When consumers and students think of the video game industry and esports, they think of the excitement and entertainment of it all – but rarely about the data that guides the strategy of a business and of the game development plan. A market research firm provides the data that helps companies make smarter decisions about the direction of their business, games, tournaments, marketing and more. Without an agnostic market research provider, each company would need to “figure out” what gamers would like their games, and what the rules are in different geographical markets, and what a consumer might be doing along with playing a game. Each game company can see the data analytics of their own gameplay and usage, but this is only about the games that they put out. It is not about the global market for gaming or other entertainment.
If you were to recall reading an article that says, “The video game industry grew by 58% this year compared to last year, based on the revenue generated by games,” that article will have been based on data that takes a lot of time and effort to produce. Typically, such data is produced by a market research firm. One segment of market research is to help companies understand foreign markets, because to succeed outside of one’s home market you must understand the markets where you are going.
The founder of Niko Partners, Lisa Cosmas Hanson, has a personal motto of “peace through intercultural understanding.” Niko Partners takes action on that motto every day, by bringing information, insights, data and strategic analysis to clients regarding many global video game markets.
Niko Partners is a market research firm covering games, esports, and streaming in Asia. We are local experts with a global perspective, leaning on local analysts and global insights for our overall strategic analysis that we provide to clients all over the world.
We provide qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, market models, forecasts, and strategic advisory services regarding market intelligence, insights and strategic advice that our clients need to truly understand the gaming markets and gamers in 11 markets in Asia as of mid-2021, and adding more as we speak.
We also provide a very wide range of custom research, including, but not limited to focus groups, gamer surveys, IPO and market opportunity analysis, market entry strategy, partner selection, transaction advisory services, and investor due diligence.
We’ve helped game publishers, platforms, hardware makers, esports, consumer brands, investors, payments providers, hedge funds, and consulting firms understand and succeed in the world’s largest and fastest growing games markets, which are in Asia.
Niko Partners launched in 2002 by building the first baseline study on the China video games market. Since then, we have been exclusively researching and analyzing the video games markets and consumers in Asia, starting with China and adding Greater Southeast Asia to our coverage in 2010, again the first company to do so. As of 2017 we began coverage of Japan, Korea, and India, and in 2021 we are adding the Middle
East game markets (which actually is Western Asia) to our research coverage.
Niko has a complex methodology for producing data, insights and analysis – the methodology shifts for each type of assignment we take on. In general, for our market model, we combine data collected from primary and secondary sources and layer on our own assumptions to build a model. The key to our research is that we talk to people – executives at games and hardware companies, esports companies, hardware companies, financial institutions, media organizations, and more, as well as local government officials, and most importantly the local consumers. We’ve built our business on the belief that demand-based market intelligence is more important for a company to understand than supply-based market sizing We have a global team of analysts who are native speakers in the countries we cover conduct all of our primary research. They are out there fielding surveys, running focus groups, talking to gamers, visiting events and venues, and regularly meeting with games industry and government sources. We collect and aggregate data and news in the Asian countries we cover – on a daily basis We follow all of it, in every country, in every language. Our analysts are more than just analysts, they are core gamers who are active in their local gaming and esports scenes. This lets us understand what truly makes each of these diverse and totally unique markets tick. There are things you just cannot understand unless you are on the ground and part of the local scene. When something happens or a trend emerges, we don’t just follow and analyze news releases or reported stories. We reach out and talk to gamers in the local market and find out what’s going on.
Hence, Niko Partners acts as the on-the-ground resource for objective data, analysis and insights for clients of all types who depend on the video game industry globally for their own success. For more information, visit nikopartners.com
