Video games continue to resonate among U.S. consumers. New research from Parks Associates finds 75% of domestic broadband households play video games for at least one hour per week, and 36% subscribe to or are trialing at least one free or paid gaming service. The Dallas-based firm forecasts the U.S. cloud-based gaming reaching $3.6 billion in 2024.
“While nearly two-thirds of households are not yet engaged with any gaming services, cloud gaming can become a staple within the subscription entertainment options available to consumers,” senior analyst Paul Erickson said in a statement.
Subscribe HERE to the FREE Media Play News Daily Newsletter!
Erickson said Netflix’s entry into online video games up attention on the budding market and broadens the potential consumer base.
Parks also found that 91% of console gamers play games on at least one other platform, with 37% playing on a PC, mobile device, and a connected TV device (either a smart TV or streaming media player) in addition to their console.
“Console owners who also play on a mobile device and a PC or who play on every platform category make up half of all console gamers. Simply put, console gamers are multiplatform gamers,” Erickson said. “Subscription and cloud gaming services require a multiplatform approach so that providers can appeal to both dedicated gamers and the remaining market of casual or convenience gamers.”
The analyst contends the growing popularity of online gaming, driven in part by the pandemic, will have ripple effects throughout the connected home ecosystem, driving broadband upgrades, improvements in home networking and Wi-Fi management, and more subscription stacking.