If you didn’t already know I once had my own game company during the iPhone and appstore era, when it first started out. I researched the potential and was a bit early in creating games for a growing market I coined Busy Gamers. At the time of research the average age of gamers was 33 years old. People around age 38 bought most games and the emphasis was on casual gamers and woman at the time. What I wanted was to predict and stay ahead by slowly creating games for Busy Gamers with emphasis on cooperative games.
What are busy gamers? They are busy. They are 30+. They are in a relationship, married and have kids. They have limited time. They used to be hardcore gamers and are unsatisfied by games that take 100+ hours, with repetitive mechanic due to limited time but also experience in used game mechanics. Therefore they are increasingly interested in story but with great game mechanic, and some prefer slower paced games that are more tactical or strategic. Less twitch mechanic for some. These busy gamers would rather spend 20 dollars on 8-20 hours game than 60 dollars on 100+ hour game, because they know, by now they probably won’t finish past 20 hours.
Sounds familiar?
Today about 29% of gamers are below age of 35. Over 43% are over 35 years old. 20% are 36-49% and about 23% are in fact 50+ now. 67% of parents play with their kids once a week. 56% prefer multiplayer games.
Why is this important?
As stated earlier I recognized this trend 10+ years ago and now that I am nearing 35 years old I recognize I am a busy gamer myself now. I regularly converse with people around my age group, we talk about the type of games we want but cheaper and less hours. Although we struggle to find something that is still hardcore, complex, interesting, engaging, fun and all this within the budget and hours we have. We talk about the oversaturation of games and abundance of choice. In some cases we talk about our experience in playing games and how it affects our experience when we buy, play or put away a game. All this is important because it is still an untapped market.
Look around you
A lot of games have become multiplayer cooperative and it is increasing slowly. This is because it is also more profitable to keep players playing this way. You probably played a game that required some kind of cooperation against one other player, or against the AI. Think of dead by daylight, left 4 dead, evolved and many others that are popular today.
Start up
If I were to do another start up I would probably cater to age 35+ and create shorter deeper gaming experience for less price and shorter hours. Due to oversaturation and higher production value, it is also easier for someone new to develope those types of games, compare to an open world game, or even purely competitive multiplayer. It could even be a good strategy game. When I did it I was too early but it is the perfect time now.
So, if you are making a game for busy gamers remember their time is money, experience is value and they do want deep complex games…but in shorter time.
