April 25th, 2022, Rishad Dsouza
At the end of the first quarter of calendar year 2022, we look at YouGov BrandIndex data to uncover the video game franchises that have generated the most Buzz among mobile and handheld device gamers in the US and Britain.
Mobile and handheld device gamers in this piece refer to those who play video games on those types of devices for at least one hour each week. Buzz score is a net measure based on responses to two questions: “Over the past two weeks, which of the following video games have you heard something positive about?” and “Now which of the following video games have you heard something negative about?”. By calculating the difference between these two scores, we create our Buzz metric.
In the US, Super Mario tops the charts out of the 59 franchises we track in the market, with an average Buzz score of 15.5 among mobile and handheld device gamers. To commemorate the annual Mario day on March 10th (Mar10), some US retailers slashed prices on select Nintendo Switch Mario titles. Super Mario Bros also bags the second spot in Britain with 6.3 Buzz points.
Minecraft, which has begun introducing experimental features from the much anticipated ‘The Wild Update’, takes second spot in the US with a Buzz score of 14.7. The franchise also logged 6.0 points among mobile gamers in Britain to take the third spot there.
Call of Duty claims the third spot in the US with 12.6 points. The franchise has launched a campaign to bring Warzone to mobile devices. Legend of Zelda comes in at fourth spot with 11.3 points. The top five list is rounded out by Fortnite, which pledged to donate its proceeds from March 20 to April 3 towards humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine.
Among British mobile and handheld gamers, Pokémon claims the top spot with an average Buzz score of 7.0. The franchise is set to release Scarlet and Violet later this year, which has fans abuzz with chatter about the three new starter Pokémon and related details.
Grand Theft Auto, which released a performance update to fix issues with GTA Trilogy, takes the fourth spot with a Buzz score of 4.2. The Sims closes out the list with the same score.
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on several brands. Buzz score is based on the questions: “Over the past two weeks, which of the following video games have you heard something positive about?” and “Now which of the following video games have you heard something negative about?” and delivered as a net score between –100 and +100. Scores represent a 3-month net average between December 31, 2021 – March 30, 2022. Scores are based on an average sample size of 1,009-1,329 adults. Learn more about BrandIndex.