“The most obvious reason for the increase in time spent [on games] is an exceptional circumstance caused by a coronavirus ” Jani Kinnunen, researcher at the University of Tampere.
However, the growing popularity of the hobby is not necessarily reflected in the income of game developers. The amount of money spent on digital games per capita has actually fallen by 50 cents to € 10.5 a month.
“People have played games that they have acquired in the past and have not been more willing to pay for the increasingly popular micro-events in digital games,” Kinnunen said.
As part of the activities of the Center of Excellence in Game Culture Research, funded by the Academy of Finland, the study also showed that games are at least a small part of the lives of practically all Finns. More than 98 percent of the 914 10-75 year olds surveyed said they play games, whether analog or digital, at least sometimes.
Nearly four-fifths (79%) of respondents reported playing digital games at least occasionally, an increase of 2.5 percentage points from the previous iteration of the survey. Respondents who play digital games at least once a month have increased by about three percentage points to nearly 64 percent from 2018, respectively.
The popularity of digital games was estimated to have increased, especially in the 10-19 age group and among the 30-40 age group.
The lack of leisure activities outside the home has apparently also led to an increase in analogue games for parents and children: time spent on board, card and social games has clearly increased since 2018.
The popularity of mobile games has continued to grow to the extent that they are currently more popular than console or computer games in Finland. Nearly 59 percent of respondents said they play mobile games at least occasionally and nearly 43 percent say they play them actively.
Responses were collected in May-June 2020.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page