As we continue to move forward in gaming, there are a number of people that have found themselves shifting over to social media for their free time. We know this based on all the conversations we've had in 2022, and here is some of the data. This is "some of the data" because it didn't turn into a thing until it because a cool idea to turn it into a thing.
So there were a small number of people who said they game at least 5 hours or more in a day, but with work and life it might make you assume that that's why the number is so low... until you look at the social media usage. I'm going to hold off on the reason why some give, and it's something I've mentioned years ago, but that's a crap load of time to spend on social media... so it's not just about someone being too busy to game.
Does this mean that gamers are just walking away from the controller, keyboard + mouse, cellphones, and VR headsets? No, nearly 40% of gamers we spoke to logged between 2 to 4 hours of gaming. Single-player games got 30% of that quality time, while multiplayer games got 70% of that quality time. This is time usually logged before bed, and some would even log 5+ hours if they lose track of time on their day off, but... it wasn't consistent enough to log.
Gamers who logged the least amount of time were at 11% for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. This is to enjoy something in between a tight schedule and also to let off steam. This was also a suggestion from us to those busy professionals that barely have time to breathe. Not necessarily to play the games that require a deeper dive, but... the games that give you a full experience in a shorter amount of time like... Rocket League.
21% of these gamers gave about an equal amount of time to gaming and social media, which wasn't specific to doing both enough to take up a large amount of time in the day, or... to barely crack 30 minutes to an hour. They just couldn't give a figure and said it's probably 50/50 because of the times they're on social media and the time they have to game are about the same.
Now on to 5+ hours of social media, in which the women beat out the men a little more here, but not by much. I think it was about 20 more women than men who spend more time on social media at 5+ hours. It even surprised some of the people who didn't realize that they were on social media as much, and we didn't include the people who work as social media managers.
Interaction is the main reason why social media was the biggest draw of time, and I feel the same about multiplayer games. There are some awesome single-player experiences out there that get a lot of love, but... multiplayer games give people the interaction they crave in addition to gaming. It's like going to a playground as a kid, you don't go to a playground just to enjoy some solo gameplay, there are other kids there trying to fun it up before the streetlights come on or before their parents tell them it's time to wrap it up.
One of the reasons why the Steam Deck (and even the Nintendo Switch) was suggested is because you can get out and go... while also getting your game on. I highly doubt Nintendo would implement known social media platforms, but... I assume Valve would (and should). I think that's the closest you can get to having the best of both worlds without gaming on mobile. Speaking of mobile, that's the reason why some gamers we spoke to... actually game on mobile more because they can just flip between them. Another conversation came about with quite a few people about how social media takes the edge off of being at a stressful job also... and I can understand that.
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