9th release Brazil Game Review (PGB)the consolidated annual survey of the consumption of electronic games in the country, shows that about 3 out of 4 Brazilians play electronic games. This is an increase of 2.5 percentage points from the previous year, reaching the highest historical mark, with 74.5% of the Brazilian population saying they play games in 2022.
The attraction of the Brazilian public to electronic games seems to be even stronger if we note that for 76.5% of gamers, electronic games are the main form of entertainment. This number shows a progressive growth: in 2020 it was 57.1%, and in 2021 it is 68%, for a total of 8.5 percentage points in this 9th edition.
OUR PGB developed by Sioux Group and Go Gamers in collaboration with Blend New Research and ESPM. In 2022, 13,051 people in 26 states and a federal district took part in the study between February 11 and March 7. “Electronic games are becoming increasingly important in the lives of Brazilians, regardless of gender, age or even social status, as one of the most relevant entertainment platforms,” says Guilherme Camargo, partner at the Sioux Group and postgraduate professor at ESPM.
Habit for different population profiles
As in previous editions of the survey, PGB 2022 shows that women make up the majority of the electronic gaming audience in Brazil. In this 9th edition, they represent 51% of Brazilians who play games. “This dominance is due to smartphones, a platform with a large number of players in Brazil and an even larger female audience (60.4%), as well as the general characteristics of the Brazilian population,” adds Camargo.
In terms of the ethnicity of gamers, the 9th edition of the survey shows that the largest portion of the gamer audience identifies as brown or black (49.4% in total), followed by people who identify themselves as white (46.6%). In terms of player age, people between the ages of 20 and 24 make up the majority of this audience in Brazil, at 25.5%. Subsequently PGB 2022 shows that the habit of playing games is more common in adolescents aged 16-19 (17.7%) and in people aged 25-29 (13.6%).
“However, the survey tells us that there is no age for playing electronic games, as the percentage difference between the most different age groups is balanced. For example, people aged 30 to 34 make up 12.9% of gamers in Brazil, and people aged 35 to 39 make up 11.2% of the population,” adds GoGamers partner Carlos Silva.
Finally, in terms of social class, the majority of players belong to the middle class (B2, C1 and C2) – 62.7%. Upper middle class people (B1) make up 12.3% of the population, followed by class A at 13.5% and the base of the pyramid (classes D and E) at 11.6%. This data is consistent with the average family income of players in Brazil: the majority (29.1%) have an income between 2090.01 and 4180 reais, provided by people who earn up to 2090 reais (27.5%). The population with an income between R$4,180.01 and R$10,450 is 26.7%.
“Computers and game consoles are expensive by the standards of most Brazilians. However, smartphones are democratizing this habit, since there are more of them than the population of Brazil itself. Another aspect is that Brazilians always find a way around high prices by extending the lifespan of older generation consoles or devoting themselves to a few games,” says Silva.
The Video Game Audience: From Controller to Handheld Screen
The smartphone has already featured as the favorite platform of Brazilian gamers in previous editions of the study, and now it is even more isolated: 48.3% of the public’s preferences according to the study. PGB 2022 — growth by 6.7 p.p. Computers are in second place with 23.3% (in the sum of desktops and laptops), and home consoles are in third with 20%.
In addition to being favored by mobile phones, they are also the devices that gamers play the most on. According to the study, it is on small screens that the majority of the population (33.2%) plays games every day. On computers, those who play daily make up 15.3% of the country’s players, and on consoles – 11.8%. However, longer gaming sessions, such as one to three hours in a row, are more practiced on computers (37.9%) and consoles (34.8%). On mobile phones, this figure is 31.7%, and playing games for up to an hour is a habit for 33.7% of the smartphone audience.
Regardless of the platform, there is an increasingly common tradition among gamers in Brazil to play online. Few do not play online, sharing their experience with other players (6.7%), compared to 36.9% of the gaming audience who play online daily and 28.7% who play online three to six days a week.
Impact of the pandemic and purchasing power
One of the factors that may have contributed to the strengthening of the relationship between Brazilians and electronic games has been the social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the survey, 72.2% of Brazilian gamers said they played more during this period, and 57.9% booked more online gaming sessions with friends when they stayed at home.
Other evidence of the strengthening of Brazilians’ relationship with electronic games during this period relates to the consumer behavior of the gaming community. “This supports the idea that the period of social isolation has strengthened Brazilians’ relationship with electronic games, especially through the consumption of gaming media content in videos, streams and social networks,” says Mauro Berimbau of Go Gamers and professor at ESPM.
The purchase of electronic games also remained a common behavior among the public, with the majority (36%) claiming to have purchased up to three games in the past year. Among the public who prefer not to pay for games, 40.2% cite high values as the main reason.
And while 24.6% of gamers said they spent nothing on gaming hardware in the last year, there is still an almost correlated proportion (22.6%) who have invested at least R$499.99 in gamer products, and another significant (19.9%) who spent between 500 and 1250 reais on gaming equipment.
OUR PGB 2022 also extended its mapping to the financial behavior of players in Brazil and shows that 78.6% of this audience has a credit card. The community also invests, choosing mainly savings (36.3%) and fixed income (21.5%), while 28.2% of players do not invest. Cryptocurrencies are also a source of investment for a large proportion of Brazilian gamers (17%), and in this currency, Bitcoin easily dominates the population (79.2%).
Esports, NFT and Metaverso: in the news of these segments
According to the survey, due to the rapid increase in the knowledge of Brazilian players from year to year, esports is now known to 81.2% of gamers in Brazil. PGB 2022 — an increase of 32.8 percentage points compared to the 2021 edition.
“The consolidation of this type of game, however, does not mean that the novelties in the segment have ended, and PGB 2022 sought to bring out the Brazilian public’s awareness of some of the other new technologies and concepts that are permeating the gaming ecosystem,” says Silva.
One factor is accessibility features in games, which are used by almost a third of players in Brazil (29.5%) – even with a smaller number (21.3%) of Brazilian gamers who claim they have some sort of restriction limiting their gaming experience. NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are another novelty in this segment, and just over half of gamers in Brazil (50.8%) are still unaware of non-fungible items. Among those familiar with the concept, 32.1% have an NFT.
The metaverse concept seems to be more popular among players in Brazil as it is known to 63.8% of the community. Also, a significant proportion of gamers support activities related to the concept of the metaverse – 59.3% of the public like the idea of having social events within games, such as watching movies in the game, and 51.7% sympathize with the marks that appear in games.
Finally, another unprecedented data from PGB 2022 It’s about pets. According to the survey, 79.1% of the gaming public in Brazil claim to have any pets such as a dog, cat, and others. Go to the official website of Pesquisa Game Brasil to download the free version of the study.
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Source : Married Games
