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Leveling Up: Exploring the Importance and Benefits of Gamification

Gamification is a concept that has become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly in the world of business and marketing. The idea behind gamification is simple: by incorporating game-like elements into non-game contexts, it is possible to make those contexts more engaging, enjoyable, and ultimately, more effective. But what is it about gamification that makes it so important, and why should we be paying attention to this trend? Let’s get into it!

What is Gamification?

One of the key reasons why gamification is so important is that it taps into our innate human desire for challenge, competition, and reward. Games are uniquely able to capture our attention and motivate us to take action, whether that means completing a task, learning a new skill, or simply having fun.

By incorporating game-like elements into non-game contexts, gamification is able to leverage these same motivations and apply them to real-world situations. This can lead to a variety of benefits, including increased engagement, improved learning outcomes, and more effective behavior change.

Importance of Gamification

Gamification is not just about motivating individuals; it can also be a powerful tool for building communities and driving social change. Gamification is an incredibly powerful tool that has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach a wide range of problems and challenges. By tapping into our innate desires for challenge, competition, and reward, gamification has the ability to engage and motivate individuals in ways that traditional approaches simply cannot match.

So what does successful gamification look like? Generally speaking, it involves incorporating elements of game design (e.g., points, rewards, levels) into everyday activities or tasks—think competing against colleagues for sales quotas or climbing the ranks of an online leaderboard with every new customer acquisition. It also involves providing incentives for achievement—such as public recognition or tangible rewards like gift cards or swag items—as well as offering tools that make completing tasks easier and/or more enjoyable.

Examples of Gamification

  1. School – A gamified learning environments were able to improve student engagement and performance, particularly in subjects that students had previously found difficult or uninteresting
  2. Fitness – Gamified fitness apps have been shown to increase physical activity levels, as users are motivated by the sense of achievement that comes from completing challenges and earning rewards.

Successful Gamification Strategies

Generally speaking, it involves incorporating elements of game design (e.g., points, rewards, levels) into everyday activities or tasks – think competing against colleagues for sales quotas or climbing the ranks of an online leaderboard with every new customer acquisition. It also involves providing incentives for achievement – such as public recognition or tangible rewards like gift cards or swag items – as well as offering tools that make completing tasks easier and/or more enjoyable.

In addition to motivating existing employees to be their best selves, gamification can also help businesses attract new talent by giving candidates tangible goals they can strive towards while applying for jobs. This type of system allows applicants to show off their skills in real-time and demonstrate what sets them apart from other applicants – all while having fun!

Watch this video to understand more about how to use Gamification Strategy in Marketing!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, understanding why gamification is important boils down to recognizing its power as both an engagement tool and a performance motivator. When used correctly and strategically by companies looking for better results from their teams, this technique has proven time after time that it’s worth taking seriously – so don’t forget about it – level up your operations today!

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Discover What Goama Can Do for Your Business

Let’s talk about Goama what is all about

If you are looking for an innovative way to boost sales, motivate staff, and increase customer loyalty; you are at the right place! Goama combines the best elements of games and marketing, Goama enables businesses to achieve their goals in creative and cost-effective ways.

Using Gamification for Marketing and Sales

Here in Goama, we help many companies to integrate many different types of hyper-casual games into their mobile app, or websites for user engagement. This, in return, enables businesses to create custom reward schemes and challenge-based initiatives to engage their staff, customers, and partners. There are automated processes such as tracking customer interactions and creating organized reports.

What to expect if you choose Goama

We care about your ideas. Once we have the initial conversation, we make sure we do our best to tailor it to your needs and wants. We also give feedback to improve your ideas – all done in the best interest of your company. We have a wide range of games for you to choose from, or come up with a new one as per your request!

What can Goama do for your company?

  • Branded Games – You can choose from our existing 2D or 3D games and customize the game developments.
  • Custom Games – Your very own branded games in either 2D or 3D. The game’s physics & mechanics are customizable.
  • Tournaments – A game that is running for a certain campaign of yours. You will be able to customize the game duration, type, and many more.

Here’s an example of our Community Manager playing and introducing one of our many hyper-casual games.

Why Goama?

By leveraging a business-focused gamification platform like Goama, you have the opportunity to improve sales performance and increase customer loyalty while saving time and resources at the same time. Through powerful analytics metrics, you can monitor progress and make informed decisions that will help your organization be more efficient and productive.

Conclusion

Goama provides an effective solution for any business looking for an innovative way to engage their staff, partners, and customers in new ways that will benefit their bottom line in the process! By taking full advantage of this unique business management tool, you’ll be able to simplify your operations while increasing sales performance at the same time.

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Discover How Gamification Can Help Your Business Succeed

If you’re looking for ways to boost your business success, look no further than gamification.

In today’s digital age, gaming has become a multi-billion dollar industry, and many companies are turning to gamification as a way to engage with customers and increase productivity. From customer loyalty rewards to employee recognition programs, gamification is being used by companies across the globe. In this blog post, we’ll discuss why gamification can help your business succeed and how you can integrate it into your current strategies.

What is Gamification?

Gamification is the process of integrating game elements into everyday activities. It’s used to motivate and engage users by making mundane tasks more fun and rewarding. Companies use gamification to drive customer loyalty, increase engagement with their products and services, and incentivize employees.

How Does Gamification Work?

At its core, gamification works by incorporating elements of game design into real-world activities. Elements such as points, levels, badges, leaderboards, and rewards are used to create a sense of competition and progress. These elements give users a reason to stick around longer and make it more likely they will complete tasks or buy products/services.

