When It Comes To Customer Service, What Do Game Users Really Think?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, while many industries saw a decline, the gaming industry continued to expand in size. According to PwC’s ‘Global Entertainment & Media Outlook Perspectives Report,’ the gaming market is expected to reach USD 321.1 billion in revenues by 2026, with over 3 billion players across mobile, console, and PC games.

Despite the growth in the gaming industry, when it comes to customer support within gaming, it is still lacking. Today, we look at reasons for such inadequacy in customer support as well as strategies for game developers to strengthen their CS to increase user satisfaction.

What Are All Those Customers Really Thinking When It Comes to Customer Service?

According to Netomi, an American HCI tech company, among the 3000 game developers surveyed, only 54% of global developers offered email services. Additionally, more than 76% of companies have an average response time of over 39 hours. Delivery of service is imperative in the gaming industry, with customer support fundamental for player satisfaction and their continued engagement. Furthermore, planning and development are also important.

(Source: Netomi, an American HCI Company)

How Consumers Respond to Favorable Customer Service

Over 68% of consumers are more likely to increase spending on brands where they are satisfied with customer support. (HubSpot)
78% of consumers say they would be more tolerant of mistakes made by brands with high customer satisfaction and would continue to use them. (Salesforce)
No less than 60% of consumers believe that the quality of customer service affects customer loyalty. (Zendesk)
83% of consumers responded they would repurchase from brands where they were satisfied with their customer support services. (Khoros)

How Consumers Respond to Negative Customer Service

customer service. (Khoros)
78% of consumers indicated they have abandoned a purchase as a result of a negative experience with customer service. (Glance)
When a company with a low customer satisfaction rating makes a mistake, over 80% of consumers say it is unforgivable. (Qualtrics XM Institute)

Customer Service on a Global Scale is Becoming Increasingly Important.

Customer support can broadly be categorized into CS (Customer Satisfaction) & CM (Community Manager.) As games expand to overseas markets, increasing participation from various users worldwide, the management of gaming, through CS and CM, will become more important than ever.

Providing customer services in the language of the player will create a positive impact, building trust in your games, thereby increasing sales. According to the ‘Global Multilingual CX Report’ by Unbabel, the AI-powered translation platform, about 74% of consumers responded they would switch to brands offering services in their native languages. 64% replied with a willingness to pay more for products or services that offered full localization.

Currently, gaming has reached a point where early identification and dissemination of necessary information to the players is pivotal. A proactive response means understanding the player’s usage tendencies and providing solutions in advance. A comprehensive and thorough analysis of player’s behavior is also what is needed for this kind of service, giving them a competitive advantage.

Latis Global, a global game service provider, has expanded to provide multilingual player support (CS/CM) to game developers whose aim is overseas expansion. By actively researching the gaming communities in these overseas markets, recommending appropriate social communities, and other customer services, our assistance allows game developers to focus on the design and development of their games.