Weekly Gaming Reports Recap: May 13 - May 18 (2024)
The Serbian gaming industry doubled its workforce in 2023; Fallout 4 is crushing April charts in the UK & EU; Sony is winning this generation with PlayStation 5.
Reports of the week:
IGDA: Developer Satisfaction Survey 2023
GSD & GfK: Fallout 4 became the best-selling PC/Console game of April in the UK
Games & Numbers (01.05.24 - 14.05.24)
SGA: The Serbian gaming industry doubled its workforce in 2023
GSD & GfK: PC/Console game sales in Europe dropped in April 2024
Mistplay: Spending habits of Mobile Gamers in South Korea in 2024
Daniel Ahmad: Sony shipped 5 times more consoles to stores in Q1'24 than Microsoft did with the Xbox Series S|X
IGDA: Developer Satisfaction Survey 2023
The research was conducted from May 17th to October 20th, 2023. 777 people participated in it.
Demographics
Most of respondents (68%) are between the ages of 28 and 47.
Among the respondents, 63% are male, 31% are female, and the remaining 8% identify as non-binary individuals.
63% are married or in a relationship; 34% are single; 2% are divorced. 1% is missed somewhere. 27% of respondents have children.
IGDA notes that the sample had more white people and did not have enough representation of Latin Americans, African Americans, and Asian people.
47% of respondents work in the USA; 11% - in Canada; 7% - in Finland; 6% - in Germany; 5% in the UK.
44% have mental or physical disabilities. 24% indicate they have neurodiversity; 15% report having mental illnesses.
Equality, Inclusion, and Diversity at Work
85% of respondents believe that equality, diversity, and inclusion are important in the workplace, in games, and in the gaming industry overall (87%).
58% of respondents believe that the gaming industry has become more inclusive and diverse in the past 2 years.
However, 28% note that their companies lack EDI programs. 30% don't know.
72% of respondents note that their companies have policies against gender discrimination. 61% note that companies adhere to inclusive hiring policies. 62% say that companies have programs against sexual harassment.
However, only 43% of respondents believe that all these policies actually work and are correctly implemented.
67% of respondents believe that there is discrimination in the gaming industry.
However, 54% of respondents have never personally experienced discrimination; 39% have never experienced it themselves and have not seen such examples in the market.
Employment
Only 4.8% of respondents noted that they are actively seeking employment. 52% were laid off; 15% voluntarily left their companies; 11% left because their contract ended; 11% were fired; 11% are self-employed without a current contract.
30% of unemployed people have been looking for work for over a year. 22% cannot find work for 3 to 6 months. Almost all (93%) are looking for work in the gaming industry.
49% of employees work 40-44 hours per week. 35% work from 20 to 39 hours. However, self-employed individuals work overtime more often.
28% of employees note that they experience crunch; 25% reported that their work includes periods of long hours of overtime.
During crunches, 59% of specialists worked more than 50 hours per week. 10% had extreme overtime of 80+ hours per week.
Relationships with Employers
67% have good or excellent relationships with management. 23% described relationships as normal, and only 10% - as bad.
13% of respondents are members of a union. The percentage is higher than in 2021 (12%) and 2019 (6%). Most employees have a positive attitude towards unions.
73% of full-time employees earn over $50,000 a year. However, 22% earn over $150,000 a year. Freelancers earn less on average; and self-employed individuals either earn very little (30% - less than $15,000 a year) or a lot (21% - over $150,000 a year).
80% of full-time employees note that their companies have salary increase programs.
32% of employees do not receive any overtime compensation.
GSD & GfK: Fallout 4 became the best-selling PC/Console game of April in the UK
Analytical platforms report only the actual sales figures obtained directly from partners. The mobile segment is not taken into account.
Game sales
2.23 million games were sold in April 2024 in the UK. This is 7% less than the previous year. We should note, that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Dead Island 2 were released in April 2023, and they make the difference.
Fallout 4, amidst the success of the series, became the best-selling game in the UK. Fallout: New Vegas entered at 8th place; Fallout 76 - at 9th; Fallout 3 - at 11th.
Stellar Blade debuted at 12th place on the chart. The game is available exclusively on PlayStation 5.
EA Sports FC 24 (2nd place) and Helldivers II (3rd place) traditionally sell well.
Console sales
In April, 71 thousand consoles were purchased in the UK. The number of systems sold plummeted by 39% YoY.
