Gamers are spending billions in "emerging markets"

Game industry market research and analysis firm Newzoo has released new data showing burgeoning game markets in Brazil, Mexico and Russia. The data was collected by polling gamers local to each territory and shows parallels with more established sectors.

Mexico
Newzoo's reports claim that Mexico's 16 million active gamers' preferences and spending behaviour is highly comparable to that found in North America. 57 per cent of players spend money on games, a share higher than most western countries.

69 per cent of the total consumer spend in the region goes to console and PC or Mac games, equating to $825 million last year. Direct downloads, both on PC and console, are popular accounting for $155 million and $60 million of the total spend respectively.

60 per cent of gamers time is spent on online or mobile games and MMOG revenues from the region are expected to reach $115 million this year.

“Time and money spent on games in Mexico is much more in line with western countries than other so-called 'emerging' markets, such as Brazil and Russia," says Newzoo CEO and co-founder Peter Warman. "Together with the fast-rising internet penetration, Mexico will certainly show strong growth. Good news for the local Mexican games industry as well as Western and Asian companies seeking expansion."

Follow this link for a detailed infographic on Mexican gamers' behaviours.

Russia
Russia's emerging market, which totals 38 million players (a number higher than either the UK or Germany, and one split evenly between male and female gamers), sees consumer spend from more than half of those people.

Consoles take a back seat to PC games, which bring in $570 million, and MMOGs, which gross $270 million. Despite 75 per cent of PC and console players choosing to download free illegal copies, boxed revenues remain surprisingly high.

A whopping 48 per cent of Russian gamers' time is spent on social, mobile and casual games.

“Russia is a market different from any other Western or so-called “emerging” market such as Brazil," says Warman. "Although Russians share the passion for PC and MMO gaming with Germans, preferences and spending behaviour is different. With half of all gamers being female (49%), Russia also boasts a very successful casual market and industry. Russia might be the most game-crazy country of all.”

Follow this link for a detailed infographic on Russian gamers' behaviours.

Brazil
Free-to-play social, mobile and MMO games are propelling Brazil's gamers to an expected consumer spend of $2 billion in 2011. The majority of that revenue is spent online or through mobile devices, showing a markedly different market from Russia and Mexico.

MMOGs pull in around $320 million, while mobile payments account for $180 million.

It's not all online, though, and boxed console and PC games take 34 per cent of total spending. However, a considerable portion of that spend is directed towards second-hand sales and illegal copies, skewing the picture somewhat. Three quarters of console and PC gamers report that they go down one of these two routes for their games.

But despite the heavy used sales and piracy, Brazilians spend an identical amount on download games as they do on boxed PC and Mac games: $300 million each.

“In a way Brazil is leading Western countries when it comes to the popularity of new game platforms and business models," says Warman. "We should seriously reconsider calling Brazil an 'Emerging' games market.”

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/gamers-...erging-markets