The Benefits of Gamification

There are numerous benefits that businesses can gain from using gamified strategies. Here are just a few:

  1. Increased customer engagement & loyalty
  2. Increased sales & conversions
  3. Improved employee performance & productivity
  4. Reduced costs associated with training & onboarding
  5. Improved customer service experiences
Examples of Successful Gamified Strategies by Goama

Many popular companies have found success through the use of gamified strategies. Here are a few noteworthy examples by Goama:

  • Food Panda – Driving customer engagement by participating in the PauPau Run weekly tournaments to win rewards. The incorporation of the game has also helped Food Panda to acquire new customers. This game app has been incredibly successful in increasing customer loyalty and driving new customers.
  • Snickers – A 6 weeks campaign in the StandAlone tournament platform with many different games for existing and potential users to play has helped Snickers to achieve 70k new users traffic on the gaming platform. Users are able to interact over a leaderboard to redeem prizes and rewards given by Snickers. As a result, increasing brand activation and user database for Snickers.
  • Pepsico – By having an App Integration allowing players to have frequent visits to play the games has boosted the month-to-month user growth by at least 134%. This game integration has helped them gain an edge over other competitors by providing customers with an engaging experience that goes beyond simply ordering takeout.

How can Goama help your business with our Gamification Strategies?

Here in Goama, you can choose from a wide list of fun hyper-casual games to incorporate into your application to optimize engagement, user acquisition, retention rate, and many more:

Tips for Developing Winning Strategies

If you want your company to reap the benefits of gamified strategies, there are several things you should keep in mind when developing a program:

  1. Understand Your Audience – Know what motivates your target audience so you can provide them with incentives that will keep them engaged over time.
  2. Set Clear Goals – Have realistic goals so you know what you need to achieve in order for your program to be successful.
  3. Make It Fun – Make sure your games are enjoyable and engaging so users will have no problem spending time playing them rather than competing against each other or completing tasks assigned by the company itself.
  4. Personalization– Allow users to personalize their experience so they feel like they’re part of something bigger than just a game or task list.

Conclusion

Gamifying business activities can be an effective way for companies to stand out from competitors, drive customer engagement, increase conversions, improve employee performance, reduce costs associated with training/onboarding new hires, and improve overall customer service experiences. When done right, these strategies can help businesses stay ahead of the competition while creating long-term relationships with customers and employees alike. So if you’re looking for ways to boost your business success, consider integrating some games into your marketing strategy! Look no further and discover how you can incorporate Goama Games into your app (:

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Why you should add games into your mobile app or website?

By: Aakanksha Singh, Product Manager | Goama

According to a study by Statista, in today’s mobile app market, there are over 3.2 million apps on Google Play, 2.1 million on Apple App Store. So in all, we have over 5 billion mobile apps!

It is getting challenging for Apps to stand out from the competition with such a huge number. If your app does not provide the users with a value proposition and a fun experience, the users will not download your app, and even if they do, they will uninstall it after use.

The app should have something unique and exciting to offer so that the users stay engaged and use the App more and also keep coming back to the app.

If your App doesn’t have something unique to offer, your app will not only lose the existing users and not be able to attract new ones. This will be a huge loss for your business.

Not acquiring new users will also impact your app’s performance in the app stores as fewer users mean fewer reviews, and thus your app’s ranking will also suffer. So, sooner or later, your app’s operational cost will become a loss for your business.

So, the question comes, what can you do to make your app stand out and offer an interesting user experience?

The answer is – Add Games To Your Existing Mobile App/Website.

I am Aakanksha Singh, Product Manager at Goama. In this article of mine, I will guide you WHY and HOW to Integrate games to your existing mobile app. Let’s get started.


Add games to your existing app

Add a separate game section in your app. Strategically provide CTAs (Call To Actions ) to drive users there.

  1. Add Just for Play games that the users can enjoy.
  2. Use Advanced Gamification techniques which can up your App performance by ten folds.

Let’s explore both options thoroughly. You can also jump to the bottom of the Blog and check how you can achieve this at Goama.

1. Add just for play games to the existing mobile app

existing mobile app

Add a Games section in your App and turn your non-gaming app into a gaming powerhouse. Choose an attractive game and give your users a unique reason to keep your App installed and use it again and again. From our self help portal you can change games in a few clicks. 

Suggestion to Growth Hack:

  1. Conduct A/B Test on which Game is turning out to be most engaging 
  2. Place the Gaming Section strategically on your App’s Home page/separate section/Carousel/New Announcements, etc.

Talk to our Growth Hack Team. Contact us.


2. Use Advanced Gamification Techniques

Mobile app gamification is about adding game components in the mobile app to make the app’s user experience a fun-filled one. The fun features in the app help increase the app’s traffic. Moreover, this experience encourages the users to use the app again.

With points gathered, the users will get rewarded for using the app or purchasing from the app, and the app will be able to get loyal customers.

Here are Gamification methods that can be integrated with your mobile app to gamify it:

Tournaments

Tournaments are highscore skilled based game sessions that multiple players can enter to compete between a large pool of players. 

Tournaments are proven to be 8x more effective than just playing games.

Leaderboard

It is a proven Gamification technique which acts as the best motivation for the users to perform better. It showcases how other users are performing. This will motivate the users to go the extra mile and be featured on the leaderboard.

Combined with tournaments, it turns into a competition where the top spots on the leaderboard will get a gift or coupon. This will really motivate the users to do their best to be on the top of the leaderboard.

Social Integration

Its a trend having social integration in apps and games. With this, the users can add their social media friends as in-app friends, and then they can keep an eye on the progress of other players. They can share their achievements too.

