April 10th, 2023, Rishad Dsouza
Video reviews, speaking to friends and family and written consumer reviews are among the most trusted methods of research among gamers looking to purchase a new title, shows a recent YouGov Surveys study.
Video reviews by members of the public are a particularly popular method of research among gamers in Indonesia (71%). In neighboring Singapore, nearly two-thirds of gamers rely on this method to inform their next video game purchase (65%). A similar proportion of gamers in Mexico (62%) and Australia (60%) also inform their game purchases by watching video reviews.
Among American gamers, speaking to friends and family is the most popular method of gathering info on new video games ahead of buying one (51%). A similar portion of Singapore’s gamers (52%) also bank on the recommendations of friends and family, while shares are also high in Denmark (46%), Australia (44%), India (44%), France (43%), Germany (43%), Hong Kong (43%) and the UK (44%).
Among Chinese gamers (53%), it is written consumer reviews that emerge as the most popular source of gathering information about new titles. These types of reviews penned by consumers are fairly popular in other APAC markets too – Singapore (51%), Hong Kong (49%), Indonesia (45%) and Australia (43%). Gamers in Scandinavian markets Denmark (35%) and Sweden (32%) are less convinced about this source of information as is the case with German gamers (26%). By comparison, gamers in other European markets like UK (49%) and Spain (49%) are more likely to take written consumer reviews into account when purchasing video games.
Response rates for using a brand’s website is more mixed across the world. While less than a fifth of consumers in Italy (16%) and Indonesia (18%) say they consult a brand’s website before purchasing a game, this share rises to more than double that in Hong Kong (41%), Australia (39%) and Mexico (38%).
When it comes to taking advice from professional experts, which in this case could mean game developers and publishers, gamers in India show the highest affinity (41%). Meanwhile, only a quarter of American gamers (25%) rely on this option before purchasing new titles, whereas in the UK, the share stands at three in ten gamers (29%).
Speaking to a sales executive is among the least popular means of making a choice on video game purchases across markets. This could be in large part because a lot of video game purchases today happen online, where the role of the salesperson is diminished if not totally obsolete. Still, about a quarter of gamers in Hong Kong (25%) and the UAE (27%) say they get information from sales executives as a way of informing their game purchases. In the UK, only 8% of gamers rely on sales executives to help shape their purchase decision.
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with gamers’ sample sizes varying between 117 and 391 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in February 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.