there never was previously. Many folks have a good idea about their segments. But feel they are nowhere on using the data they have and to acquire actionable insights. Now, we are moving from relying on people with advanced mathematics degrees to using tools that will help anyone be able to use and action the data. Using the data will only make people design games with a better user experience and better monetization, but right now, we’re only in inning two with utilizing data.

Dan: That is where Squark has found success in the gaming space: Enabling those individuals to ask, they want to know the answers too. They no longer need to fully rely on the data science teams. 

Dan: And finally, what are the top 3 innovative changes coming in gaming? 

Michael: 

1. N
2. F
3. T

Two-thirds of 18-34 want stronger ownership and a clearer path of commerce among their digital goods. Of course, there will be bumps in the road as they develop that will get some negative press, but NFTs will survive because it is such a strong force in gaming today. 

Outside of NFTs, more de-centralized gaming is coming, screens will not look the same in ten years, there will be machine-made games in the future, and there will be in-game data and insights for the players to use. 

Dan: There is so much information out there; the challenge is to constantly be able to use that data to innovate. We know gaming is going to continue to evolve and forever be changing, so having a platform, like Squark, that allows you to move quickly to predict customer behavior, as it is happening, is crucial. 

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View the entire webinar, including the Q&A from the audience, here. 

Squark’s automated, no-code predictive analytics is helping not only gaming companies to understand, action, and monetize their customer data but also healthcare, insurance, and SaaS as well. To learn more about how Squark can help you understand the patterns in your data and reach your goals, schedule a meeting with us.