A few days after the League of Legends esports final took place in Reykjavik (Iceland), crowning EDward Gaming as champions, Mastercard launches a study on esports that reflects the growing importance of this sport.
This year has been the eleventh edition of one of the most followed esports tournaments in the world. A trend that is increasing, as the study prepared by Mastercard reveals, in which it is revealed that 7 out of 10 Spanish fans between 26 and 35 years old already regularly follow official competitions. In addition, the vast majority of them (79%) spend at least 2 hours watching these tournaments.
Regarding the platforms preferred by gamers to follow tournaments, Twitch (53%) and Youtube Gaming (45%) stand out. And if we talk about the face-to-face format, 21% are interested in physically attending this kind of event. In addition, 87% of users say that they follow the championships of those eSports that they themselves play.
Esports, a rising market
Although there is still a long way to go when it comes to watching tournaments, esports represent a market that is growing exponentially and that every day brings together more fans, who, in addition, are spending more and more time on this type of game.
This is revealed in the study carried out by Mastercard, in which 40% of fans claim to play an esports game daily and another 40% do so at least three times a week. In addition, most gamers use at least two platforms to play, having as preferred devices the game console (66%) and the smartphone (57%). This also explains the increase in investment that users are making, both in devices and games.
And is that, currently, 74% of users have made the purchase of a device, with headphones (48%) and video consoles (40%) being the most purchased products. With regard to video games, 6 out of 10 users access a game by paying for it and, of those who access free games, 31% make some of the purchases they offer (performance improvements, new items, skins …) within them.
In addition, 78% have made the purchase of a video game in the last 6 months. And if we talk about the evolution of spending, the products that have increased their sales the most have been video games, with a growth of 34%, followed by skins (21%) and hardware devices (16.5%).
Purchase channels and preferred payment methods
In a constantly growing market, businesses are looking for the best way to attract and satisfy the demand of gamers, which are found in video game platforms (45%), specialized stores (43%) and large stores commercial (42%), their preferred places of purchase. Gaming stations such as video consoles, gaming computers and smartphones are purchased to a greater extent in physical channels, while the products most purchased online proportionally are VR glasses, 6 out of 10 purchases are made through the Internet.
Regarding payment methods, in online stores the use of bank cards predominates. Three out of ten users choose this form of payment. However, in physical stores 85% of buyers say that they are still making their payments in cash. “Our latest study highlights the importance of esports in Spain. It is a market that is growing by leaps and bounds, both in terms of volume fans who follow the championships and in gamers themselves who increasingly use more channels to play and invest so much in devices or games “, assures Paloma Real, general director of Mastecard Spain.
“At Mastercard one of our purposes is to connect people with their passions. Now more than ever, it seems essential to us to bet on esports and create” Priceless “experiences for its fans and gamers. For all the above, we are delighted to sponsor the end of League of Legends esports and we will continue to explore opportunities in this area that we know will continue to expand,
Other key trends:
As esports grows, so does the number of games each user plays. However, there is a slight difference by sex. In this sense, men claim to play about 5 games on average, while women play 4. In addition, women consider that they have a lower level of play than men, since 44% of these consider that they have a level expert or advanced and only 22% of women consider that they reach that category.
The most popular types of games are Sports / Racing / Simulator (57%), followed by Casual and Battle Royal (43%).
Regarding the game mode , 4 out of 10 users opt for the “one player” option. They are followed by those who prefer the “multiplayer” mode with friends (25%) and the “multiplayer” mode with strangers (25%). Finally, only 1 in 10 users prefer to play as a family.
The great expansion that esports are experiencing, as well as the profiles of gamers and influencers focused on the gaming world , have made this one of the professions that the youngest eager to exercise the most . However, currently, according to the study carried out by Mastercard, only 14% of users claim to earn money playing video games.