AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New and unprecedented results from Newzoo’s 2011 National Gamers Surveys involving more than 20,000 respondents in Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Spain, the US, and key EU countries reveal insights into gamers’ behavior and spending in countries perceived as low-priority markets for years. The uptake of online and mobile gaming has pushed the number of players and “payers” to a level comparable to major European markets. The number of people actively playing games ranges from 16 million in Mexico to 35 million in Brazil to 38 million in Russia. Equivalent to Western countries, an average of 50% of these consumers actually spend money on games. The research, sponsored exclusively by GlobalCollect, also revealed that more than two-thirds of the total game budget was spent online. For the first time, spending on online, downloaded, and mobile games has passed total retail boxed sales in Western countries.

Trends in Emerging Markets

Internet penetration and use in Brazil and Russia is relatively low, but growing at an enormous pace. Of the active internet population - 46 million in Brazil as well as Russia - at least 75% plays games. By now, more time is spent on playing games than watching TV: on average 11 hours per week. Of this group, 47% of Brazilian and 53% of Russian gamers spend money, pushing the volume to major European market levels. More than two-thirds was spent on add-ons like virtual items for free-to-play online and mobile games.

Koen Vanpraet, CCO of GlobalCollect, commented: “As an international Payment Service Provider consulting clients on monetizing their gaming platforms, we see changes first hand. Year on year, total transactions grew 103% in Russia and 228% in Brazil in 2010. Local payment methods, such as Boletos Bancário (Brazil) and WebMoney (Russia), played a major role in this. We know research is vital to ensure gaming companies implement the right strategy to grow their online business and the results of these surveys enable us to advise our clients on a strategic level.”

Trends in Western Markets

In Western markets, neither the number of gamers nor their spend has changed much since 2010. But major changes can be seen in time spent on games in Europe, gradually catching up with the US; spending on online, mobile, and downloaded games now takes up at least half of consumers’ games budget, with MMO games applying to around 10% of the total wallet; virtual currency has become mainstream with an average of 80% of online gamers using it; only 15% of gamers ever bought Facebook credits.

High-level data and in-depth webinars

• Datapoints on dedicated LinkedIn groups: Emerging Markets and Game Monetization
• Upcoming webinars on specific topics
• Previous GlobalCollect whitepapers: http://www.globalcollect.com/online-payments-gaming
• New surveys (June 2011) on Asian markets (incl. China, Korea): www.newzoo.com/2011

About Newzoo

Newzoo is an international market research firm completely focused on the games industry. Newzoo aims to provide the best independent consumer market data across all game platforms and business models. Newzoo also operates the global B2B portal Gamesindustry.com and publishes the bi-annual Games Industry Black Book. Clients include Codemasters, RealGames/Zylom, Blizzard, EA, Nexon, Frogster, France Telecom, RTL Group, ShandaGames, Gamania. www.newzoo.com.

About GlobalCollect

GlobalCollect is the world's premier Payment Service Provider of local e-payment solutions for international Customer Not-Present channels such as internet, mail and telephone orders, and specializes in a wide range of industries such as travel, ticketing, telecommunications, retail, publishing, portals, online gaming, and digital content. Through a single-interface online payment platform, we offer access to an unrivalled portfolio of local and international payment methods in over 200 countries, including all major credit and debit cards, direct debits, bank transfers, real-time bank transfers, eWallets, cash at outlets, prepaid methods, checks, and invoices. www.globalcollect.com

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