The popularity of online gaming continues to grow, with gamers playing more than seven hours each week, an increase of nearly 20 percent in the last year. Young adults are leading the online gaming charge, with gamers age 26 to 35 playing for eight hours, 13 minutes each week, a 25 percent increase from last year. That’s according to the latest “State of Online Gaming” research report on worldwide consumers’ gaming behaviors and expectations from Limelight Networks (Nasdaq: LLNW), a leading provider of edge cloud services.
When gamers aren’t playing themselves, many are watching other people play online. Nearly 60 percent of global gamers watch others play online each week, with 10 percent watching for more than seven hours. For younger gamers, watching others play online is more popular than watching traditional sports on television. In fact, gamers age 18 to 25 spend nearly four hours each week watching online video gaming, 77 percent more time than they spend watching traditional broadcast sports.
As gamers play and watch more online gaming content, their aspirations for becoming professional players also rise. In fact, 36 percent of global gamers would quit their jobs to go pro if they could support themselves as professional gamers, up 11 percent from last year. Younger male gamers (age 18 to 35) are the most interested in esports careers, with more than half (56 percent) noting they want to become professionals.
Additional insights from the report include:
“The growth in online gaming—both in playing time as well as in viewership—has raised expectations for fast online performance,” said Michael Milligan, Senior Director at Limelight Networks. “Whether it’s downloading game updates, joining a squad online to take on the competition, or learning new techniques from favorite live streamers, gamers around the world won’t tolerate latency and download disruptions that slow them down.”
The State of Online Gaming report is based on responses from 4,500 consumers in France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States age 18 and older who play video games at least once a week. The full report is available here.
About Limelight
Limelight Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: LLNW), a
leading provider of digital content delivery, video, cloud security, and
edge computing services, empowers customers to provide exceptional
digital experiences. Limelight’s edge services platform includes a
unique combination of global private infrastructure, intelligent
software, and expert support services that enable current and future
workflows. For more information, visit www.limelight.com
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