Study - Video games go paperless
This study, conducted by Ifop, was carried out with the support of the SNJV. It seemed appropriate to examine the way in which the video game sector, by its very nature better suited to digital diffusion, is dealing with increasingly paperless distribution. The lessons drawn from this study can provide food for thought for all other sectors of cultural creation:
Video games as a source of economic inspiration for go paperless creation
Most of the growth in the video game market is now driven by go paperless distribution:
- 90% of PC gaming is distributed in go paperless format.
- 47% of French gamers play games distributed online.
- 71% of online gamers play free-to-play games, in which part of the content can be paid for.
The video game industry has succeeded in multiplying its business models and adapting its sources of revenue to the needs of gamers. A heterogeneous population with varied profiles and expectations of the gaming experience: no less than 7 business models coexist today, ranging from fully-paid to entirely free supplies.
Impact of go paperless on distribution: shortening of the value chain and concentration of legal supply around a few major players
The industry's value chain has been strongly impacted by go paperless. It has shortened from a "studio > publisher > distributor > retailer > player" model to, in the simplest case, "studio > player".
Legal distribution is concentrated on a few major players, whatever the game medium concerned (e.g. Google Play and App Store for smartphones, Steam for PCs, etc.).
The perception of a fair price in the eyes of gamers is disrupted :
- official activation key resale networks, who frequently use promotions to drive prices down;
- unofficial activation key resellers, who form a "gray market".
The latter compete unfairly with official resellers, but are becoming an established part of the go paperless gaming supply landscape (20% of dematerialized gamers have already turned to them): some enjoy a higher level of awareness than independent distribution sites.
Unlawful uses that go beyond the question of illegal copies of works
The issue of "piracy" has become more complex, going beyond the circulation of unlawful copies. With go paperless, it has diversified and taken on many forms, including a risk - perhaps more latent, but not to be underestimated - both for the defense of creation and the support of legal supply, and for the protection of users' personal data.
Previously confined to the use of copies of unlawful gaming and chipped consoles, new unlawful practices have emerged with paperless gaming (parallel servers, account theft, farming, etc.).
- Downloading of unlawful copies of gaming continues, affecting 30% of online gamers. Jeuxtorrent.com is better known to French online gamers than some of the major publishers' sites (e.g. Battle.net, Origin or Uplay).
- 13% of players claim to have played on unofficial parallel servers.
With go paperless, gamers can fall victim to unlawful practices:
- 31% of online gamers have already been the victim of a prejudice linked to paperless gaming (hacking of a gaming account, virus contained in a downloaded game, theft of bank details from a gaming site, use of their account to buy games/items without their knowledge, purchase of an activation key that doesn't work, obtaining a different game from the one downloaded, theft/misappearance of items, theft/misappearance of an entire game).
- Those who have resorted to 3 or 4 unlawful online practices have already been victims of prejudice in 71% of cases.
Le Jeu Vidéo Dématérialisé - Impact de la dématérialisation sur les pratiques illlawful published by Hadopi