According to a new report Generations in Play, developed by IGN Entertainment in collaboration with Kantar and the University of California, Berkeley, 62% of “highly engaged” video game players have stopped buying games at full price. The survey covered thousands of active gamers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
According to the report, 38% of millennials (people aged 30 to 44) and 42% of Generation Z (people aged 14 to 29) said they still buy games at full price. However, only 20% of Generation X (people aged 45 to 61) said they continue to purchase games at full price.
Experts attribute these changes to market oversaturation with content and the technical condition of new releases. Christopher Dring of The Games Business noted that players already have enough content, while games are often released with technical issues, reducing the desire to buy them on day one.
Different generations of players demonstrate fundamentally different approaches to discovering and selecting gaming content. While Generation X most often uses Google search to find new games, 85% of millennials prefer YouTube, and Generation Z favors social media platforms.
Genre preferences are also clearly divided. Older players tend to prefer single-player projects, while younger audiences choose multiplayer titles. Millennials are almost evenly split between the two options.
Motivation to return to games and use supporting resources also depends on age. Generation X and millennials are more likely to aim to fully complete games or achieve mastery, while Generation Z is more driven by new customization content and community interaction.
As a reminder, an analyst recently identified thousands of bots in ranked Dota 2 matches.