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Other than the difference in size and devices, mobile, PC, and console gaming seem to be more or less the same, right? Well, there’s actually more to it than you think. 

Graphical Performance 

Essentially, graphical performance is one of the most prominent differences in gaming on these platforms. For mobile phones, it is distinctly clear that the graphical input of gaming has become higher than expected, with smartphone screens getting bigger and storage spaces gradually increasing in size. Smartphones are now equipped with Double Data Rate 4 (DDR4), the fourth generation of DDR RAM, where it is normally used in laptops and desktops, as it is more power-efficient. This automatically levels up the possibilities for mobile gaming.

Now when it comes to gaming PCs, they are now able to run games at 4K resolution anywhere from 60 frames-per-second (fps) to 100 fps. With powerful CPUs and more raw power from DDR4 RAMs, graphic processors (GPU) as well as high drive storage, you can only expect PC gaming to get bigger and better. 

During February 2020, there was news that Microsoft confirmed the next game console, the Xbox Series X will feature a 12 teraflops (refers to the capability of a processor to calculate one trillion floating-point operations per second) graphics processor, which is 8 times more powerful than the graphics on Xbox One’s chipset. This clearly shows that console gaming has drastically improved in graphical impact over the years. 

Pricing of Devices

Pricing on smartphones and androids really differ according to brand as well as the specifics of the phone. Prices will come as low as MYR 500 to a whopping MYR 12,000 in the Malaysian digital market.

If you are more of a casual gamer and use gaming as just a pastime, an average laptop or desktop with 8 GB of RAM and  HD resolution will do the trick for you. But if your competitiveness strikes and you would like to up your game, higher-end PCs with more powerful graphic cards are available, but it all comes with a price. 

Basic PCs can range from MYR 1,700 to MYR 3,000, while higher-end PCs could price up to MYR 8,500. 

Games consoles, on the other hand, can be inexpensive and consistent in pricing. The pricing for consoles, specifically for an XBOX ONE,  in Malaysia can range from MYR 700 to MYR 2,500 in the current market. 

Game Options

Games for mobile phones are now in the drive with plenty of varieties from traditional arcade-style games like Asphalt 9: Legends to the current trend of multiplayer battle games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). Mobile game pricings are also not costly as some are free of charge and only require an internal download into the phone. 

With PCs and mobiles cross-playing, both PCs and mobile games have increased in variety. For instance, with a Steam account, you have access to 30,000 games and even though you will need to pay for a lot of them, there are also free games allowed for installation and downloading. And of course, there are other gaming sites like GOG Galaxy 2.0. 

However, gaming options in consoles are quite limited as compared to PC and mobile games, but there are roughly 1,100 of XBOX ONE games, as well as PlayStation 4 games. The exclusivity of console games is one of its charms. Furthermore, backward compatibility, which is the ability to play old games on new consoles, is becoming more common and hence, the reason why many are still enjoying console games. 

Durability and Flexibility of Devices

With mobile phones getting more advanced by the minute, phones are no doubt getting more storage capacity and compound features that will better the gaming experience at the tip of your fingers. With phones like the iPhone 11 Pro Max and the OnePlus 8 Pro, gaming experiences are amplified with bigger screens and better quality. 

Detachable keyboards, mice, and joysticks are now also available to phones in order to further upgrade gaming precision. The current craze on VR is also a boost in the mobile gaming industry. 

Gaming on PCs can take a toll on your laptop and desktop if the hardware is continuously being used, but with plenty of salvaged parts in the digital market, it is common to find people switching parts in and out of their laptops and desktops to further elevate their gaming performance. Other controllers like keyboards and joysticks are options for gamers to amplify the entire PC gaming experience. 

Consoles are quite durable. A game console could last a decade if well maintained. However, it is common to see how fast the relevance of game consoles change when a new one enters the market. 

It is no doubt that all these platforms are still relevant in today’s era, and with E-Sports getting bigger and gaining more emphasis each year, the gaming industry will continue to thrive as we know it. Each of us has our own preference in what type of gaming platform is the most comfortable but in terms of comparing which is better, it is entirely up to your own depiction.

He’s Malaysia’s first Winter Olympian. At the young age of 23, @JulianYee is also a 2 time SEA Games Champion, 7 time National Champion and the Director of the Julian Yee Skating Academy. Tune in as Julian shares his inspiring journey as an olympian and the lessons he’s learned thus far.

