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The multi-billion dollar gaming industry is fast-moving and requires brands to invest in developing technology to continue to attract a strong customer base.
Attracting new customers to gaming platforms can be challenging, and coming out with the most exciting new titles, software, and hardware is one way to grab attention in a competitive market.
While attracting new customers is key to growth, customer retention is equally as important. This has given rise to a variety of techniques that gaming industry businesses use to keep their customers happy.
The gaming world has expanded significantly from the early days of arcades and Ataris. While most gaming is done as a leisure activity, there are also entire industries created from competition, gambling, and influencer gaming.
Because of this, platforms work across different fields to try and cater to all of their customers and attempt to fuse the high-quality gaming experiences they offer, with great customer services and additional extras.
Loyalty programs are one of the best ways for any business to retain customers. They are designed to reward customers who continue to trade with brands, with many offering different tiers of benefits depending on the actions customers take.
Many loyalty programs will offer a point system that can be redeemed for benefits, and this also serves to make customers think twice about going to a competitor as the points already accrued may then be wasted.
Loyalty schemes among the top gaming companies and betting operators can be a deciding factor for consumers when choosing platforms. It can also help smaller and newer brands compete in the betting market compared to regular established brands, with many offering competitive deals that allow people to enjoy discounts, cashback, and more.
Keeping a platform exciting and interesting for consumers can be challenging, but implementing systems that give customers something to work towards often helps.
Many sites that require customers to create an account also operate achievement-based systems. This lets customers keep up to date with their own activity stats and can include everything from spending brackets to time spent playing games, and leaderboards.
Bigger gaming brands can also carry out challenges that encourage real-life participation at brand stores, theme parks, and other locations. This works to include customers, offer prizes, and also create marketing opportunities that can reach a wider audience.
The innovative nature of the gaming industry is what drives it forward and embracing developing technologies has always been key to success.
When Jurassic Park was released in 1993, the idea of the touchscreen technology being used was mind-blowingly futuristic. These days, the vast majority of consumers have touchscreen mobile devices and it has become part and parcel of modern devices.
Likewise, the gaming industry continues to implement emerging tech to improve the gaming experience with augmented reality and virtual reality moving from novelty status to genuinely improving gameplay.
Mobile gaming has been facilitated by improving mobile tech and better connectivity. Consumers are now able to access their favorite games and betting apps no matter where they are.
The gambling industry has embraced the gamification of certain betting markets and has not been immune to change. Crypto gambling sites have increased in popularity along with cryptocurrencies, and have borne new trends like crash games.
Social media has been great for the gaming community, and brands that have embraced it have benefited from a free marketing platform. Dedicated groups and communities have sprung up around games and brands, and social media gaming influencers have been able to make a comfortable living by reviewing and streaming games on platforms like Twitch and Discord, as well as using other more traditional social media platforms.
AR games like Pokemon Go also spawned unique opportunities for players to meet up in real life to play. The unprecedented success saw over 232 million players in the first year of its launch, with a market for other AR games springing up in its wake.
Creating strong communities for games, consoles, and brands can encourage users to stay and feel a part of something, rather than just being another faceless consumer that pumps dollars into already rich companies.
The U.S. gaming market is estimated to be worth more than $57 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to around $90 billion by 2029. As with any market of this volume, competition is tough, and being able to encourage consumers to stay with a specific brand can be difficult.
Customer retention is extremely valuable to all types of business and the gaming industry is no different. By implementing some of the measures mentioned above, gaming companies put themselves in a much better position at being able to do so.
Of course, trends will come and go and the ability to release exciting new titles will also play a significant part in consumer behaviors.