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X sales decline is approximately the same (-25% YoY); Nintendo Switch fell by 38%.
❗️Here, presumably, GfK refers to a decline in sales in dollar terms.
530k accessories were sold in April - it’s 28% less than the previous month; but 7% more than in April of the previous year. DualSense is the sales leader.
Games & Numbers (01.05.24 - 14.05.24)
PC/console games
Helldivers II sold 12 million copies in 12 weeks, surpassing the previous record holder, God of War: Ragnarok (11 million copies in 3 months).
Hades II topped the chart of paid game sales on Steam from May 7th to May 14th. The peak online player count reached 103.5k. The first part's record was 37.7k. VG Insights estimates that the game has already been purchased 831 thousand times.
7 million people played Dead Island 2 over the year. These are not sales, as the game appeared on Game Pass in February. 2 million copies were bought in the first month.
Koei Tecmo reported that Rise of the Ronin's sales exceeded each of the two Nioh parts in the first month (the first part sold only 3 million copies; the second - 2 million).
Just two days after the release, Gray Zone Warfare sold 400 thousand copies.
Little Kitty, Big City, a game about a kitten's adventures in the city, was bought 100 thousand times in 2 days. The game is also available on Game Pass.
The Polish team Donkey Crew announced that Bellwright sold 150 thousand copies in 12 days. The game was released in early access on Steam on April 23rd.
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Mobile games
Sensor Tower reports that Summoner’s War has earned over $3 billion in revenue in the 10 years since its release. 30.4% of this amount came from the USA, and 18.1% from Japan. The game ranks 6th in the list of highest-grossing RPGs over the past 2 years.
Uma Musume Pretty Derby has earned $2.4 billion in three years, according to Sensor Tower. 90% of the revenue came from Japan. 78% of the audience are men.
Squad Busters reached 30 million early registrations in 11 days. The company aimed to achieve this figure by the release on May 29th.
Over 100 million people played AFK Arena. Lilith Games shared this figure in celebration of the project's 5th anniversary.
Shift Up, the creators of Goddess of Victory: Nikke, revealed that the project generated $750 million in revenue over 1.5 years. 61% of this amount came from Japan, 17% from the USA, and 14% from South Korea.
SGA: The Serbian gaming industry doubled its workforce in 2023
The study covers 80% of association representatives. Financial indicators represent the status of the country's top 21 companies.
Overall figures
In 2023, the top 15 Serbian companies earned over €175 million in revenue (+17% YoY).
By the end of 2023, there were over 150 gaming companies and teams in the country.
Around 4300 gaming industry professionals reside in Serbia, with one-third of them being women. Moreover, half of the management in Serbian companies are female.
In 2023, Serbian companies released 30 projects, with 81 in development. PC remains the primary revenue platform.
Revenue
The main markets for Serbian companies are the USA, Europe, and the UK.
46% of Serbian companies earn 100% of their revenue abroad, with 16% having no revenue sources outside Serbia.
34% of the total revenue volume comes from PC projects, 32% from the mobile segment, and 28% from various services.
Business in Serbia
Most gaming studios are located in Belgrade (75) and Novi Sad (27).
57% are developers working on their IP, 11% are outsourcers, 7% are art outsourcers, and 6% develop their own technological solutions.
33% of companies represented in Serbia have branches abroad.
82% of Serbian teams consist of up to 20 people.
Games from Serbian companies
In 2023, Serbian studios released 6 mobile and 24 PC/console games. Action, adventure, and RPG are the three most popular genres.
41% of projects are distributed with the B2P model, while 59% are F2P, with different monetization focuses.
47% of games are made in Unity, 28% in Unreal Engine.
51% of projects are planned for release on PC, 43% on mobile devices, 23% on consoles, 11% on VR/AR, 8% on the web, and 2% on social networks.
17% of projects have a budget exceeding $1M, while 80% have less than $500 thousand.
Talents in Serbia
The number of gaming industry workers in Serbia increased by 98% to 4300 people in 2023, mostly from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, influenced by the relocation of Wargaming, Sperasoft, Playrix, and other big Eastern European companies.
Currently, 48% of all employed industry workers in Serbia are foreigners.
Most people in Serbia are involved in programming, art, and QA.
60% of companies plan to expand their staff in Serbia in 2024.
Ecosystem in Serbia
76% of respondents are optimistic about the future of the gaming industry in Serbia.
However, only 21% are satisfied with the government support measures in Serbia. Tax incentives (78%) and improving education (55%) are the most required.
