Mobile Gaming Canada

Delivered January 30th, 2020. Contributors: Shannon L. and

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Mobile Game Launches

Two examples of notable mobile game launches in Canada and the U.S. are the AFK Arena mobile game launch and the PUBG Mobile launch.
AFK ArenaLithe Games and Cloutboost partnered together to launch the AFK Arena mobile game in Canada and the U.S.
The goal of the launch was to get the game onto "the Top-50 free game charts."
AFK Arena was a "mobile RPG card game from Lilith Games, where players can build up a personalized team and level up with the unique AFK Awards auto farming system."
This launch was notable because it made extensive use of YouTube and entertainment video game influencers who would highlight the ease and convenience of playing the mobile game away from a computer. 
Since "AFK" stands for "away from keyboard," part of the influencers' job was to emphasize the point that this game was meant for mobile devices.
In addition to creating YouTube videos, the influencers used Twitter and Instagram to share their favorite features of the game with their followers. 
Additionally, the developer also ran a giveaway that offered "in-game items in order to boost conversion rates and drive mobile game downloads." Winners would receive personalized gift codes that could be redeemed during game play.
Cloutboost developed 60-90-second video ads that were integrated with the influencers' YouTube videos.
The campaign reached 18 million people overall, the YouTube videos received 4.79 million views, and the engagement rate was a solid 3.8%.
PUBG MobileTencent Games and Viral Nation teamed up to launch PUBG Mobile in Canada and the U.S.
The main goals of this launch were " to drive brand awareness and game installs for PUBG Mobile, with a target goal to generate 35 million social media interactions."
This launch was notable because it not only used popular video game influencers to promote PUBG, but it also created in-house content, including a two-hour cooking show called the "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner Cooking Show" that was "livestreamed on PUBG Mobile’s YouTube and Twitch accounts." The cooking show featured Mia Khalifa and celebrity chef Danny Smiles.
The reason the cooking show is notable is because when players win a game in PUBG, the message "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" appears on the screen. The cooking show therefore represented a creative tie-in to the game's launch.
Other components of this campaign included using influencers like Pewdiepie, Mr. Beast, and UnboxTherapy to create gameplay videos, using Instagram cosplayers and female gamers to promote PUBG on Instagram, and creating viral memes that were distributed through social publishers.
The results of the campaign exceeded goals by 122%, generating 78.8 million total social media impressions.
The influencer videos achieved 16.7 million views and 169,000 clicks to install.
The Instagram cosplay and female gamer promotions achieved 10.7 million views and 87,100 clicks to install.
The viral memes and in-house content mass distribution component achieved 42.5 million views and 111,000 clicks to install.
The cooking show and second mass distribution component achieved 10.5 million views and 80,000 clicks to install.
Research StrategyAlthough we attempted to find two case studies of notable mobile game launches in Canada alone, we were unsuccessful. However, we found two examples of creative mobile game launches in both Canada and the U.S. Due to the lack of available information on successful mobile launches in Canada alone, we elected to provide two examples of mobile game launches that targeted both Canada and the U.S.

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Mobile Gaming Trends

Augmented reality and an increase in female gamers are two trends impacting the future of mobile gaming in Canada. Further details are below. 
Augmented RealityEven though Pokemon Go's augmented reality (AR) mobile game debuted in 2016, AR for mobile gaming purposes did not really take off.
However, according to the Mobile Gaming Industry 2019 report, in countries with established economies like the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, AR is expected to be an upcoming mobile gaming trend through 2023.
Canadians are expected to spend $7.1 billion on AR and VR products in 2020.
While virtual reality (VR) has "a number of challenges and limitations on mobile," AR is thought to have "boundless potential."
Currently, over 2,000 apps mention AR capability on iTunes and Google Play combined, but Pokemon Go is still the revenue leader by a wide margin.
The success of Pokemon Go and the investments that Apple and Google have made in AR indicate that AR for mobile purposes is set to take off in North America.
Drivers of this trend include increasing investments in AR technology, decreasing costs, and the availability of better streaming devices and networks.
Additionally, since AR does not require any additional equipment to a smartphone, it is easier for app developers to incorporate and cheaper for users to adopt. 
According to App Lovin, "AR mobile gaming has only just started," and represents a "gateway to fully immersive gaming."
Moreover, 5G networks, which are not expected to be operational in Canada until 2021, will prove to be a huge benefit for "high-bandwidth video, VR, AR and video games," which indicates that 5G technology will spur the growth of AR mobile games.
 ZeMind Studios a mobile game developer in Toronto, Canada, is an example of a company at the forefront of the AR mobile gaming trend as it has a development team with a foundation in mobile and works to create "bold virtual and augmented reality experiences" on mobile devices.
Women GamersIn Canada, 53% of mobile gamers in 2018 were female and the University of British Columbia found that the "number of female gamers is on the rise."
Across all demographics for U.S. and Canadian mobile gamers except high-income gamers where the gender split is 50-50, female mobile gamers outnumber male mobile gamers.
For instance, 62% of millennial mobile gamers are female compared to 38% male and 65% of parent mobile gamers are female compared to 35% male.
Edelman has also declared that 2020 will be the year of women in gaming and stated that more and more women are "shaping the culture of gaming."
The drivers of this trend include the presence of more female gaming characters, the publicity of female e-sports players, and increased inclusivity in gaming experiences.
Coco Chanel is an example of a company that is taking advantage of the increasing number of female mobile gamers as it developed a "mobile game to promote its jewelry line" and created the #cocogamecenter, " which seeks to open new doors to the gaming market of young girl gamers."
Research StrategyTo find mobile gaming trends in Canada, we began by searching for official research studies from sources such as Nielsen, NPD, AdColony, TapJoy, and others. There are reports available that consist of trends for both Canada and the U.S., but most other reports were exclusively focused on the U.S. Therefore, we turned to industry publications such as Gaming Magazine, Gamasutra, and Game Informer to find articles that focused on Canadian mobile game trends. Unfortunately, the trends that were available were either for both Canada and the U.S. or for the U.S. only. 

