For marketers to successfully engage this large and growing audience, they must consider the role gaming plays in consumers' lives, rather than focusing on basic segmentation techniques such as demographics and device types.

Six distinct gamer personas

Via a survey conducted by WARC Exclusive in November 2020 of over 20,000 people who play or watch games in some form or fashion in various countries, this audience was segmented and identified into six distinct gamer personas that converged around the games they play and how they play them, rather than simply their basic demographics.

Significant axes were found to differentiate and segment game enthusiasts were formed around motivations, play styles, and (perhaps most importantly) whether the respondent even identified themselves as a gamer. In fact, this effect was so powerful that the technique used for segmentation simply divided the audience between the identity of the gamer until the sample was subdivided accordingly and pre-segmented into respondents who did or did not identify as gamers.

Segments of those who do not identify themselves as gamers

• Super Swipers

People in this segment are recent adopters of gaming somewhat late in life based on average age. They don't feel they play enough games to be considered gamers, though they log about as many mobile hours as some other segments (though fewer hours of play than others). Their biggest difference from those who identify as gamers are that Super Swipers don't demonstrate much knowledge about game characters, events, or backgrounds - simply put, they are there for fun only.

• Fans

A little more than a step up in gaming behaviors from Super Swipers, Amateurs report having more difficulty with games, but this is at least partly due to the fact that they are a little more cross-platform, logging a good number of console and PC hours. Their interests tend to lean toward family time and staying in instead of going out, so in many ways, this group represents people who probably dive into a variety of forms of entertainment in a light-hearted way, including gaming in some format.

• Gamblers

By almost any definition, these people are fairly intense gamers on mobile, PC, console, and generalized gaming motivations and behaviors. While gaming is not their primary source of entertainment, it is an important part of their overall entertainment ecosystem, and therefore they do not identify themselves as "gamers" (largely due to stereotypes attributed to this group).

Segments of those who identify as gamers

• Lifestylists

Lifestylists are very similar to gamers in terms of gaming behavior and enjoy a wide range of games, activities, and immersion in the gaming ecosystem (reading news, following various trends, etc.). The main distinction is simply that they identify themselves as gamers. From the existing data, it was nearly impossible to determine what differentiates the two outside of this identity concept, making these groups perhaps the most interesting subset for further research to isolate the "why" of gaming identity.

• The "gamers"

In the following two segments, there are individuals who likely align with the stereotype of a "gamer," distinguished between the two largely by varying levels of intensity. Report on gamers' long hours of play on multiple platforms, regular viewing of e-sports, a lot of spending on games, and a degree of familiarity and favorability among most gaming companies and gaming trends. In short, these are the people where gaming is not just any source of entertainment, it is their favorite source of entertainment.

• The next levelers

A bit like "gamers" but, as aptly named, next-levelers. Reporting exceptionally high levels of gambling, spending, and knowledge, and motivation for gambling, Next Levelers are truly those who are "all in" on gambling as a hobby.

That said, this is a relative niche group, representing only about 4% of the study population. This last point highlights an incredibly significant distinction that marketers need to understand. Within these segments, only a small minority of all gamers fit the typical gamer stereotype - about two out of six segments resemble the common image of a gamer. Of these two, the most intense gamer segment was very small (only about 4% of the audience). From a broader perspective across all groups in the study, less than half of all gamers identified themselves as gamers - in particular, more than 60% of gamers surveyed answered "No" to the question "Are you a gamer?"

In essence, most people who play games refuse to identify themselves as gamers, making the "Gamers" audience larger and more diverse than many realize when they focus solely on the concept of "Gamers.

It's not that marketers haven't thought about "gamers," but that "gamers" may not represent the majority of opportunities present among avid gaming consumers. This leads to one of the broader ramifications of this research: labels for entertainment consumers are problematic.