Sharing their progress and everything will help the users connect with their friends or look out for each other. This way, your app will become a special place for them, and they will use your app more and more.

Note: From our self help portal you can configure everything very easily in just few clicks. 


Benefits of adding games to your existing mobile app?

Adding games to your app will be a great asset for your app. It will not only upgrade your user experience but will also provide a fun-filled experience to the users. The addition of games can increase your app’s ROI by 3x and user engagement by 10x. In addition, it will reduce user churn and make the users revisit your app repeatedly.

Here are some definitive reasons you should add games to your mobile app.

1. To Increase Engagement of your App

Games are and will be a brilliant marketing strategy as it is proven to attract visitors from all genres. 

Once people start getting engaged with your App, it’s an opportunity to retain them and also acquire more users through word of mouth or through our Social Media sharing/Refer a Friend capability.

2. To provide a better experience

The key to ensuring that the users download and keep your app is your app’s experience. If your app offers amazing games with its core features, users will get a better in-app experience.

Games will add a fun side to your app, so people will keep your app installed. This way, whenever they need services/products related to your business/brand, they will use your app first.

3. To push beyond your limits

The mobile game industry is thriving and growing at an exponential rate. By adding games to your existing mobile app, you can enter the gaming industry.

You can transform your product or service into a game, and thus you will get the profit of an app and a game in one place. Venture around different genres and develop amazing games to push yourself out of your comfort zone and experiment with games to provide your users with the best app they have ever downloaded.

4. To provide the users with a reason to come back

In 2022, users are looking for apps that can provide a unique and captivating experience that leaves them craving more. By adding games to your app, you can deliver that unique experience. This unique approach will be the selling point of your app and will help you get more users and turn them into faithful customers.

5. Get More positive reviews

The gamification of your app makes it more interesting and more profitable for the users to use. The in-app experience and the users’ overall experience with your brand will improve, and you will get many positive reviews on the internet.

6. Get an edge from competition

In this competitive world, App creators are struggling to add differentiators to their App. Adding Gaming section to your App could be a real differentiator which can set you apart.


Why should I choose Goama as my Gaming Partner?

List is long, but here are top reasons why:

  • Experts in Gamification strategies and in market since 2019
  • Presence in 24 countries and experience with some of big brands like Pepsico, FoodPanda, Razorpay, Cricbuzz, GCash, BKash, JazzCash etc.
  • Supports all advanced Gamification Techniques like Tournaments, Leaderboard, Rewards, Points, Refer a Friend etc.
  • Integration is absolutely FREE, and Goama does it for you on a live call.
  • Use all features in 30 Days FREE TRIAL. It is sufficient time to conduct experiments as well.
  • We provide On Call and Email support after you Integrate with us
Getting Started on this journey with Goama

Go Live in a few easy steps:

  • Create a FREE Account with us. 
  • Generate your Gaming Page. Customize it. Add more Games.
  • Complete the Integration. Do it yourself or We can do it Free of cost.
  • Go live.
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Gamification in Banking

The global gamification market is valued at almost $12 billion in 2021. Much of it is fueled by advertising and marketing campaigns spread across major industries – and the world of banking/finance is not lagging. Financial organizations are increasingly moving their banking products online, and in the day and age of increased competition, and waning user interest, more companies are using gamification techniques to boost customer engagement levels. Introducing mini-games, trivia, wheel-of-fortune-style instant rewards, and above all, a tiered privilege program to enhance user loyalty – all hallmarks of gamification – are being leveraged to inject new life into this domain.

What is Banking Gamification?

Banking gamification, at its most basic, is the process of transforming day-to-day banking processes into milestone-based task and rewards type activities, often by incorporating gameplay mechanics from video games. By mimicking the interactivity and immersion of playing a video game, gamification in banking and finance increases customer engagement, boosts their interest in, and knowledge of, banking products and services, as well as makes the entire experience enjoyable. Rewards associated with these activities provide a sense of instant gratification. Some banks add social collaboration, integration with other apps, and more to further increase their brand value and awareness.

What are the Benefits of Gamification in Banking?

Here are some benefits that banking gamification can bring to the table:

  1. Increased customer engagement, awareness, and retention: Gamified finance and banking apps are more interactive, immersive, and customer-focused, designed to give the customer the feeling of playing a game. This unique combination is a powerful way to engage users and retain them. Gamification techniques can be used to increase product and service awareness among customers as well (tutorial videos that can be viewed to earn points, for example). A boost in user retention also increases brand loyalty.
  1. Lowered costs: Gamified apps represent banking on the internet. By moving away from physical institutions, they save banking companies a lot of money in both operating as well as capital expenditure.
  2. Invaluable customer data insights: Gamified apps can be used to gather a variety of data about banking customers which when analyzed, give banking orgs invaluable insights into their user demographic. Companies can pinpoint their areas of growth and address products that are more catered towards their user base.
  3. Differentiation from competitors: Incorporating game mechanics in a digital banking app can help it stand out from its competition. Banking gamification is still in its primary stages, so early adopters stand out and gather more traction from users via the enjoyable experience gamified apps provide.
  4. Potential to draw more customers: Better user retention in gamified banking apps brings in new customers as well. As existing customers are happier, they spread the word: and word-of-mouth advertising generates more buzz than traditional methods, roping in newer customers.

