Brand Map: Mario Kart

This week we’re going to look at Mario Kart using the GameVision Brand Map you can buy direct from MCV online.

Twice a year we ask European consumers about 200 games they are playing and compile the data into a report we call a Brand Map. We asked 6,835 gamers about Mario Kart, of whom 2,856 had played the game in the last six months. 982 of these told us about their experience of Mario Kart in more detail.

We see a very even split between males and females playing the game – 56 per cent of players are male, 44 per cent are female. Indeed, a higher proportion of females of all ages are playing Mario Kart than they are the average game. When we refer to a ‘player’, we mean someone who has played the game at all in the last six months – even if they only picked it up briefly at a friend’s house.

If we want to see how much it is being played we look at the monthly eyeball hours and note that over the last three years, Mario Kart clocks in 130m eyeball hours per month – over four times more than the average game. Of those 130m hours, close to two thirds of that time is by male gamers. So males spend a longer period of time playing it than females.

What is attracting females to this brand? From the GameVision Brand Map we also know that the key motivations for playing Mario Kart include: It makes me laugh or feel happy,” and I can play it for short periods of time”.

Mario Kart 7 can’t come soon enough. A gaming brand of this strength coupled with the recent price cut for the 3DS hardware will surely reignite sales of the platform. However, it needs to ensure that these key gameplay motivation drivers are carried over in order to retain a good balance of both male and female gamers.

You can find this and other Brand Maps atwww.mcvuk.com/reports.