New research reveals one-third (33%) of committed gamers across seven global markets have already used a cloud gaming service, alongside 10% of casual gamers.
The study was conducted in June 2023 by market research Savanta and covers a representative sample of around 12,000 gamers – defined as anyone who plays electronic games on any device – across seven markets (Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, UK and the United States).
Netflix soft-launched gaming downloads through its mobile app in November 2021. A fifth (22%) of Savanta’s sample have already downloaded at least one game, and the majority (77%) would likely do so again. Nearly half (45%) of those who had not previously heard about Netflix games would use the current service.
“The failure of Google’s Stadia service suggests the committed gamer segment, one that obsesses over technical details like frame rates and data usage caps, is always going to be a tough one to crack,” said Shaun Austin, senior vice president media at Savanta. “Netflix is taking a very different strategy in following the likes of Facebook to target the casual market and positioning games as a value add, rather than a destination.”
Netflix’s cloud gaming proposition comes at a time when one in five say buying games is the first entertainment luxury they would forgo in the cost-of-living crisis – ahead of magazines and gaming subscriptions (15% each) and TV/film streaming subscriptions (12%).
While nearly 44% of ‘non-passionate’ gamers and 26% of passionate gamers weren’t aware of cloud gaming prior to taking the survey, the concept is appealing. Of those yet to try it, Spanish gamers are most open to doing so (44%), followed by the United States (36%) and the UK (30%).
