July 19th, 2022, Rishad Dsouza
As EA Sports found out recently, multiplayer gaming is not the be-all and end-all for gamers. Indeed. single-player gaming is the most preferred gaming style among gamers in Britain, YouGov Profiles data reveals.
Nearly two-fifths of British gamers (defined as those who play video games on PC or console for at least 30 minutes weekly) say ‘solo offline’ is their preferred gaming style (38%). Overall, online multiplayer games are markedly less popular, with just over a fifth of British gamers picking it as their preferred way of playing video games (21%).
Over one in ten consumers (12%) prefer solo online games, while only half as many pick multiplayer offline games (7%).
But these preferences shift significantly based on the amount of time consumers spend gaming. Among those who play on their PC or console for at least one hour but less than seven hours each week, nearly half say solo offline is their preferred way of gaming (46%), but this proportion declines with each subsequent gamer segment. The proportion is halved among those who spend over 21 hours on video games each week (22%).
Conversely, multiplayer online gaming gains increasing popularity among those who spend more hours playing video games each week. Less than a fifth of those who play between one to seven hours (17%) or between seven to 14 hours (18%) pick online multiplayer gaming as their preferred style. The proportion nearly doubles among those who play for more than 21 hours each week (37%).
Expectedly, the genre of games consumers play has a correlation with whether they prefer multiplayer or solo gaming experiences.
For example, just two-fifths of consumers that play multidimensional ‘driving/fighting/shooting’ games such as GTA say their main gaming style is solo offline (41%), but that ratio rises to 61% of those who play role-playing games (RPGs).
On the other hand, the multiplayer online style of games are the most popular among those who play driving/fighting/shooting games (31%), with this medium also enjoying significant popularity among those who play shooters (26%), sports games (26%), racing games (26%) and action/adventure games (25%) as well.
Those who play platformer games like Sonic or Mario are significantly likelier than gamers who play other genres to prefer multiplayer offline games (16%). About one in ten gamers who play sports games (11%) and strategy games (10%) also choose multiplayer offline as their preferred gaming style.
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Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for Great Britain is nationally representative of the population and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.