Abstract
The game market has become one of the fastest growing industries of the digital age. The availability of internet access from anywhere, the diversification of game platforms, the increase in game options and the increase in application stores especially for mobile devices have accelerated this growth in the sector. The purpose of this study was to determine who the new consumers in the developing game industry are, their various demographics, characteristics and purchasing behaviors. Data which were collected by the survey method from 490 game players who participated in Gamescom, the world's largest game fair held in Cologne, Germany between 20-24 August 2019, were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test and one-way anova. As a result of the findings, it has been determined that majority of the participants were female, young adults and students. Almost half of the participants have more than 12 years of gaming experience, play games for an average of 3.76 hours a day and an average of 5.16 days per week, prefer to play at home and on their personal computers the most, majority were core gamers, and the favorite game category was action.
References
Ankara Development Agency (2015). Dijital oyun sektörü raporu, Ankara.
Bartle, R. (1996). Clubs, hearts, Clubs, diamonds, spades: Players who suit MUDs, The Journal of Virtual Environments, 1(1), 1-19.
Bonanno, P., & Kommers, P. A. (2005). Gender differences and styles in the use of digital games, Educational Psychology, 25(1), 13-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144341042000294877
Cole, H., & Griffiths, M. D. (2007). Social interactions in massively multiplayer online role-playing gamers, Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 10(4), 575-583. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.9988
Deloitte (2019). Hayat?m?z?n merkezindeki mobil teknolojiler, Deloitte Global Mobil Kullan?c? Anketi 2019: Türkiye Yönetici Özeti. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/tr/tr/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/TR-GMCS-2019.html (Accessed: 13.02.2021).
Electronic Arts (2019). About Gamescom 2019. Available at: https://www.ea.com/gamescom-2019 (Accessed: 14.10.2020).
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling, American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
Griffiths, M. D., Davies, M. N. O., & Chappell, D. (2003). Breaking the stereotype: The case of online gaming, Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 6(1), 81-91. https://doi.org/10.1089/109493103321167992
Griffiths, M. D., Davies, M. N. O., & Chappell, D. (2004a). Demographic factors and playing variables in online computer gaming, Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 7(4), 479-487. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2004.7.479
Griffiths, M. D., Davies, M. N. O., & Chappell, D. (2004b). Online computer gaming: A comparison of adolescent and adult gamers, Journal of Adolescence, 27, 87–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2003.10.007
Güvenli Web (2017). Dijital oyunlar raporu, Available at: https://www.guvenliweb.org.tr/dosya/82MsL.pdf (Accessed: 12.01.2021).
Hainey, T., Connolly, T., Stansfield, M., & Boyle, E. (2011). The differences in motivations of online game players and offline game players: A combined analysis of three studies at higher education level, Computers and Education, 57(1), 2197–2211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.06.001
Herodotou, C., Kambouri, M., & Winters, N. (2015). What characteristics of the gamers’ profile should be taken into account in player centered game design? in Workshop Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Intelligent Environments, 2015, 289-297. https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-530-2-289
Hsiao, K. L., & Chen, C. C. (2016). What drives in-app purchase intention for mobile games? An examination of perceived values and loyalty, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 16, 18–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2016.01.001
Karahisar, T. (2013). Türkiye’de dijital oyun sektörünün durumu, in 1. International Art Symposium Proceedings Book, 21-23 November 2013, 107-113.
Lee, H. M., Zhang, P., & Mehta, M. R. (2020). Effect of competitors’ ewom in the mobile game market, Journal of Computer Information Systems.
Lin, H. H., & Wang, Y. H., (2006). An examination of the determinants of customer loyalty in mobile commerce contexts. Information & Management, 43 (3), 271–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2005.08.001
Lipinski, A. V. J. Weber, H., Kölle, R., & Mandl, T. (2017). Gamification elements and their perception by different gamer types - A case study for a project management software, in Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium of Information Science (ISI 2017), 131-144.
