Understanding the trends and demographics of gamers is a massive business. EEDAR (Electronic Entertainment Design and Research) is one of the goto sources for this information, with over 130,000 products observed and 176 million points of data to reference, these people know how things are changing. During a panel at GDC last week, Geoffrey Zatkin, the founder of EEDAR, took to the stage to share some of the most interesting data surrounding mobile, PC, and console gaming. We've rounded up some of the most interesting slides from his Awesome Video Game Data talk in this gallery.
Marketing vs. game quality
Zatkin was quick to dismiss the notion that good games sell well based on being good alone. He's able to show a strong correlation between how marketing budgets make well-reviewed games even more successful versus games that are reviewed well but have next to no marketing.
Successfully funded Kickstarter projects
While Kickstarter has traditionally been a platform to fund ideas, Zatkin suggests that a new trend is emerging where games that are already well on their way to being completed launch Kickstarter campaigns to either spread the word, attract investors, or help add smaller features instead of funding the entire development.
PC F2P spend segmentation
Though it's no surprise that those who tend to spend the most on a single game also make up the majority of its profit, it's still interesting to see just how much of that revenue they account for. While the idea of catering to the 'whales' is kind of gross, the numbers back it up as a legitimate tactic.
Average age of game players in the USA
While it's certainly no secret that the average gamer is worrying about grey hair and mortgage payments, what's interesting is the recent dip when the figures began to include data from mobile platforms, which seem to suggest that mobile caters to a younger demographic.
