Karol Severin | MIDiA Research

Are ‘picture-perfect’ games marketing campaigns detrimental to building continued engagement?

Blog post by Karol Severin

1 Aug 2022

Last week, my social media feeds were taken over by the release of Stray (the ‘cat game’) trying to grab my attention. I suppose that this was to be expected – I’m a cat-owning games analyst after...

Profiling smart-TV owning gamers

Report by Karol Severin and Kazia Rothwell

29 Jul 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

Games

audience insight

Smart TVs are to play a growing role in the games industry’s value chain TVs have always been an instrumental piece of hardware for console gamers to enjoy gameplay. With gameplay processing moving towards...

The average gamer plays more than one hour per day, as time spent takes centre stage

Blog post by Karol Severin

8 Jul 2022

games consumption

time spent

gamer engagement

Over the last two decades, the business models of video games have progressively shifted from unit-sales-led towards engagement-led. This is due to a combination of factors; including the rise of in-game...

Samsung is becoming an important games distribution player, as the ‘gaming TV market’ comes to life

Blog post by Karol Severin

4 Jul 2022

Samsung

Smart TV

Games

Samsung is establishing itself as a serious player in the distribution part of the games industry’s value chain through its ‘Gaming Hub’. Having already partnered with GeForce Now and Stadia games...

Games consumption Q1 2022
Time spent takes centre stage

Cover image for Games consumption Q1 2022

Report by Karol Severin

30 Jun 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

Games

audience insight

time spent on games

Time spent on games is growing in importance as a key performance indicator for the games industry.Whether it is games subscription services deciding which titles and publishers to prioritise in terms...

Can Gamescom retain its appeal going forward?

Blog post by Karol Severin

23 Jun 2022

gamescom

games industry

conference

I remember attending my first Gamescom as an analyst in 2017 . The sheer excitement as gaming was eating the world whole, and before brands and just about everybody else woke up to gaming as a mainstream...

Quick take: Why Xbox All Access could be the ultimate recession winner

Blog post by Karol Severin

17 Jun 2022

Inflation

global recession

cost of living

Xbox All Access has been around for a while now, though with a limited reach (currently only available in 12 markets). While it was always going to play an integral part in Xbox’s cross-platform (and...

Xbox to rid large games of a key competitive weapon

Blog post by Karol Severin

10 Jun 2022

xbox

cloud gaming

games streaming

Xbox is looking simply unstoppable these days. After announcing the Xbox Everywhere vision, it has confirmed that besides the announced ‘puck’ in the works, it is indeed bringing the Xbox App into...

Profiling single-player versus multiplayer gamers
A generational changing of the guard

Cover image for Profiling single-player versus multiplayer gamers

Report by Karol Severin

31 May 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

games industry

games streaming

games engagement

Though single player remains the preferred games genre for now, multiplayer modes are catching up, particularly among younger gamer segments. As audiences age, multiplayer modes will become increasingly...

The Attention Recession
How inflation and the pandemic are reshaping entertainment

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

27 May 2022

Free Report

Video

Music

Games

With the recent announcement of the 0.2 million subscriber drop in Netflix’s Q1 2022 figures, and Spotify seeing slower paid user growth, MIDiA’s predicted attention recession has come into fruition....

Single player vs. multiplayer | A generational changing of the guards or a bifurcation of gamer behaviours?

Blog post by Karol Severin

26 May 2022

multiplayer

single player

gamer behavior

Though the roots of the multiplayer mode go back decades, online multiplayer games have been taking the world by storm in more recent years. Here is where things stand at the moment: 57% of gamers prefer...

What happened with EA and FIFA and why both are probably going to be fine

Blog post by Karol Severin

12 May 2022

EA Sports

FIFA

Games

As we warned in October 2021, the divorce of EA and FIFA has come into fruition. EA’s FIFA series has been rebranded to EA Sports FC and FIFA (the organisation) is taking its brand away to expand on...

Quick take: Spotify to connect artists and fans on a Roblox island

Blog post by Karol Severin

5 May 2022

Roblox

Spotify

Games

Spotify launched a digital island in Roblox yesterday. The destination enables players to take part in interactive quests, buy virtual merchandise, mingle with artists, and create their own sounds and...

Why games could be the winning entertainment sector as disposable income tightens

Blog post by Karol Severin

28 Apr 2022

attention recession

streaming

subscriptions

Inflation, as well as macroeconomic and geopolitical developments (from Brexit, through chasing Covid-induced debt, right up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) will likely drive disposable income (and...

You can play Snoop Dogg in Call of Duty, but you can’t PLAY him

Blog post by Karol Severin

21 Apr 2022

Snoop Dogg

call of duty

Warzone

Call of Duty dropped the ‘Tracer Pack: Snoop Dogg Operator Bundle’, costing 2,400 COD Points ($19.99). It comes with Snoop’s playable skin, his own voice lines and progression path towards unlockable...

Sony continues investing in Epic Games

Blog post by Karol Severin

19 Apr 2022

Sony

Epic Games

Fortnite

Sony continues investing in Epic Games Although Microsoft stole the headlines with its acquisition of Activision early this year, Sony is certainly not just standing on the side-lines. Last week, it announced...

Unreal is evolving from a games development tool to a story-telling tool

Blog post by Karol Severin

7 Apr 2022

Epic Games

Unreal Engine 5

games development

Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, launched Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) this week. Despite being in works for a few years and in private Beta for most of 2021, the overall product strategy focusses on tapping...

Gamer brand fandom
Assessing partnership suitability between games and entertainment brands

Report by Karol Severin

21 Mar 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

Games

audience insight

gaming

The 20,000 foot view Entertainment partnerships in games are booming, with games companies being approached with opportunities from all directions. This increased level of opportunity puts pressure on...

Games companies’ video opportunity
From marketing to monetisation

Cover image for Games companies’ video opportunity

Report by Karol Severin

16 Mar 2022

Free Report

Games

gaming

gaming culture

MIDiAs head games analyst, Karol Severin, discusses a key games video opportunity for games companies and games video creators alike, alongside two panellists - CEO of Wormhole Labs and a Twitch content...

Quick Take: Regulation and war are leading the global games industry's trajectory to diverge

Blog post by Karol Severin

11 Mar 2022

regulation

Russia

China

Over the last few years, the traditional unit sales-based model in games has been increasingly moving towards engagement-led models. In other words, we are moving away from costly price points to buy complete...