Examples of Gamification in Banking

Financial organizations have already started to introduce gameplay mechanics into their banking products, tapping into the high user interaction potential of gamification techniques. Recent examples include:

  1. PNC Bank, a US-based financial org, created a Virtual Wallet as a modern solution to incentivize their customers to set up and reach their savings goals. This Virtual Wallet was a hybrid between a checking and a savings account. A feature of this Virtual Wallet was an interactive widget, called Punch the Pig. This appeared as a piggy bank on the bank customer’s screen while using the wallet – nudging the user to transfer money via it to a high-yield savings account.
  2. In 2015, Emirates NBD, the largest government-owned bank in Dubai and one of the largest financial organizations in the Middle East, launched a fitness app to encourage its users towards a healthy lifestyle. Emirates NBD customers could open a ‘Fitness Account’ – a mobile-based savings account that incentivized customers with higher interest rates on their balances based on their level of physical activity. The fitness account synced up with the NBD fitness app – designed to work on Apple Watch and a list of other fitness trackers – and rewarded users of up to 2% p.a. on their savings based on their step count for the day or distance covered while running. The base interest rate of 0.25% shot up to 0.5% for 5,000 steps, 1% p.a. for 8,000 steps and 2% p.a. for 12,000 steps. This gamification strategy helped bring Emirates NBD $4.37 million in savings.
  3. CommBank of Australia in 2011 launched a property-simulator game. Dubbed ‘Investorville’, this game lets prospective home buyers go through the process of purchasing and owning a property – choosing from different mortgage products to renovations and experiencing paying property taxes. The game would also show the consequences and pitfalls of the users’ financial investments and decisions.
  4. Twist and Win from Standard Chartered Bank is another good example of gamification mechanics applied in banking to increase user engagement. Bank customers were eligible to win cashback on their credit card transactions by twisting the levers of a virtual gumball machine that appeared in-app. Standard Chartered saw a noticeable uptick in their customers’ credit card expenditure as a result of this campaign.
  5. BBVA, the leading Spanish digital bank, launched a game in 2013 to increase customer loyalty and retention. Called ‘BBVA Game’ – this web application encouraged customers to watch tutorial videos about banking, paying taxes, and other financial transactions that they could do via the BBVA banking app. Customers received points for watching videos that they could later spend on a variety of platforms. After 6 months, the game had over 100,000 users and increased BBVA’s user satisfaction rate by 18%.

Several aspects of the banking industry benefit from gamification since most of it is heavily user-centric. The traditional banking experience has many steps involved in them that can be easily translated into a gamified app – from learning about banking terminologies, banking services to account maintenance and knowledge about products and purchase decisions. As banks continue to go digital, added online perks like social media collaboration or brownie points redeemable in stores are becoming pivotal in a highly competitive market. Gamification allows seamless integration of milestones and rewards, either via a separate app in the ecosystem or in-app, offering a win-win scenario for both banks and their customers.

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What are Hyper-Casual Games?

Mobile gaming has taken a quantum leap in recent years, becoming the predominant force in the gaming industry. Hyper-casual games are behind this phenomenal success, roping in even non-gamers to put in as much as a few hours every week playing them. These easy-to-learn games have offered many respites from an increasingly stressful outside world, especially during the recent pandemic. Games like trivia and puzzles have integrated a social ecosystem around them that allows people to interact and compete. Even single-player hyper-casual games offer an immersive world free from the usual complexities around learning the nitty-gritty of playing them well. As a result, Hyper-casual games have been shown to retain their users much more than any other gaming category.

Hyper-casual games have become so popular that organizations have started leveraging them beyond their usual mobile domain. For example, Tesla cars come with bundled games that owners can play while the car is stationary at a charging station; companies are gamifying their day-to-day business activities in the hyper-casual model to promote a stress-free work environment.

Flappy Birds and the Beginning of Hyper-Casual Gaming as We Know It:

Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen and his company, Gears, released Flappy Bird in 2013. It was an innocuous side-scrolling video game where the player guided a bird between a series of green pipes without touching them. The game took off in 2014 – to the point that it became the mobile games chart-topper in downloads on both Android and iOS worldwide, earning $50,000+ in revenue every day.

The rise behind the game was owed to the hyper simplification of its key principles, including UI, gameplay mechanics, and learning curve – things that made it attractive to even non-gamers. Soon, these methods were followed by other developers, giving rise to the hyper-casual mobile games that are a juggernaut today.

The Pandemic Years and the Explosion of Hyper-Casual Games:

In late 2019, the covid-19 pandemic gripped the world. This had an adverse effect in almost all market sectors – except gaming. People were forced to spend time at home, which astronomized game downloads. As a result, mobile gaming recemented its place at the throne during the pandemic years, fueled by the meteoric rise in hyper-casual game downloads. Measurement firm Adjust and game engine developer Unity joint-collaborated in 2020 to determine the pandemic’s effect in the hyper-casual gaming market. The study found:

  • Hyper-casual games grew by 72% at the end of Q1 2020.
  • Installation of hyper-casual games increased 103% between December 2019 and March 2020.
  • The costs per install (CPI – the average cost to get a user to install a game on their mobile device) for Hyper-casual games decreased by 35% by the end of March.
  • Asian markets saw the boom in Hyper-casual mobile gaming sessions the most, with China seeing a 300% increase, followed by South Korea (152%) and Japan (137%). Western market gains were led by Germany (69%).

Why Do People Love Hyper-Casual Games?