There is a massive potential for companies to use content marketing as part of their overall growth strategy, however, there is a big difference in simply doing content marketing and doing it well. Ensuring that you deliver on consumer expectations will make all the difference in your ability to grow your business with content marketing. Here are some ways to do it.

#1 Personalized Stories

To be able to stand out, you would have to ensure what you produce is personalized to your target audience. By personalizing your stories it doesn’t just mean inserting a customer’s name in an email, however, it means making your brand story come alive through relatable content and storytelling that connects you to the audience on an emotional level.

#2 Diversifying your content

You must produce a lot of content before you encounter something that goes viral or at least delivers a big boost to your sales numbers. When you diversify content and go beyond standard blog posts, you open up the potential to reach a much wider audience and boost engagement. Diversifying your content also increases the chances of your content going viral.

#3 Allow user-generated content

The underlying goal of your content should be to increase trustworthiness and authenticity of your product or brand. Consumers trust genuine reviews by real users when making a decision to shop for a product or service. Capturing and using customer-generated content is one of the ways to create meaningful and influential content.

#4 Be Able to Provide Quick Answers

People don’t just want answers, they want answers fast. So make your content easy to scan so people can pick up the juicy, important bits quickly. Thus, make sure you are up to date with the information of your content so that you would be able to provide fast and efficient answers. 

#5 Create Engaging and Thought-Provoking Content

Your audience will be more engaged when they are able to be hooked and follow through your content. It all starts with you and what you write so make sure your narrative is strong enough to pull the audience in.

Employee development is more than just employee training and annual evaluations, but also accentuating the strengths of employees and challenging them to push themselves out of their comfort zone in order to improve on certain skill sets. 

How does the development of an employee increase the growth of a business? 

A. Situational Management

If an employee is challenged multiple times through difficult projects or has been given tasks outside of their comfort zone, it is highly likely that they will be able to handle difficult hurdles that require exceptional patience and effort.

B. Employee Retainment

Studies have shown that the top reason why employees leave their company is due to the lack of career growth opportunities. Hence, emphasising on training programs will not only encourage the career growth of an employee but earn the trust and loyalty of employees by showing them that you care for their developmental growth as a professional practitioner in the industry. 

C. Performance Improvement

When employers push the boundaries of employees to mould and shape them into better professionals, the strengths of employees are naturally enhanced, while the weaknesses are improved. Thus, this will result in better performances from employees during work hours. Better performances, better results in clientele projects, increases the business growth of a company. 

What should we do to ensure that employees are professionally growing within a company?

#1 Allow Internal Collaboration

As important as external collaborations with clients, internal collaborations between departments are crucial to employees too. Through internal collabs, different departments can come together and exchange team cultures and relationships between employees are also enhanced. But, as employers, you need the right structures and working systems to ensure proper communication and to encourage empathy across the board. 

#2 Ensuring Personal Development

Understand that employees are people too and taking care of their mental and physical well being is important to build trust and loyalty. Simply asking, ‘how do you feel about work lately?’ will be able to show the employees that they are heard and cared for. Organize annual or monthly office dinners or lunches just to catch up on the team’s personal growth progress and provide opportunities to let employees take breaks in between work hours to ensure maximum productivity. Sign the team up for team training or seminars to encourage personal development on soft skills sets too. 

#3 Practice Being Open & Transparent

Always remember communication goes two ways. As an employer, you can voice out opinions and provide constructive criticisms for situations and projects that can be improved. And employees should also have the right to voice out concerns regarding the management to ensure growth in both parties. Open and barrier-free environments are more enjoyable and allow employees to practice creative and innovative input into their work.

Ta Wan Qian AKA Tata is the founder of Tata Studios and an online content creator. She was also previously a content strategist in MGAG. Tune in to this episode of podcast as she shares how she turned her hobby into a career and her struggles as a content creator.

Youtube is arguably one of the most impactful social media channels for game marketing. Since YouTube is owned by Google, Youtube videos have priority in the Google Search algorithm for key terms, which is essential in the game marketing strategy. Video content also gets more engagement and is able to influence more consumers on Youtube. Data from 2019 has shown that video content accounts for 78% of all the data traffic globally. In fact, a majority of the top channels on Youtube are gaming channels, proving that Youtubers truly do hold power over the video gaming industry. 

There are many instances of games that have gone viral on Youtube, especially because the platform is so contagious. Once one Youtuber makes a successful video on a game, other Youtube gamers are quick to follow suit. Nowadays, video game marketers have gone so far as to do away with traditional marketing and reach out to popular Youtube gamers directly to promote their games, and it works! 

