Binge-Playing, Mobile Video Gaming on the Rise According to New Limelight Networks Research Report

Indians are binge-gaming longer than ever, increasing over 10 percent from 2019 to an average of 4 hours and 8 minutes. That’s according to the latest “State of Online Gaming” research report on worldwide consumers’ gaming behaviors and expectations from Limelight Networks Inc., (Nasdaq: LLNW), a leading provider of edge cloud services.

The rise of binge-gaming is an even bigger trend among young gamers. This report showed global respondents ages 18 to 25 binge-play for an average of 6 hours and 34 minutes, 11 percent longer than one year ago. Also, nearly one in ten Indians (9 percent) say they’ve played for more than 10 hours at a time.

While the report shows gamers worldwide spend less time playing video games each week than last year -- averaging 6 hours and 20 minutes-- their longer binge-gaming sessions can be attributed in part to the rise of anywhere, anytime gaming. Mobile phones are the primary gaming device for Indians and global gamers with the preference for smartphone gaming increasing 15 percent in India from 2019. In addition, this year’s report identified strong interest in console-less gaming services with 44 percent of respondents saying they’re interested in subscribing. Demand for console-less gaming is highest in India where 83 percent of gamers express interest in these services.

Additional insights from the report include:

* Price and performance could limit adoption of console-less gaming. Interest in new console-less gaming platforms is especially high among those who define themselves as experts (71 percent), and among aspiring professional gamers (77 percent). However, concerns with high price points (52.6 percent) and performance issues such as latency (28 percent) are cited by Indians as the top reasons they wouldn’t subscribe. Price sensitivities are highest in the United States (67 percent) and performance concerns are highest in India.

* Watching others play video games increased in popularity for younger gamers, sparking the desire to go pro. Gamers ages 18 to 25 watch others play video games online (via platforms such as Twitch or YouTube Gaming) for more than four hours each week and are the most likely to want to turn this hobby into a profession (53 percent).

* Gamers prioritize playing over many daily activities. Around half of Indian gamers (49.2 percent) have missed sleep to keep playing. Singaporeans are the most likely to choose playing video games over sleeping (60 percent). Many Indians have also skipped meals (30 percent) and showers (29 percent). Younger gamers are the most likely to miss a meal (39 percent) or shower (35 percent) to continue playing.

* Download speed is a top frustration especially for hardcore gamers. The vast majority of Indian gamers (94 percent) find the process of downloading games frustrating. Two-fifths (40 percent) of Indians note slow download speed is their primary concern. Frustrations with download speed are the highest with expert gamers (41 percent) and aspiring professionals (58 percent).

“Players are excited about the flexibility of console-less gaming,” said Michael Milligan, Senior Director at Limelight Networks. “As the world of gaming is being redefined, wide adoption depends on low latency solutions that eliminate frustrating performance disruptions and delays. Keeping gamers engaged requires innovative technology that powers real-time, interactive gaming at the edge.”

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.