Video games have become a dominant form of entertainment for several generations of consumers. Through the strength of technology innovation, human creativity, and fandom, beloved and new video game properties are spawning franchises and transmedia experiences from theme park rides to movies and shows like Fallout. The result is new audiences, new players, and opportunities for new growth.
On the Monday before Halloween, Stanley Pierre-Louis, President and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, and Laura Naviaux Sturr, GM Operations at Amazon Games, kicked off the 2024 GamesBeat NEXT conference in San Francisco with the fireside chat “Finding New Growth Vectors: Extending IP to Reach New Audiences.”
Of the many points they discussed, some of the highlights included:
Beloved IPs are Crossing between Games and Other Mediums
“You have Secret Level, which is debuting in December, that we’re super excited about with New World's integration and many other publishers as well. And then Fallout… the second most watched original Prime show on Prime Video with 65 million viewers worldwide, which I think speaks to the power of the fandom in our industry and what transmedia's potential looks like.” —Laura Naviaux Sturr, GM operations at Amazon Games
People are Gamers Throughout Their Lives
“We also have been following stats about who plays games in every segment and who the average video game player is. Back ten years ago, that player was around 33 years old, now they’re 36. People are lifelong gamers. They're continuing either with new games or old games with friends.”—Stanley Pierre-Louis, President and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association
Players Want Options That Fit Them
“It's not a one size fits all anymore. As humans we like to put things in buckets, so we talked about AAA, we talked about AA, we talked about casual. It’s now so much more nuanced than that.
I look at things that we're doing in Prime Video at the NFL broadcast, and it's really fun. If you're an NFL fan, a lot of it is very intentional and premeditated, with thinking about how do we bring in Gen Alpha and Gen Z and really cater to five generations of viewers. You can watch the stream that is just ambient sound, like you're in the stadium or in X-Ray Vision, or all the AWS powered stats. I think that is a mental model that very much applies to video games when we're looking for new growth.”—Laura Naviaux Sturr, GM operations at Amazon Games
Players Are Everyone Young and Old
“When we talk to consumers and players, a lot of people don't realize that the AARP actually puts out studies on video gamers as well. They have games on their website and those pages are their most popular.
And so, people are coming to games even later in life and enjoying it, not just because of what it does for your brain, but also the social connection and intergenerational play.
So, when you talk about five generations of gamers, it's interesting because they span from two to 92... Maybe 10 to 92.”—Stanley Pierre-Louis, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association
In the end, both speakers wholeheartedly agreed that video games are very much leading the creative future of entertainment, and for the industry to thrive it will need to embrace the notion that the “gamer” audience, once seen as a niche group, now includes just about everyone.