1. Five Nights at Freddy’s 

Five Nights at Freddy’s is an indie game created by Scott Cawthon. Despite its smaller budget, it became a hit due to the sheer amount of Youtubers who played the game. The game doesn’t boast the most complex gameplay or even spectacular animation, but the lore and mystery were able to keep viewers intrigued. YouTubers like Markiplier and GameTheorist have made many videos playing this game, with the latter having an ongoing series dissecting the lore behind the plot. 

2. Goat Simulator 

This open-ended third-person perspective game where players explore a world as a goat might seem like an unlikely hit, but it became one of the most popular games in 2014 when it was released. It’s the randomness and freedom that the game allows that caught the attention of viewers. One of Youtuber Pewdiepie’s first viral videos was actually of him playing Goat Simulator. The absurd premise allows Youtubers to showcase their humour and personality, which are definitely elevated by the crazy animations.   

3. Minecraft

Minecraft isn’t a new game by any means. Released in 2011 by Mojang Studios, it started out as a family-friendly 3D sandbox video game that allowed players to build and explore in an infinite game world and is now deemed one of the most culturally impactful games of the decade. It’s initial popularity in 2012 is very much attributed to Youtubers like DanTDM and CaptainSparklez. Now, the Minecraft hype has seen a resurgence on Youtube due to a growing community and also because Pewdiepie published a Minecraft video in June of 2019. 

4. Hello Neighbor

Hello Neighbor began as an idea by development studio Dynamic Pixels. It is a survival stealth horror game in which players play as ‘Nick Roth’, who has to sneak around a strange neighbourhood to unearth secrets by solving a series of puzzles. A Kickstarter campaign was launched further into development to fund the game. It became popular among a young crowd due to the allure of the mysteries. Some of the largest gaming Youtubers like GameTheorist and Jacksepticeye helped popularise the game. 

The collection of personal data has been an occurring concern in the 21st century, especially with the advancement of technology, many internet users have put a lot of consideration in protecting their personal data and constantly improving in methods to prevent data breach and the leak of private data. 

But have you ever thought on why companies and businesses collect data in the first place? 

Before that, let’s take a look on the 4 types of data that are collected by businesses alike: 

1. Personal data: includes personally identifiable information such as social security numbers and gender as well as non personally identifiable information, including your IP address, web browser cookies, and device IDs (which both your laptop and mobile device have).

2. Engagement data: details on how consumers interact with a business’s website, mobile apps, social media pages, emails, paid ads and customer service routes.

3. Behavioral data: transactional details such as purchase histories, product usage information, and qualitative data.

4. Attitudinal data: consumer satisfaction, purchase criteria, product desirability and more. 

Data is usually collected by directly asking it from the customers (survey forms etc.) or indirectly tracking with tracking technologies from websites, social media pages etc, sites with high consumer activities.

Now let’s get into why personal data is collected: 

1. To Improve Customer Experience

The reviews of products helps a business to determine which product should be recommended to which user, helps modify content in order to better consumer content and engagement.

2. To Improve Marketing Campaigns

This is to help companies understand how consumers are engaging with and responding to their marketing campaigns, and adjust accordingly. This highly predictive use, gives businesses an idea of what consumers want based on what they have already done. 

3. A Means of Securing More Sensitive Information

Marrying data from a customer’s interaction with a call center, machine learning algorithms, and tracking technologies that can identify and flag potentially fraudulent attempts to access a customer’s account. 

But do you know that you can still provide a personalized experience without collecting personal data?

The answer is through personification. 

Personification is the “delivery and optimization of relevant digital experiences based on an individual’s inferred membership in a customer segment and their immediate circumstances rather than their personal identity,” said by Andrew Frank, VP Distinguished Analyst with Gartner for Marketing Leaders.

Based on Andrew Frank’s research, personification is the idea of using less of the data that GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is focused on (personal identity, etc.), and utilizing the notion of a “persona”, which is essentially an audience segment that has been “de-identified” (with all personally identifiable information removed). This data is based on the audience’s behaviours and interactions with the products or services. This kind of information can prevent privacy intrusion and at the same time can be more telling about what the users’ intent might be at a given time.

Now is the perfect time for your business and company to practice personification and come up with new techniques in order to provide the best user and customer experience for your consumers and your brand.