Online Gaming is Not a Loser Activity Anymore
According to a recent KPMG report Indian online gaming industry will add 190 million gamers and become a one billion dollar opportunity by 2021, from 290 million dollars today. The growth of the industry is mostly due to more and more casual gamers joining flanks.
A study commissioned by Dell has surveyed 5763 gamers from 11 countries including India who played videogames on desktops or laptops for at least one hour a week. The responses received draws a profile for a gamer contradictory to the ‘loner, loser’ stereotyped engraved in pop culture.
The typical gamer appears to be anyone from a coworker with two kids, the woman at the gym, a fellow volunteer – and most commonly, a spouse, sibling or friend. Gone are the days that being called a “gamer” is derogatory. Gamers were split nearly evenly male (52%) and female (47%). Many were married and living with a spouse (42%) or a partner (15%), and half had children or stepchildren (52%).
Very few respondents feel either “judged,” (12%), “childish” (18%) or “embarrassed” (7%) by being called a “gamer”. Instead, they consider “gamer” a positive label and feel “smart” (55%), “cool” (55%), or “excited" (51%) as a result.
Add to the positive label that 50% Indian gamers feel that gaming makes them a strategic thinker and leads to improved cognitive abilities and skill development.
In addition, today’s gamers are also unlikely to skip out on social commitments for gaming, with less than one out of two saying they would bail on holiday celebrations (46%), a friend's celebration (40%), a family birthday (36%), or a professional sporting event (26%) to game instead.
This image of a gamer is a far reach from the diehard gamers who play video games for about sixteen hours a day. It truly has become an everyday hobby to be enjoyed by anyone really. As people’s perception of who qualifies to be a ‘gamer’ has changed so has the marketing interests of PC makers.
For instance, Dell long famed in the gaming world for its subsidiary Alienware, has been taken over in sales by Lenovo’s line of gaming computers targeted at a gamer who plays less than the traditional diehard user base of Alienware.
To add to that, with Lenovo announcing more gaming rigs (rig is urban terminology for computer), not for the hardcore gamer but for the wider market of casual gamers, Dell too appears just about ready to widen its target audience – as witnessed by this study.
