Study: 47% of gamers play on multiple platforms

Newzoo today released results from its Global Gamer Study, detailing play habits collected from online surveys of more than 74,000 people across 36 markets.

Some of the key takeaways involved multiplatform players. Of those polled, 79% of them were gaming enthusiasts, and 47% of that subset played on more than one platform (the poll considered PC, mobile, and console each to be a single platform).

Mobile was the most popular platform, with 60% of online respondents playing on phones or tablets. Console and PC audiences were each about half that, with 33% of people playing on PC and 32% playing on console.

15% of respondents played games across all three formats. Newzoo also released a Venn diagram showing the overlap of each group.

Women were slightly more common among single-platform players, representing 50% of that group compared to 49% for men.

However, men were more common to play across all three platforms, representing 64% of that cohort compared to 35% for women.

The study also emphasized the popularity of games for more than just playing. While 76% of the poll respondents played games, 54% had spent time watching gaming content in some other form.

The study also reinforced previous findings that gamers are more receptive to brands than their non-gaming counterparts.

Players were significantly more positive on brands than non-players in categories from sports brands to drinks, fast food, delivery services and sunglasses, with a gap of at least 13 percentage points in the number of respondents who had a very positive or positive view of brands in each category.

"The global gaming audience is more receptive, or at least accustomed to, branded content and media collaborations within games," Newzoo said. "This trend presents clear opportunities for companies to reach new audiences of actively engaged game enthusiasts."

Newzoo found similar results from a survey last year, as did a 2020 poll by Gameloft.