As the Gaming industry booms, so does its feedback traffic
Updated: Jul 13, 2022
Connect with anyone in the world via mobile or social media and tell that person that you think one of his/her hobbies is gaming. There's a 40% chance that you will be correct. There are more than 3 billion gamers in the world out of a 7.8 billion total 2021 world population, meaning that 4 out of every 10 people play some video and/or mobile games. Another recent report showed just how many game consoles were sold worldwide, adding to our understanding of just how big this industry truly is.
But such staggering statistics do not end there.
A new "Global Gaming Industry Update'' from Drake Star Partners, an investment banking firm, shows that gaming and esports deals closed during the first 9 months of 2021 already exceeded twice the dollar amount for all deals closed in 2020! There were some 844 deals announced and or closed for a total value of $71 billion.
The gaming industry is so hot right now, that even Netflix, the leading television streaming service, jumped in and acquired its first gaming company Night School Studio. Also worth noting is the Swedish Embracer group, a video game holding company that led all financial activities this year by acquiring 18 (!) gaming companies in deals worth $2.6 billion. One of those 18 companies was CrazyLabs, a top 3 mobile games publisher and developer as well as a worldwide leader in casual and hyper-casual games. Another gaming leader, Playtika, acquired 80% of Finnish gaming company Reworks for $400 million. Playtika plans to purchase the remaining 20% within the next few months for an additional $200 million.
More gamers mean more feedback
As the number of gamers keeps growing, so does the level of their feedback and conversations across the open web. Gamers react to features, characters, storylines, designs, the level of interest that a game creates but also to system bugs and links' failures.
One highly active place within the Reddit website, a Subreddit called R/Gaming, enables gamers to discuss and upload all related gaming posts. It currently features 30.7 million members worldwide, ranking it as the highest Subreddit with regards to all other industries and number 3 overall, trailing behind only the obvious leaders "Ask Reddit" with 33.7 million members and the number one "Funny" with 37.5 million. The SubReddit "Gaming" added 59,000 new members in the first week of October alone, also ranking it fourth in the website "Growth" category. As all of these Subreddit statistics show, this category drives tons of customers' traffic and feedback, making it an important place for gaming companies to follow, track, monitor and analyze.
And this is just one platform where millions of players react to and comment about with regards to their gaming activities.
How can gaming companies deal better with those vast amounts of data
Customers' feedback becomes more crucial to handle for many companies and the gaming industry is no exception. Here are some tips on how a company can better maintain and manage the large amounts collected of its customers' data:
Track and monitor all open-web feedback and react to what your customers are writing about your products and services.
Try and cluster the comments into a few categories, then see which are the products that work for you and what are the problem areas that require your immediate attention and action.
Rank the categories according to the amounts of mentions. Those featuring customers' complaints that have gained the most comments are the ones you need to resolve first.
Finally, take advantage of the data collected and plan your next moves based on the wants and needs of your customers.