Hyper-casual games are favored by many because of their ease, lack of paywalls, and social integration. Facebook Gaming’s Genre and great games report in 2020 looked at why games like Flappy Birds were an overnight success and found these predominant reasons:

  • Hyper-casual games were instant stress-busters
  • Most hyper-casual gamers played these games to pass/kill time
  • Milestone-based gameplay allows them to feel instant gratification for their in-game achievements
  • An immersive experience in hyper-casual games allowed an escape from reality
  • Many hyper-casual games offer unique experiences that keep the gamers hooked
  • Hyper-casual games like puzzles or trivia help to nurture unique traits in gamers
  • Individuals also found hyper-casual games an extension of their real-world passions 

Hyper-Casual Games that Took the World by Storm:

Here are some of the best hyper-casual games that helped to define this genre of mobile games through their innovative, simple gameplay and the immersive, engaging world:

  • Helix Jump: This is publisher Voodoo’s most popular casual game to date and arguably the most popular hyper-casual game of all time. Helix Jump makes you take control of a bouncing ball as it traverses from one circular platform to another. It has over 1 billion downloads on both popular mobile platforms and has given many clones.
  • Acrylic Nails: With almost 40 million downloads worldwide, Acrylic Nails is a simple game where you paint the nails with the colors of your choice.
  • Phone Case DIY: Like Acrylic Nails, Phone Case DIY gives you control of an empty, virtual phone case that you can customize to your heart’s content. It has garnered 60million downloads worldwide so far.
  • Crossy Road: A simple game where you play as a duck (or any other animal) and cross a traffic-heavy road, Crossy Road is a perfect example of a hyper-casual game. It has over 10 million downloads till now.
  • Rise Up: Minimalistic UI at its best is on full display here in this mobile game, where you must save a rising balloon by clearing obstacles from its path. This game’s muted color palette, alongside some calming music, are also USPs of Rise Up, resulting in 10 million-plus downloads.
mobile games
Hyper Casual Games available on Goama Games Platform

Are Hyper-Casual Games the Future of Gaming?

Newzoo predicts that there will be more than 3 billion mobile gamers worldwide by 2023. This user expansion seems to be driven by hyper-casual gaming. Often free, with low learning curves, minimalist UI design, and a focus on community-driven fun, hyper-casual games like Slap Kings and Stair Run continues to attract a large section of people from a key, non-gamer demographic. Hyper-casual games are topping the charts on ad revenues as well, with puzzles and other casual game categories raking in almost 5 million ad creatives. As a result, more developers are now shifting towards building social, hyper-casual games.

This trend also shows a significant change in our societal perception of gaming. Mobile gaming has abandoned the traditional definition of a gamer. The term has now become broader – casual and hyper-casual individuals who previously may not have been comfortable being called gamers are now slowly adopting the moniker. Social stigma around gaming and games, in general, is slowly being replaced with their places in our culture. Mobile gaming – hyper-casual gaming in general – has played a big role in bringing people together in the virtual world, opening up new avenues to collaborate in a fun and engaging way. In recent years of volatile markets and pandemic anxiety, hyper-casual games have dawned upon a large section of us as stress busters – and that trend is only going to gain more speed in the years to come.

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Gaming Trends in 2022 and beyond

As the pandemic slowly wears thin, many industries still struggle to find their footing back. Not gaming – among a handful of markets that saw a spectacular rise in the past two years. Globally, the evolution of gaming off late has significantly impacted game dynamics, but some trends have become more apparent than others. The genre-defining shifts in gaming that we have seen in 2021 are likely to continue to 2022 and beyond, shaping the games we know, how we play and interact with them, and even in-game milestones and rewards.

Trends to Look For in 2022 and After:

2020 and 2021 have been a mixed bag for gamers. While gaming as a whole has proliferated, a worldwide boom in cryptocurrency and other factors have resulted in major chip shortages for consumer hardware – including discrete graphic cards (GPUs) for PCs and Consoles. Factors like these have made gamers look away from traditional ways to game. Nevertheless, gaming trends that we think will continue to define the industry next year and beyond include:

Increase in Cloud Gaming or Gaming as a Service (GaaS):

The global chip shortage has made traditional gaming a costly proposition. An increased number of people have hence started to look at alternatives – and cloud gaming has more or less started to fill this void.

Like other cloud-based services, gaming-as-a-service or cloud gaming is a subscription service that provides you access to games installed at remote servers. They are streamed to you via the internet, and you access them via the browser or a dedicated client. While this makes the gaming experience majorly dependent on your internet speed, it removes all other hardware bottlenecks.

Google Stadia, NVidia GeForce Now, Playstation Now, and Xbox Cloud Gaming – all major players in cloud gaming have had a stellar 2021. Newzoo reports that cloud gaming will have 23.7 million paid users and a revenue of $1.6 billion by the end of this year. In addition, the market cap is projected to reach $6.5 billion in 2024.

Cloud gaming has become so popular that even Amazon and Netflix have introduced their own GaaS products to tap into this market. This is arguably the biggest trend in gaming that is sure to get more traction in 2022 and later.

The Continued Rise of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) Games:

In 2019, Ericsson’s study yielded that 35% of non-gamers had expressed an interest in AR gaming. The number has only grown in the past two years, given the insane expansion of mobile games. Augmented Reality’s nifty way of incorporating existing elements in your environment is proving to be a major force behind its popularity. 

Virtual Reality games have been in existence for a couple of years now. Unlike AR, VR games immerse you in the world of their own – hence a separate, empty room is often recommended – and require custom, dedicated hardware like VR headsets and controllers. Oculus and HTC dominate the VR market, with major funding coming courtesy of Facebook (Meta) and other investors.

Our increased online presence and the skyrocketing mobile gaming universe will continue to open new frontiers for both VR and AR gaming in the coming years. Reports indicate that by 2023, AR and VR headsets will be selling a substantial 30 million units annually.

