We took time to look at one leading Southeast Asian gaming personality, Cheryl Allison Lim, also known as Cherzinga. Cheryl is a Singaporean gaming personality, much loved celebrity who is into soccer and fashion and is a professional esports player, playing competitive Dota and Valorant. Cherly is a gaming influencer, especially amongst women gamers where she users her influence to inspire other female gamers. Cheryl has around 68,000 followers on Instagram.
In fact Southeast Asia had the second largest female gaming population amongst Asian regions, around 35% of all players. In Indonesia, the number of women gamers sits at nearly 49% of all gamers. There’s a widespread love of gaming across Southeast Asia with more than 2 in 3 online consumers in Southeast Asia, being gamers. And gamers in Southeast Asia don’t mind spending either, with an average spend per player per month sitting at US$30 for gaming related purchases such as exclusive content, esports tournament tickets, merchandise collectables and subscriptions.
In 2022 there were an estimated 250+million mobile online gamers in Southeast Asia and with the continued roll out of technology and the accessibility for more props not have smart phones, this number is increasing constantly. So the average spend per month is significant.
A recent survey across the region by Samsung identified four key groups of gamers, Hardcore Gamers, Gaming Enthusiasts, Casual Gamers & Spectators. More than half of all gamers indulged in gaming activities at least 2 to 3 times per week. The majority of gamers prefer to engage in gameplay at home. The top 5 gaming related activities included watching gaming videos, discussing games with others, reading gaming news and updates, spending money on gaming related activities and following gaming personalities on social media.
The four types of gamers identified showed that 17% of gamers are identified as hardcore, 39% as gaming enthusiasts, 17% as casual gamers and spectators and a further 27% as casual in playing at most once per week. The top gaming habits determined saw, 75% pop gamers play to destress and relax, 94% play from home, 7 hours is the average played per week and 51% of gamers made gaming related purchases in the past month.
Influencers such as Cheryl are helping more and more women across Southeast Asia become gamers and are changing the stereotype of what a gamer is.