GSD & GfK: PC/Console game sales in Europe dropped in April 2024
Analytical platforms report only actual sales figures obtained directly from partners. The mobile segment is also not taken into account.
Game sales
10.5 million games were sold in Europe in April of this year. This is 6.2% less than in April 2023.
Stellar Blade is the only new entry this month to make it into the top 10. The project debuted at number 9.
Fallout 4 became the best-selling game of the month. Earlier, it was reported that the game achieved similar success in the UK. More than half of all sales were attributed to the PC version.
Also in the top 10 were Fallout 76 (7th place) and Fallout: New Vegas (10th place). Fallout 3 took the 14th spot on the chart.
EA Sports FC 24 narrowly outsold Helldivers II. They hold the second and third spots on the chart, respectively.
Console sales
Data does not include the UK and Germany.
Console sales in European countries dropped by 47%. This is attributed to both the restoration of console availability in stores (there was a sales surge in April 2023 after a shortage) and the absence of major system sellers.
Accessory sales fell by 17% - slightly over 1 million different devices were sold in April 2024. DualSense was the top-selling accessory.
Mistplay: Spending habits of Mobile Gamers in South Korea in 2024
The study is based on a survey of more than 200 players aged over 18 from South Korea, as well as a previously published report on the payment habits of players from different countries.
Key Habits
South Korean users are twice as likely to spend in 6 or more games than North American users.
In 2024, 42% of Korean players plan to spend the same amount as last year. 36% want to reduce their spending; 6% - on the contrary - increase it.
66% of Korean players installed games via referrals (including word-of-mouth) over the past year.
Overall, South Korean players are less responsive to positive ratings, discounts, and offers when deciding to download a new game compared to North American users.
89% of the Korean audience participates in various loyalty programs. Only 14% of this volume is gaming-related.
How Korean Users Pay
The key motivation for spending among Koreans is the opportunity to progress further in the game (66% of respondents named this motivation). Also, 49% of users noted that they make in-app purchases just for their own personal enjoyment and satisfaction.
Only 14% of South Korean users are willing to pay for access to exclusive content. In North America, this figure is 37%. Additionally, South Korean players are not particularly motivated by ad removal (16% vs. 29% in North America) and the opportunity to support developers (7% vs. 18% in North America).
The main types of purchases in South Korea are in-game currency (50%), bundles (31%), extra lives or hints (27%). Loot boxes account for only 9%.
❗️This may be related to the regulation of loot boxes in the country. Developers are required to disclose item drop rates.
47% of Korean users note that they make a purchase in a game within the first 30 days. At the same time, 12% of Korean players are ready to make a purchase on the first day (in North America, this figure is only 5%).
The main trigger for making a purchase for South Korean users is reaching a point in the game where further progress slows down without payment.
49% of users from South Korea noted that they would pay more if they saw personalized offers. 40% showed interest in time-limited offers; 35% - in seasonal offers.
Mistplay notes that the social component has a significant impact on purchases in South Korea. Users compete to be at the top of leaderboards - this is part of the local gaming culture.
Korean users mostly learn about offers through push notifications (33%). For comparison, in North America, this figure is only 16%. In South Korea, notifications through social networks and text announcements are also not very popular. In-game announcements are also less popular.
Why Korean Users Play
The main motivation for South Korean users is the opportunity to relax (79%). They are also attracted by the opportunity to visit new worlds (29%) and try something new (25%).
Korean players surveyed are not very interested in the opportunity to express themselves (12%) or become the strongest (3%).
❗️However, above you can find out, that many Koreans do invest in reaching the top of leaderboards.
Daniel Ahmad: Sony shipped 5 times more consoles to stores in Q1'24 than Microsoft did with the Xbox Series S|X
The Director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners analysed Sony's latest report.
The share of digital sales on PlayStation platforms has reached 70%. It has doubled since 2017.
With the transition to PlayStation 5, Sony managed to break out of the loss cycle that preceded the launch of the new generation. The increase in digital sales positively impacts profitability, and subscriptions provide a stable cash flow.
As of the end of March 2024, PS5 has sold 59.2 million units. This is slightly less than the PS4 over the same period (60 million). Despite good sales, Sony has not been able to increase the console customer base. Hence, the company's heightened interest in GAAS projects and increasing ARPU.
According to Daniel, Sony shipped 4.5 million PS5s in Q1'24. This is 5 times more than the Xbox Series S|X.