Cross-Platform Games to Dominate, More Remasters/Remakes to Come

Mobile gaming’s massive explosion in recent years has forced game developers to make games that run on both Android and iOS. This is a trend that we’re seeing making its way to PC and Console gaming. The latest iterations of many PC or console-exclusive games have been released to all platforms in the past two years. More games are now cross-platform compliant, which means you can play with your peers regardless of your device, be it mobile, consoles or PC. Technologies like 5G and generational performance improvements in gaming hardware will make crossplay development and participation easier in the coming years.

Classic games are also making a comeback – either as remakes or remastered versions with improved feature-sets like higher resolution textures, better gameplay, and others. Remasters like Resident Evil HD have made us re-appreciate them, and remakes like Final Fantasy 7 and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary have been universally praised.

Gaming + Blockchain = the Future?

The buzz around cryptocurrency does not seem to be stopping any time soon. Cryptocurrency runs on blockchains – a technology that decentralizes data by splitting it into tokens and then joining them with cryptography. Blockchains have increased security and speed – something that the gaming industry – largely reliant on in-game purchases – is trying to leverage. Some games already support cryptocurrency-based payments, a trend that will only increase in 2022 and beyond. Moreover, game developers leverage decentralized apps to build blockchain-based games that seamlessly integrate with crypto wallets as payment options. 

Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are also seeing a surge in gaming. NFTs allow you to own digital assets like videos, images, and games or in-game content. Even AAA game developers like Ubisoft are getting in on this trend, which is sure to get more traction in the next couple of years.

eSports Rules the Roost:

The pandemic has all but ensured that it shot up top as if eSports wasn’t popular earlier. As a result, Multiplayer games like League of Legends, Valorant, and PUBG have dominated all of 2020 and 2021 – raking in massive revenues – and are poised to continue this trend in 2022 and beyond well. 

The gaming industry has undergone a tremendous change in the past couple of years. Mobile gaming and eSports dominate the market; AR and VR gaming are on the rise; cryptocurrency and NFTs are just around the corner; cross-platform games are climbing up the charts. By the end of this year, there will be 2.9 billion gamers generating a staggering $175.8 billion in market revenue, driving current trends in 2022 and beyond.

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Are You A Gamer?

Gaming is no longer considered a niche word or market. The worldwide market for video games is slated to reach an astounding $545.98 billion by 2028 from $203.12 billion in 2020. Over the years, several concerted researches have been conducted to understand the reach of gaming in our society. Studies have also tried to find out the definition of the term “gamer” – by interviewing a range of people who played video games fairly regularly.

The percentage of video game players who identify themselves as gamers remains low

Back in 2015, a study revealed some interesting statistics about video games and gamers. For example, while the percentage of men and women who said that they played games on mobile, PC, or console was almost identical (50% men v/s 48% women), over 60% of all Americans thought people identified as gamers were predominantly male. Also, while 49% of Americans played some form of video games, only 10% considered themselves gamers (15% men, 6% women).

Mid and younger millennials have much more propensity to identify themselves as gamers

When we consider mobile gaming, the number of people who play occasionally or frequently increases to 78.2%. Mobile gaming has all but exploded in recent years, fueled by the incredible accessibility boom of smart devices in developing countries. AdColony’s Modern Mobile Report shows that people born between 1986-1995 are more likely to self-identify themselves as gamers – 22.5% more than Gen Z, and a whopping 63.4% more than older millennials and Gen X counterparts.

A variety of reasons may be behind this. Video games, especially in consoles and PCs, proliferated in the ‘90s and early 2000s – becoming a pop-culture staple. Millennials born around that era were part of that phenomenon. Many among them still consider video games as a hobby – a good pastime.

On the other hand, Gen Z is part of a time when games have been all but normalized into a part of our daily lives. It can be one of the primary reasons why, despite playing mobile games 5% more than their closest millennial age demographic, they are 20% less likely to self-identify as gamers. Similarly, video games’ cultural and socio-economical importance is not as prolific in the older age group, which accounts for their 3/5th less likelihood to call themselves gamers.

Men identify as gamers more than women, in general

There is a large gender-skewing when it comes to people identifying themselves as gamers. More often than not, men identify as gamers more than women. Across the 18-29 age demographic, the difference is much wider, more than 3x – between men (33%) and women (9%) who consider themselves as gamers. As we move towards older age groups, the gap closes significantly. 15% men between 30-49 years of age identify as gamers, compared to 7% women. For ages 50 and older, both men (4%) and women (3%) are equally unlikely to self-identify as gamers.

Self-identified gamers do not belong to a single socioeconomic group:

AdColony’s study also reveals that the population that identifies themselves as gamers comes from various income groups. The top two spots are taken by households with incomes of $250,000 or more per year, closely followed by houses with annual incomes of $50,000 or less. This staggering statistic tells us that gaming is not limited to a single income group in society – instead, it has a universal reach. However, the study discovers a trend in the frequency of games being played in a household and their average annual income. The more income a household has – the more time they invest in playing games, especially mobile games.

Increasing popularity of social games – especially puzzles and word games is propelling more people to play video games regularly:

Puzzle and word games have brought more people together in the virtual world than most AAA titles. These games are often devoid of any learning curve, can be played on virtually any device, and require little to no system prowess to run. Simple, fun, and varied enough to be engaging – trivia, puzzle, word games continue to dominate the charts on all platforms. Games like PeopleFun and WordScapes have also attracted more people, especially from the older age demographic, to play more frequently.

