Using Newzoo’s Gamer Segmentation™ to Compare Game Enthusiasts in Two Very Different Markets, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia

This year, Saudi Arabia and New Zealand were added to Newzoo’s latest round of Consumer Insights, bringing the total number of countries researched to 30. Both countries play an important role in the worldwide games market, contributing significantly to global revenues; Saudi Arabia is the #22 market by game revenues, and New Zealand is commonly used as a market to soft launch games. Saudi Arabia is the first Middle Eastern country in our consumer research, giving us an even more comprehensive picture of game enthusiasts around the world. And now that we have added New Zealand to the research, we have deeper insights into the Oceania region. In this article, we use our data and insights to compare how these markets’ game enthusiasts engage with gaming.

It is worth noting that these two very different markets required two very different research approaches. Our research in Saudi Arabia followed the Major City Approach, covering respondents aged 10–50 in eight of the wealthiest and most-developed cities. In addition, given the notable share of expats living in Saudi Arabia, it was also important to take this split into account when determining our target group for this market. Both expats and locals were included in the research. For New Zealand, we focused on the total online population aged 10–65. Download this factsheet to learn more about our methodology.

Around 92% of Saudi Arabia’s online population covered are game enthusiasts, compared to 64% of New Zealand’s online population. For this article, we will focus only on game enthusiasts in both markets. Given the diversity of these markets, Newzoo’s Gamer Segmentation™ is the best tool to explore their different types of game enthusiasts. As you can see in the image below, the top three personas for each market paint very different pictures.

For a breakdown of gender similarities/differences between game enthusiasts across the world, read this insights post.

Meet and Greet: Time Filler, New Zealand’s #1 Persona

The most common persona among game enthusiasts in New Zealand is the Time Filler, accounting for 41% of the market’s game enthusiasts vs. the global average of 27% (in all 30 markets researched). Time Fillers are people who play games, typically on mobile, to pass the time. After all, the majority (81%) of players in New Zealand play on mobile, with under a quarter of these mobile gamers playing for less than an hour a week. Nearly half of New Zealand’s game enthusiasts have full-time jobs and 39% live with kids at home. This may explain why such a high share of game enthusiasts in this market typically play bite-sized games, such as Candy Crush Saga, during their busy schedules. What’s more, among all game enthusiasts in New Zealand, Candy Crush Soda Saga is the third-most-popular game (based on franchises played in the past six months).

Time Fillers also have little interest in watching esports or game video content. This makes sense, as — in general — this content is less popular in New Zealand. Our research shows that just over a third of game enthusiasts in New Zealand watch live-streamed game video content, compared to more than three-quarters (78%) of game enthusiasts in Saudi Arabia. Esports awareness is also slightly higher in Saudi Arabia: 81% vs. New Zealand’s 72%.

What’s more, 60% of game enthusiasts in New Zealand claim that although they enjoy games, their time spent or interest in them is limited — compared to just 24% of Saudi Arabia’s game enthusiasts. Linked to this, accessible game genres on mobile, as opposed to more competitive and immersive genres, tend to be more popular in New Zealand. Around 40% of mobile gamers in the market play puzzle games, making it New Zealand’s favorite mobile game genre. Therefore, consumer brands looking to increase their marketing muscle in New Zealand could directly benefit by targeting the market’s Time Fillers via games like Candy Crush Saga and its sequel, Candy Crush Soda Saga.

Peripheral ownership also plays a smaller role in the life of New Zealand’s game enthusiasts. Just 31%, for example, own a gaming headset. Meanwhile, almost three-quarters of game enthusiasts in Saudi Arabia’s eight wealthiest and most-developed cities own a headset, hinting that it is a relatively untapped market for peripheral brands.

Another key trait of Time Fillers is that they spend little on hardware, only buying when absolutely necessary. Looking at all game enthusiasts in New Zealand, 46% have — on average — spent nothing annually on game-related hardware in the past three years.

Meet and Greet: Cloud Gamer, Saudi Arabia’s #1 Persona

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s most common persona is the Cloud Gamer, which makes up 26% of the market’s game enthusiasts, compared to 15% in New Zealand and 19% globally (in all 30 markets researched). Cloud Gamers enjoy games, especially free-to-play titles, but will only spend on hardware when absolutely necessary. Naturally, this makes them ideal prospects for upcoming cloud gaming platforms like Google Stadia and Microsoft’s Project xCloud.

Compared to game enthusiasts in New Zealand, those in Saudi Arabia are likelier to be more invested in games as a pastime. Of Saudi Arabia’s console gamers, just under half play console games for six hours or more per week, compared to 24% in New Zealand. Meanwhile, free-to-play games resonate more with Saudi Arabia’s PC gamers. The vast majority (94%) of PC gamers in Saudi Arabia play free-to-play games, compared to 86% in New Zealand. Game enthusiasts in Saudi Arabia are also more likely to be aware of cloud gaming (62% vs. 38% for New Zealand).

These points suggest that cloud gaming is due to be a hit among Saudi Arabia’s game enthusiasts, at least among the eight wealthiest and most-developed cities.Adding to this, computers, electronics, and gadgets are the second-most-popular hobby for Saudi Arabia’s game enthusiasts, meaning they have an interest in the latest and most innovative tech — cloud gaming included. Although the Cloud Gamer is the most popular persona in Saudi Arabia, only 14% of the market’s game enthusiasts spend no money on gaming hardware annually (based on the past three years). However, this can be explained by the popularity of the Ultimate Gamer and All-Round Enthusiast personas in this market.

Looking at genres, a third of Saudi Arabia’s mobile players like to play shooters, making it one of the market’s favorite mobile genres, compared to 17% in New Zealand. Likewise, the battle royale genre is more popular on all platforms among Saudi Arabia’s players. For this reason, we foresee Apex Legends’ upcoming mobile release to be a big success in the market.

Newzoo’s Consumer Insights: Empowering Businesses to Make Strategic Decisions

Clients can now apply Newzoo’s Gamer Segmentation across 30 key markets in our Consumer Insights and analyze these personas in depth. The personas can be profiled on +200 variables, including demographics, media behavior, preferences, devices, spending habits, brand attitude, game streaming behavior, esports awareness, and more.

The service is already used is by many of the world’s biggest games, media, and hardware companies. And the interactive dashboard lets them slice and dice the data however they like, giving them actionable insights on the consumers that matter most to them. Each subscription also comes with support from an expert Newzoo analyst.

Want to learn how our Consumer Insights can help your business? Contact us at questions@newzoo.com.