ICYMI: Why Now Is the Best Time to Pay Attention to Gaming Culture
ICYMI: Why Now Is the Best Time to Pay Attention to Gaming CultureA special deep dive report by Kaley Mullins
Hello, gorgeous people! I hope that you are fabulous and thriving, or at the very least, enjoying the ride to those destinations. This was a recent message from my kid’s math teacher — I smile every time I get a message from Mr. Okla. And that’s the vibe I wanted to send your way today. Today’s newsletter is the latest from ICYMI’s youth expert-in-residence, Kaley Mullin. It came about, in part, because it’s been impossible to ignore the micro to macro gaming headlines piling up:
And on, and on. Look, I’m not a gaming pro. But I do know it’s becoming one of the most important ways to reach Gen Z and Alpha. Even for non-gaming brands. So I asked Kaley to dig in as a cultural insights expert, sociologist, and the co-founder of the cultural relevance consultancy Cool Shiny Insights. As the former Youth & Trends Insights Lead at YouTube, Kaley specializes in navigating the nuances of Gen Z and Gen Alpha and helping brands achieve relevance. Subscribe to Cool Shiny Culture on Substack. *Plus, keep reading to the end for a roundtable discussion I plan to host next week about creators and AEO strategy. Why Now Is the Best Time to Pay Attention to Gaming CultureWhen I took on the role of Youth & Trends Insights Lead at YouTube in 2021, one of my first projects was publishing a foundational report on Gen Z. In a 40ish slide deck, my team set out to summarize the aspects of the generational cohort that were most core to their behavior, attitudes, and identity. These were the insights we wanted every marketer at YouTube and Google to really wrap their brains around. To bastardize one of my big takeaways of that exploration: Gen Z is like *REALLY* into gaming.
At the time, and still to this day, I dabble in gaming, but wouldn’t go so far as to consider myself a “gamer.” So understanding gaming culture was a muscle I needed to build, not one I was ready to flex. A lot of marketers might find themselves in a similar spot. So in this post, I want to break down the cultural relevance of gaming among Gen Z and why now is a good time to tune into what’s happening in gaming culture. The Cultural Longtail of Hit GamesAn interesting facet of the gaming space: compared to other entertainment mediums like film, TV, and music, there are fewer, bigger releases each year and the games that become big hits have a very long cultural shelf life. Consider this summer’s top PC games, of which seven in ten came out more than five years ago.
Gen Z Loves Games That Let Them Explore and CreateGen Z is especially drawn to open world or sandbox games. Open world games are games that let players explore huge maps and sandbox games let players manipulate their environments. They’re the top genre of games young people play, with YPulse’s most recent report finding 64% of teens and 69% of young adults playing open world / sandbox games.
Among the most important games for young people are Fortnite, Minecraft, and ROBLOX, which act not just as open world or sandbox games but as proto-metaverses. In a twist that fills Mark Zuckerberg with envy, these games have become what he wanted for “The Metaverse”: places where young people socialize, interact, and generally live. A New Metaverse Is About to DropWhich leads us to the upcoming drop of the most anticipated game not just of the year but of the decade: Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6. To say the hype and anticipation around this game are big is an understatement. It’s been over a decade since the last installment of the franchise, the game’s already been delayed twice, and fans are sick and tired of waiting... Continue reading this post for free in the Substack app
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