Conclusion:

Self-identification is often disregarded by scientists while they collate their data to research the effects of gaming. Nebraska-based sociologist Lisa Kort-Butler has done extensive analysis into the reasons why many, despite playing video games quite regularly, are not eager to identify themselves as gamers. “Persisting, pejorative stereotypes surrounding the physical, social and mental wellbeing of those who game“ is often the culprit behind such low numbers, says Kort-Butler. In addition, the lack of a concrete set of characteristics makes someone a ‘gamer,’ and the picture gets even murkier. Lastly, the evolution of video games to an everyday staple and the biggest industry in the world has also diluted the need for people to self-identify themselves as purveyors of something niche.

Whether you self-identify as a gamer should not matter if you love and continue to play video games – be it on PC, consoles, or mobile devices. Video games have emerged as one of the great social equalizers in recent years, prompting more people to accept them in their daily lives, minus the stigma of being called a gamer.

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Why Do People Love Mobile Games?

Increased accessibility of smart devices, especially smartphones – have all but propelled mobile gaming into the stratosphere. Mobile games were downloaded 80 billion times in 2020 – an 18% increase YoY. The overall market for mobile games is predicted to reach a staggering $218.7 billion by 2024, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.7%. 2.8 Billion people worldwide play mobile games currently, far outnumbering those who prefer playing on PC or consoles.

The immense popularity of mobile games has not only expanded the boundaries of traditional game genres, but it has also caused many old favorites to reemerge – more polished and better performing than ever. In addition, several PC or console-only games have also successfully transitioned into mobile platforms, bringing their AAA experience on smaller screens.

Why do people play mobile games?

Much research has gone into understanding what prompts people to play mobile games and come back for more. For example, 59% of participants in a recent study said that playing mobile games made them feel relaxed. This number is double that of social apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The study also revealed why most mobile gaming users were significantly happier than visiting social sites.

Most users say that they love mobile games because:

  • Mobile gaming makes them feel relaxed, so they return to it to relieve stress.
  • Games on mobile are a good way to pass the time while waiting for other activities.
  • In addition, many people use mobile games to connect with other players socially.
  • The ever-evolving challenges in mobile games make people feel accomplished when they beat a certain level or complete a milestone. Shareable achievements and leaderboards have further enhanced this feeling of instant gratification.
  • Mobile games are continually adding content, so casual users are more likely to come back in hopes of new experiences. 
  • Most importantly, mobile games grant users a hyper-accessible portal into an immersive, virtual world. As a result, 38% of users said that the content in mobile gaming made them feel interested.

What has made mobile gaming so popular?

NewZoo predicts that the gaming revenue from mobile platforms will reach $90.7 billion in 2021, with a 4.4% YoY increase. This now accounts for over 50% of the total gaming market worldwide. A decade of double-digit growth for the mobile games market has been fueled by various technological and socioeconomic trends, including:

Cutting-edge mobile technology has become affordable:

The past decade has seen an astronomical leap in mobile technology. Things like 4G/LTE, the latest Wifi standards, and faster, more efficient mobile hardware development have all made their way from the flagship devices to affordable smartphones and tablets. Generational performance and durability improvements brought by these advancements, in turn, have made mobile gaming accessible to previously untapped markets and demographics.

Increased virtual presence and a mobile-driven market:

Especially in the past couple of years, there has been an increasing trend of moving from bulky software to lightweight mobile apps for everything we need – finances, work, food delivery, and even stargazing. No other industry has benefited more from this than Mobile gaming. The mobile-driven market has forced developers to create more engaging and content-rich games for their customers. The availability of this diverse array of content has boosted the mobile gaming user base significantly.

Easy accessibility and portability:

Mobile gaming wins hands down in its accessibility and portability. You can play games on a mobile practically anywhere – a distinction that consoles and PCs do not have. In addition, most mobile games these days are platform-agnostic. So it doesn’t matter whether your smart device runs Android or iOS – you get the same experience everywhere.

The rise of hyper-casual gaming:

Hyper-casual gaming has dominated the reasons behind mobile gaming’s adoption as a lifestyle companion. A trend where the user spends a small amount of time daily playing a game with repetitive levels and gameplay mechanics is often termed hyper-casual. Here, the game is addictive, and the difficulty between each level only changes mildly – so that the user is hooked yet not deterred. Games like Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga, Subway Surfers, and Temple Run are probably the best examples of hyper-casual games – easy to get into, easy to drop out of, and fun to play.

There’s something for everyone:

Mobile gaming’s rapid proliferation and profitability have caused many traditional game developers to focus on this platform. As a result, the gaming universe in mobile now has the most diverse array of games available for you to choose from. Be it action, strategy, role-playing, puzzle, trivia, word games – if you love a genre, games from it are more likely to exist in mobile platforms than anywhere else. The sheer variety is one of the big reasons mobile gaming continues to rise in popularity.

The revival of classic games in their portable, mobile avatars has increased the overall reach of mobile gaming even more than before. Games like puzzles, board, trivia, and scrabble have been shown to bring in more new users and retain them. In addition, high accessibility fueled by available (4G/LTE) and emerging (5G, WiFi 6) technologies, immersive audio-visual experience, and instant gratification have given rise to the trend of hyper-casual mobile gaming. With the world’s smartphone users projected to reach 4.5 billion in 2024, mobile gaming’s upward trajectory is all set for another round of victory lap.

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Using Branded Games for Content Marketing

Gamified content helped car manufacturing giants Ford Motors to increase their revenue by $8million and generate 600% more likes on Facebook.

