Do you know if your mobile gamers want to connect with other players? How important is it to them? What type of feature would be best for your gamers to socialize - Guild, Leaderboard, In-Game Chat, other?
Not every mobile game needs a social component to it. But, for the publishers who think there’s no place for social connection in their game, you might want to reconsider.
The pandemic increased most everyone's need to connect and interact with other people. Mobile gaming lends itself as the perfect platform for people to satisfy their need to connect and interact with each other.
With that in mind, we wanted to find out what genres and demographics seem to demand socialization with their mobile games and which seem to be able to live without it. Let’s get started.
We surveyed over 1800 mobile game users balanced to the US Census. Of those 1800 players, exactly 50% said their favorite game has a way to socialize and of those players, 30% said their socialization feature could be better.
Additionally, almost 13% of those surveyed said they wished their favorite game had a way to socialize so they could connect with others.
Let’s dive deeper into the data.
Immediately we see that at approximately 84% for each, all 3 of the following genres almost demand you have some sort of social connection associated with your game: Sports & Driving, RPG, and Shooter.
Of the three genres, 52% of RPG players say they either want their ability to socialize to be better or that their favorite game doesn’t give them that ability and they wish it did.
While every genre is likely to have some players who wish they could connect with others, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s make or break deal. Regardless of what your players say, it simply may not make sense for your game. That said, depending on your genre and specific game, you may still want to consider giving your players a way to connect with other players of your game in some way. It could increase engagement, iAPs, and LTV. You just need to ask them.
If your game has the capability for players to engage with one another, you'll probably want to shout that from the rooftops. The players who don’t want to get social don’t have too. But you can clearly see from the ‘Yes - I wouldn’t play it if it didn’t (have a way to socialize)’ answers that for many players across ALL genres, that if all things are equal between your game and other considerations, but your game doesn’t have a socialization component, you're at a clear disadvantage and user acquisition may be tougher for you.
Of course, not every game should have in-game chat. That said, what makes sense for one game may not make sense for another but your players may still be looking for some ability to connect and engage.
As you can see below, when it comes to the genre of games and the social features that gamers prefer, there isn’t any huge disparity from one genre to the next.
Where it does start to get a little interesting is when you look at the demographics of players and the types of social features they prefer. Below you can clearly see that for the most part, there’s a pretty strong correlation between age and the intimacy of connection. For example, the younger demographic seems to enjoy the ability of In-Game Chats and joining Guilds, but not so much for the older population.
As you can see in the above graph, the older population seem to prefer Leaderboards and Solo PvP. While these might be less intimate and personal ways to connect socially, they still offer players a way to connect with and engage with like minded people.
Do you know what age your gamers skew? If your gamers are older and you only offer in-game chat, you might want to think about including a Leaderboard or Solo PvP if it makes sense. Likewise, if you’re an RPG publisher and your gamers are young but you only offer Team PVP or Co-op Mode, you might want to consider giving your players an opportunity to form Guilds.
PRO TIP: If you’ve noticed your gamers aren’t as engaged as they should be and your churn rate is higher than the industry benchmark for your genre and type of game, using a tool like Player Insights could be very helpful. In this scenario, maybe your socialization feature isn’t exactly what your players want or maybe it’s lacking something. By simply asking your players, you can get ahead of the issue before it becomes a much bigger problem.
Deeper research into your game will be helpful, but you can see how better understanding which socialization features appeal to what age groups can be hugely beneficial. Let your older prospects know your game has Leaderboards and fun Solo PvP by including it in your messaging and creative.
Let those Gen-Z’ers know your game has In-Game Chat and Guilds.
Analytics and in-game tracking can only tell you what is happening. But it’s the answers to the ‘why’ questions that will help you make more strategic decisions about how to reduce churn, boost engagement, and increase LTV.
If you’re interested in learning more about what the ‘why’ your players do what they do, we have some exciting mobile solutions that top game companies like PeopleFun, PocketGems, Supersonic, IMVU and more are using to learn, iterate and grow engagement and LTV of their games. Read about their success stories here.
If you would like to learn more about how TapResearch can help your marketing & user acquisition team acquire more users, and help your product team optimize gameplay to better engage and retain those users then Click here to connect with a TapResearch professional or create your Free Account here to get started right away.