Switzerland Tops Mobile Gamers Medal Table, Finds deltaDNA & Newzoo in World Games Study

SAN FRANCISCO, EDINBURGH, Scotland and AMSTERDAM, August 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

New deltaDNA and Newzoo Study Compares Player Performance Data From Thirty-two Million Mobile Games Players to Find Which Nation Comes out Top  

On the eve of the greatest show on earth, deep-data analytics and real-time player marketing platform deltaDNA and Newzoo, the world leader in mobile market intelligence, have released a new study outlining which mobile gaming nations have got what it takes to top the medal table.

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The study compares performance data from thirty-two million players across one hundred casual free-to-play mobile games, over a six-month period. Every nation has gone head-to-head across seven gaming disciplines, with the gold, silver and bronze medals being awarded to those nations that excel. So, under starters orders - let's get ready, set, go!

Round 1: Track 

For the track events we've awarded medals for Day One (D1) Retention and Day Thirty (D30) Retention, to find the nations with the best sprinters (D1) and endurance (D30) gamers. For D1 Retention, Austria and Argentina fought it out for the line on 49% and 48% respectively. Switzerland was a little way back on 46%; while Japan came trailing in last on 37%.

In the Endurance category, there was a strong loyal showing from Europe with the Czech Republic the clear leaders on 16%.  Spain (13%) and Austria (12%) fought hard to be the fastest losers. If you want long-term loyalty it is best to avoid Thailand as they came last with only 7%.

Round 2: Aggression 

So who plays hardest and fastest? We chose to measure the number of raw events per minute to find out the most hostile players in the world. In this challenge, South Africa won by a long way. South Africans averaged 8,300 raw events per minute; destroying second place Brazil on 5,600 and third placed Russia on 4,100. Belgium came last with a nonchalant 500 raw events per minute.

Round 3: Strategy 

Raw aggression isn't the same as progress though. We measured strategic ability by counting the number of missions completed per session. The gold medal in this round went to Denmark on 15 missions per session, silver goes to Chile on 12 and Spain gets the bronze on 11. Our least strategic players come from Vietnam who averaged only 5 completed missions per session.

Round 4: Spenders 

With the use of performance enhancements dominating the news, we've got two gold medals up for grabs in this category, which include the countries that are most likely to spend at all (Payer Share) and which countries spend the most (Average Revenue per Daily Active User - ARPDAU).

Our Payer Share medals went to Australia (5%), Switzerland (4.8%) and the UK (4.6%) while our Big Spenders medals saw Switzerland and Australia swap places with Switzerland ($0.18), Australia, ($0.14) and in third place came the USA ($0.11). Thailand had the lowest payer fraction of 0.6% and Argentina the lowest ARPDAU at $0.02.

Round 5: Size 

Payer fractions and average spend are interesting, but sometimes size matters, so keeping with our financial theme, we looked at the nations with the greatest mobile revenues in 2016. China won the gold medal here with $10.1bn. USA got the silver medal with $6.8bn and Japan was a close run third with $6.5bn.

Round 6: Potential 

Who do we think are going to be the winners in four years' time? Based on the forecast Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for mobile game revenues from 2016-19, we expect to see world games domination from India 39.1%, Indonesia on 38.9% and the Philippines on 36.5%.

Bonus Round: Best kit 

We've seen some sports dominated by technology, like cycling and swimming. So who has the best phones? We looked at the % of players on the latest operating systems, and the winners were Germany (41%), Taiwan (38%) and Denmark (37%). But not every country has the latest kit, note that Brazil came last with only 7% adoption.  

All figures quoted represent the 75th percentile performance.

Mark Robinson CEO of deltaDNA, said: "While our study is primarily fun, it does illustrate the wide variation in national playing characteristics. These figures are national averages which means the disparity between playing styles of individual players is much greater. It's essential for games to understand and segment players by their playing style and provide them with personalized experiences that support their gameplay characteristics, or they could run the real risk of losing players early which is a particular tragedy in free to play games."

Peter Warman CEO of Newzoo, added: "It's vital that game developers understand the cultural differences between nations. The choices they make about testing games and focusing precious resources on player marketing and acquisition can often be the difference between a hit or a miss. While these figures represent a snapshot taken over the six months, we see noticeable changes over time and it is important to keep abreast of these trends."

For additional information, images or interviews please contact:

Steve Green
GiantPR
+44 (0) 7775 677035
[email protected]
http://www.giantpr.co.uk

About deltaDNA
DeltaDNA improves player engagement and lifetime values in games.  Its technology solution uses advanced data mining and predictive modelling to identify and segment different player behaviors.  Through this insight, players can be targeted with real-time personalized in-game messages offering tailored experiences that increase retention and revenues.

About Newzoo
Newzoo is a worldwide leader in global games, esports, and mobile intelligence with offices in Amsterdam, San Francisco and Shanghai and partner offices in six other cities across the globe. Newzoo provides its clients with a mix of market trends, big data analytics, financial analysis, revenue projections, consumer insights, data modelling, and forecasting solutions across all continents, screens, and business models. It is proud to work for the majority of global entertainment, hardware, and media companies, along with many independent developers and leading consumer brands.

SOURCE deltaDNA