Games: Number of players drops in Brazil, says survey – 04/04/2023 – Tech

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The number of people who play games has dropped in Brazil in the last year. According to data from the Game Brasil Survey, published last Wednesday (29), 70.1% of Brazilians claim to have the habit of playing electronic games, a drop of 4.4 percentage points in relation to last year’s survey.

The survey also showed a decrease of 2.3 percentage points in the number of people who put video games among their main forms of entertainment, from 84.4% in 2022 to 82.1% this year. The number of respondents who point to electronic games as their main form of entertainment fluctuated negatively from 76.5% to 75.3%.

National data follow a trend also observed in other countries. In its annual report on the global gaming market, released on the 15th, the consultancy Newzoo identified an average drop of 20% in the time people spend playing video games in the last year.

Experts attribute these numbers to the easing of restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. With more entertainment options available, people are getting out more and reducing the time they spend in front of screens.

In Brazil, the fall seems to have affected women in particular. According to the latest editions of Pesquisa Game Brasil, they were the majority among the public that consumes digital games in the country. In this latest survey, men were the majority again, with 53.8% of players identifying themselves as male.

For Guilherme Camargo, professor at ESPM’s postgraduate course and partner of the Sioux Group, one of the consultancies responsible for the survey, the change is related to an increase in the number of great games released for cell phones.

“It also brought greater involvement in the competitive scene, attracting ‘hardcore gamers’, who are mostly men, to smartphones, which was predominantly female territory,” he said.

Smartphones, by the way, remain the preferred way for Brazilians to consume games. The platform expanded its leadership this year and is identified by 51.7% as the ideal place to consume virtual games. Consoles and PCs are technically tied in second place with 20.5% and 19.4%, respectively, while 8.4% say they prefer other equipment (SmartTV, Smartwatch, minigames, etc.) to play.

Mobile devices are also the platforms where gamers are most engaged. According to the survey, 30.5% of respondents say they play every day on their cell phones, much more than video games (12.2%) and computers (14.1%).

“The smartphone gained relevance in 2016 […]. This growth brought new audience perspectives that could, from then on, access and consume electronic games”, says Carlos Silva, partner at Go Gamers.

The survey was conducted by the Sioux Group and Go Gamers in partnership with Blend New Research and ESPM. The numbers are based on 14,825 interviews conducted over the internet between January 27th and February 2nd, in 26 states and the Federal District. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.

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play

game tip, new or old, for you to test

stacklands

(PRAÇA)

Developed by the Sokpop collective, “Stacklands” is a minimalist city builder. In the game, each resource, villager, and building is represented by a card. To advance, the player needs to discover creative ways to combine them to form new constructions and unlock secrets. Although it’s a simple game, it makes an innovative mix of genres, demonstrating all the creativity of its creators.

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update

news, launches, business and what matters most

• E3 2023 was canceled by the ESA, an association that represents the main US game companies, and by Reedpop, responsible for organizing the event. Considered the main fair for virtual games in the world for years, E3 was going through a crisis. The event was not held last year and several companies announced that they would not be present this year.

• Last week, Ubisoft, after saying it would participate in E3, changed its mind and gave up setting up a booth at the event. Sega, Tencent and Devolver Digital also said they would not be attending the fair, scheduled for June 13-16 in Los Angeles. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony had already announced their absence from E3 2023.

• Nintendo released a video with new mechanics for the game “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”. From the images, the game will reward the creativity of the players to solve problems in the continuation of “Breath of the Wild”.

• Sports Minister Ana Moser said in a Senate hearing that the federal government will form an inter-ministerial working group to define which area will be responsible for policies aimed at esports. culture, if it’s science and technology, if it’s tourism”.

• Eleven members of the US Congress pressured the Biden government to combat Japan’s protectionist practices in the video game console market, said the Axios website on the 27th. Xbox) to compete with Sony’s PlayStation consoles in the local market.

• A day later, Japan’s competition regulator released a note in which it said it would not oppose Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to the statement, “the deal is unlikely to result in a substantial decrease in competition in any area.”

• Fighting game “MultiVersus”, which brings together characters from Warner Bros., DC, Cartoon Network and HBO, will go offline on June 25 in preparation for an official release in 2024. The title had been made available in open beta in July 2022 with great success. According to the developers, all purchases made so far in the game can be recovered at the official launch.

• Take-Two has purchased mobile subscription gaming service GameClub. The value of the deal was not disclosed. This is the publisher’s second investment in mobile games after acquiring Zynga in early 2022.

• Electronic Arts has announced that it will lay off approximately 6% of its employees as part of a restructuring plan. According to the Gamesindustry.biz website, this percentage would represent around 770 employees. EA said the layoffs will help realign its efforts to areas with greater opportunity for growth.

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download

games that will be released in the next few days and promotions that are worthwhile

April 4

“Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition”: BRL 214.90 (PS VR2)

“GrimGrimoire OnceMore”: R$ 259.99 (Switch), price not available (PS 4/5)

“Hogwarts Legacy”: R$ 249.99 (PS 4, Xbox One)

“Meet Your Maker”: BRL 98.99 (PC), BRL 119.95 (Xbox One/X/S), price not available* (PS 4/5)

“Road 96: Mile 0”: R$75 (Switch), price not available (PC, PS 4/5, Xbox One/X/S)

April 6

“Batora: Lost Haven”: price not available (Switch)

“Curse of the Sea Rats”: R$ 53.99 (Switch), R$ 104.90 (PS 4/5), price not available (PC, Xbox One/X/S)

“Everspace 2”: BRL 139.99 (PC)

“Pupperazzi”: BRL 78 (Switch)

Apr 7

“EA Sports PGA Tour”: R$299 (PC), R$339 (PS 5, Xbox X/S)

*Available for free to PlayStation Plus subscribers.