Verizon’s decision to gamify it’s website resulted in 30% more logins among its user base. The campaign was highly successful, with nearly 50% of Verizon’s 108 million subscribers participating in the games.

Content Marketing – What Is It?

Content Marketing, like its name, is a marketing approach that relies solely on content and its ability to engage and retain users. Instead of traditional ways of pitching your product to a user base, you use sensory material to attract and retain customers as a content marketer. These mediums can be images, videos, games, blogs, printed material, etc. In addition, shareable and interactive content takes this form of marketing even further, beyond conventional demographics.

Content Marketing Institute defines it more elaborately – “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

Content Marketing has been born out of the need to engage customers more effectively and at the higher cost of traditional marketing. Recent improvements in technology have created fierce competition in the realms of custom content-based marketing. While traditional content marketing generates about 300% more leads while being 62% cheaper, market leaders have already moved to the next step : gamification. Leveraging gaming principles in content marketing, organizations have reduced banner blindness, attracted and retained more users, and dramatically increased their brand value. Branded games have increased brand recognition for a lot of small, medium, and large organizations worldwide.

As a business leader, wondering how your content-based marketing can benefit from these branded games? Here are two examples for you to consider:

How Can Branded Games Increase Your Content Marketing Potential?

Branded games can spruce up your content marketing potential in many tangible ways, gathering about their interaction patterns much easier. User data collected can be used to customize your product further to suit your user base.

Some Examples of Content Marketing Gamification:

Many of the world’s most successful and unique marketing campaigns have included gaming principles to differentiate them from their competition. Some of them include:

  • American fast-casual restaurant chain Chipotle released a memory-based game, “A Love Story”, in 2016. Intended to be a follow-up after their animated short film of the same name, this game was immensely popular. Not only this, Chipotle also rewarded participants with an online-only buy-one-get-one-free entree offer that players could cash in at any Chipotle outlet in the U.S. or Canada.
  • In 2010, M&M’s Eye-Spy Pretzel game, released on Facebook, gathered 25,000+ likes, 6,000 shares and 10,000 comments. This low-cost, gamified content marketing campaign was created in tandem with the release of their pretzel-flavored candy.

The phenomenal, almost absurd success of Netflix’s Squid Game has taught us many lessons about content marketing. Effectively utilizing social media platforms like TikTok is not enough – creating custom, gamified content across the webspace is essential for your product to stand apart from others. The most successful marketing campaigns of recent years contained some form of gamified content – Starbucks’ Rewards Program is perhaps the best example. Even Google had to give in to the lure of gaming-centric content marketing in Chrome every time it showed you that a website was down. Creating your branded game creates a fun and engaging way for users to interact with your product and creates better word-of-mouth marketing for your brand. 

The question has shifted from if to when is gaming-based content marketing taking over the world – are you all in?Some of the most important ones are:

  • Increased User Engagement:

The biggest and most immediate effect of gamification in content marketing is better user engagement. Games have a universal appeal, and using their principles in your marketing material lessens the chances of banner blindness – a situation where users idly scroll through banner-style marketing content. In addition, gaming-based marketing is interactive, which makes users engage with the material and participate more.

  • Better User Retention:

Gamification in your content marketing campaign rewards users when they complete milestones, or at times even for participating. This instant gratification converts users into customers. Rewards are also seen as a thank-you gesture from your business to your customers, making them stick to your product for longer terms.

  • Improved Brand Awareness and Loyalty:

Branded games not only create awareness for your brand, the overall transcendence of games beyond certain age groups makes the reach much more comprehensive. In addition, well-rounded gamification campaigns deliver your messages to a larger audience – an essential first step towards building brand loyalty.

  • Better Customer Relationship:

Better user engagement and retention improve customer relationships when you use gamification in your content marketing. Your marketing campaign incorporates badges, leaderboards, reward points, and loyalty bonuses to create a sense of bonding between your customer and your product. The more they use certain features, the more milestones they cross and the more rewards they unlock. This cycle ensures long-term relationships are created and maintained.

  • Useful Data Gathering and Customization:

Gaming content is relevant, accessible, engaging, and shareable. Leveraging games in your marketing campaign can significantly increase user participation and make data gathering about their interaction patterns much easier. User data collected can be used to customize your product further to suit your user base.

Some Examples of Content Marketing Gamification:

Many of the world’s most successful and unique marketing campaigns have included gaming principles to differentiate them from their competition. Some of them include:

  • American fast-casual restaurant chain Chipotle released a memory-based game, “A Love Story”, in 2016. Intended to be a follow-up after their animated short film of the same name, this game was immensely popular. Not only this, Chipotle also rewarded participants with an online-only buy-one-get-one-free entree offer that players could cash in at any Chipotle outlet in the U.S. or Canada.
  • In 2010, M&M’s Eye-Spy Pretzel game, released on Facebook, gathered 25,000+ likes, 6,000 shares and 10,000 comments. This low-cost, gamified content marketing campaign was created in tandem with the release of their pretzel-flavored candy.

The phenomenal, almost absurd success of Netflix’s Squid Game has taught us many lessons about content marketing. Effectively utilizing social media platforms like TikTok is not enough – creating custom, gamified content across the webspace is essential for your product to stand apart from others. The most successful marketing campaigns of recent years contained some form of gamified content – Starbucks’ Rewards Program is perhaps the best example. Even Google had to give in to the lure of gaming-centric content marketing in Chrome every time it showed you that a website was down. Creating your branded game creates a fun and engaging way for users to interact with your product and creates better word-of-mouth marketing for your brand. 

The question has shifted from if to when is gaming-based content marketing taking over the world – are you all in?

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