PC Games Insider (2019). 373,000 people attended Gamescom 2019, Available at: https://www.pcgamesinsider.biz/news/69579/373000-people-attended-gamescom-2019
Pew Research Center (2018). Early benchmarks show ‘post-millennials’ on track to be most diverse, best-educated generation yet. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/11/15/early-benchmarks-show-post-millennials-on-track-to-be-most-diverse-best-educated-generation-yet/psdt-11-15-18_postmillennials-00-00/ (Accessed: 13.02.2021).
Poels, Y., Annema, J. H., Verstraete, M., Zaman, B., & Grooff, D. D. (2012). Are you a gamer? A qualitative study on the parameters for categorizing casual and hardcore gamers. Iadis International Journal on www/internet, 10 (1), 1-16.
Rafdinal, W., & Qisthi, A. (2020). In-game factors and technology acceptance factors in increasing intention to play online game, in Proceedings of Tourism Development Centre International Conference, Tourism Development Centre International Conference (TDCIC) October 2019, 281-296.
Rogers, A. (2012). Launching and marketing a mobile game: Strategy and consumer perceptions. (Unpublished thesis), Helsinki Metropolia University: Finland.
Romrell, D. (2014). Gender and gaming: A literature review, in annual meeting of the AECT International Convention, Hyatt Regency Orange County, Anaheim, CA, 22 November 2014, 170-182.
San-Martin, S., Jimenez, N., Camarero, C., & San-José, R. (2020). The path between personality, self-efficacy, and shopping regarding games apps, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 15(2), 59-75. https://doi.org/10.4067/s0718-1876202000020010
Scharkow, M., Festl, R., Vogelgesang, J., & Quandt, T. (2015). Beyond the ‘‘core-gamer’’: Genre preferences and Gratifications in Computer Games. Computers in Human Behavior, 44, 293–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.11.020
Schuurman, D., De Moor, K., De Marez, L., & Van Looy, J. (2008). Fanboys, competers, escapists and time-killers: A typology based on gamers’ motivations for playing video games, in Proceedings of The 3rd International Conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts. Athens, Greece: ACM, 46–50.
Statista (2020a). Mobile games revenue worldwide from 2019 to 2023. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/536433/mobile-games-revenue-worldwide/ (Accessed: 14.10.2020).
Statista (2020b). Video game console sales worldwide for products total lifespan as of September 2020. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/268966/total-number-of-game-consoles-sold-worldwide-by-console-type/ (Accessed: 13.01.2021).
Statista (2020c). Mobile gaming- statistics & facts. Available at: https://www.statista.com/topics/1906/mobile-gaming/#dossierSummary__chapter1 (Accessed: 14.10.2020).
Statista (2020d). The most important gaming platforms in 2019. Available at: https://www.statista.com/chart/4527/game-developers-platform-preferences/ (Accessed: 15.02.2021).
Terlutter, R., & Capella, M. L. (2013). The gamification of advertising: Analysis and research directions of in-game advertising, advergames, and advertising in social network games, Journal of Advertising, 42(2–3), 95–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2013.774610
Venkatesh, V., Thong, J., & Xu, X. (2012). Consumer acceptance and use of information technology: Extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. MIS Quarterly, 36(1), 157–178. https://doi.org/10.2307/41410412
VGChartz (2020). Platform totals. Available at: https://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/ (Accessed: 13.01.2021).
Williams, D., Yee, N., & Caplan, S. E. (2008). Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical gamer profile, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 993–1018. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2008.00428.x
Yalç?n Irmak, A., & Erdo?an, S. (2016). Ergen ve genç eri?kinlerde dijital oyun ba??ml?l???: Güncel bir bak??, Türk Psikiyatri Dergisi, 27(2), 128-37. https://doi.org/10.5080/u13407
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2021 Erkan BÄ°L, Hande KANDUR, Senem ERGAN