We then expanded our search criteria to include Canadian games of all types of video games (not just mobile), and we discovered a report from the Entertainment Software Association of Canada that provided demographics of typical Canadian video gamers. The profiles of Canadian video gamers given in this report mirrored those that were provided in the 2019 Mobile Gaming Report that included data from both the U.S. and Canada. Based on this finding, we assumed that there are few differences between Canadian and U.S. mobile gamers and elected to use reports that combined trends for the U.S. and Canada as the basis of our findings. 

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Mobile Gaming Demographics

The typical mobile gamer in Canada is a 31-year-old female who is educated, has at least part-time employment, and lives in an urban or suburban area.
AgeIn the 2019 Mobile Gaming Report, which surveyed 5,000 USA and Canadian mobile gamers, the age bracket with the most mobile gamers is 25-44-year-olds at 31%.
The age bracket with the second-highest number of mobile gamers is 45 years old and older at 25%.
The age bracket of 13-24-year-olds has the third-highest number of mobile gamers at 24%, followed by the age bracket of 2-12-year-olds at 20%.
Broken down even further, the age bracket of 25-34-year-olds represents the largest group of mobile gamers in Canada and the U.S. at 8%. 
Additionally, according to the report, the average age of a mobile gamer in the U.S. and Canada is 31.3 years old. 
GenderThe 2019 Mobile Gaming Report indicated that 51% of mobile gamers in the U.S. and Canada are female compared to 49% male.
As gamers get older, players tend to be female more often. For example, 6% of gamers between the ages of 45 and 54 are female compared to 4% male, but 4% of gamers between the ages of 10 and 12 are male compared to 3% female. 
However, the gender split of mobile gamers is generally close to 50% for all ages.
Education LevelAccording to the Modern Mobile Gamer, millennial mobile gamers, parent mobile gamers, and high-income mobile gamers are all educated or highly educated.
The report provided the following educational breakdown:
Of millennial mobile gamers, 77% have post-secondary education.
Of parent mobile gamers, 73% have post-secondary education.
Of high-income mobile gamers, 85% have post-secondary education.
EmploymentThe Modern Mobile Gamer report found that the majority of parent mobile gamers and high-income mobile gamers are employed either part- or full-time. 
The report provided the following employment breakdown:
Of millennial mobile gamers, 66% are employed either part- or full-time.
Of parent mobile gamers, 63% are employed either part- or full-time.
Of high-income mobile gamers, 6% are self-employed, but there is no data on how many are employed either part- or full-time. It is assumed that because 62% of high-income mobile gamers earn an income of $75,000 per year or higher, that the majority of these gamers are employed full-time.
LocationBased on information in the Modern Mobile Gamer report, most mobile gamers live in urban or suburban areas.
According to the report, 75% of mobile gamers live in "communities with high population density."
Research StrategyTo find the demographic profile of mobile gamers in Canada, we began by searching for official research studies from sources such as Nielsen, NPD, AdColony, TapJoy, and others. There is a report that consists of demographic data for both Canada and the U.S., but most other reports were exclusively focused on the U.S. Therefore, we turned to industry publications such as Gaming Magazine, Gamasutra, and Game Informer to find articles that focused on Canadian mobile gamers. Unfortunately, there was very little information about the demographics of mobile gamers overall and what was available (usually age and gender) was either for both Canada and the U.S. or for the U.S. only. 

We then expanded our search criteria to include Canadian gamers of all types of video games (not just mobile), and we discovered a report from the Entertainment Software Association of Canada that provided demographics of typical Canadian video gamers. The profiles of Canadian video gamers given in this report mirrored those that were provided in the 2019 Mobile Gaming Report that included data from both the U.S. and Canada. Based on this finding, we assumed that there are few differences between Canadian and U.S. mobile gamers and elected to use the 2019 Mobile Gaming Report for age and gender. Then, using our assumption, we located a report called the Modern Mobile Gamer, which provided additional demographic information for U.S. mobile gamers. Due to the lack of information available on Canadian mobile gamers specifically and our discovery that Canadian and U.S. mobile gamers are very similar, we assumed that the data in the Modern Mobile Gamer report would apply to Canadian mobile gamers as well as to U.S. mobile gamers.