Game Audience Research Thailand: Understanding Thai Gamers to Boost Marketing Effectiveness

Game Audience Research Thailand is a process of studying players, their game exploration behavior, spending motivations, and the factors driving engagement in the Thai market. For publishers looking to launch or expand their products here, researching the right audience helps reduce reliance on guesswork, select appropriate marketing channels, and make data-driven localization decisions.

According to depa, the Thai gaming market reached 37.014 billion baht in 2025; 98% of the market's value comes from imported content. Thailand is therefore a high-potential market for international publishers, but it is also highly competitive. To attract and retain players, businesses need to understand not only what they play, but also why they play, where they discover games, and what makes them willing to spend.

What's Notable About the Thai Gaming Market?

Data from KResearch projects that Thailand will have 42.5 million gaming accounts in 2025, a 1.2% increase from 2024 and an increase of more than 14.2 million accounts compared to 2020. However, this large size does not mean that gamers are a homogeneous group.

Gen Y is currently the primary player demographic and has high spending power. Meanwhile, Gen Z is growing rapidly and is more interested in self-expression, character customization, and personalizing their gaming experience. Even within the same generation, behavior can vary significantly depending on the platform, game genre, frequency of play, and spending levels.

Differences across platforms are also quite significant. According to depa, mobile is the largest segment, reaching 18.071 billion baht in 2025. PC grew by 9%, reaching 12.385 billion baht, while console reached 6.539 billion baht after a 3% decline. Therefore, a research model designed for mobile games should not be applied wholesale to PC or console.

What Should a Thai Gamer Profile Include?

A useful player profile needs to go beyond basic demographic variables. Instead of simply asking “How old is the player?”, publishers should identify:

• The platforms and devices they use;
• Game genres and frequency of play;
• Motivations for starting and continuing to play;
• Spending levels, types of in-game items, and timing of purchases;
• Level of community engagement, following creators, and willingness to try new games.

Segmenting by behavior helps businesses identify commercially valuable differences. Two people who are both Gen Z, but one who plays RPGs daily and frequently purchases in-game items, will require a different approach than someone who primarily plays free-to-play casual games.

How Do Thai Gamers Discover and Spend on Games?

In the first quarter of 2025, Thai players spent approximately $162 million on in-app purchases (IAP), an increase of about 6% compared to the same period last year. Sensor Tower reported that Thailand led Southeast Asia in mobile game IAP revenue during this period.

KResearch also noted that Sports and RPG are the game genres with the highest spending, while Shooting and Casual games attract more new players. This suggests that download numbers or total player counts alone are insufficient to assess the value of a segment. Research must simultaneously consider three factors: scale, engagement, and spending power.

The journey of discovering games takes place across multiple touchpoints. DataReportal reports that by the end of 2025, Thailand had 67.8 million Internet users and 56.6 million social media user identities. LINE has approximately 56 million monthly active users; the estimated advertising reach of Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok is also high.

These figures do not indicate which platform has the most gamers, as advertising data does not equate to the number of unique active users. A more appropriate research question is: What do players use each platform for: discovering games, watching gameplay, finding reviews, following creators, or participating in communities?

Factors That Influence the Decision to Play and Stay

In-game spending

For games with an IAP model, research should clarify which items players are willing to pay for, what price points are considered reasonable, and when transactions are most likely to occur. In RPGs, purchase motivations may relate to characters, progression, gacha mechanics, competitiveness, community, or a sense of ownership. These are factors that general market data cannot explain on its own.

Community and creators

Guilds, friends, tournaments, events, and creators can significantly influence engagement levels, particularly in role-playing, competitive, or socially oriented games. Creators should therefore not be viewed merely as an advertising channel. Publishers need to understand which audience segments they are reaching, why players trust them, and what types of content are likely to drive awareness, consideration, or game downloads.

Culture and localization

For games that incorporate Thai beliefs, folklore, characters, or landmarks, localization research must assess both the appeal and the risk of negative reactions. Research on Home Sweet Home shows that elements such as ghosts, rituals, religious practices, artifacts, and locations can all contribute to the game's cultural experience.

Rather than simply asking “Do players like the Thai elements?”, companies should investigate which details create a sense of familiarity, which are considered accurate, and which depictions might be seen as clichéd or disrespectful.

An Effective Game Audience Research Thailand Process

A good research study should begin with the business decision that needs to be supported, followed by the selection of methods and data. The process can consist of five steps:

• Define objectives: game launch, increase awareness, improve download rates, increase spending, or reduce churn;
• Segment players by platform, genre, behavior, and potential value;
• Combine desk research with quantitative surveys, in-depth interviews, or focus groups;
• Analyze the journey from discovery, download, and experience through spending to retention or churn;
• Translate the results into specific decisions for product, marketing, creators, and localization.

If a game is about to launch, research should focus on brand awareness, discovery channels, and the reasons for choosing a new game. If a game has already been released but is struggling to retain players, the focus should shift to the post-download experience, pain points, update content, the community, and the reasons players leave the game. For Vietnamese games looking to enter the Thai market, it's essential to verify the similarities and differences between the two markets rather than assuming that a formula that worked in Vietnam will continue to be effective.

Market data from depa, KResearch, Sensor Tower, and DataReportal provides a picture of market size, platforms, genres, and spending. Surveys help measure rates and trends; in-depth interviews or focus groups help explain motivations. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods is the way to turn data into actionable insights.

Conclusion

Thailand is a significant gaming market characterized by high mobile spending and a large share of imported content. Opportunities coexist with competition: publishers need to thoroughly understand players before deciding to invest in products and marketing.

Game Audience Research Thailand provides valuable insights by linking market data to player behavior, motivations, spending, communities, creators, and culture. The ultimate goal is not simply to produce another report, but to help businesses determine who to target, where to reach them, what message to use, and what changes are needed to increase conversion rates and player retention.

If your business needs market research, player research, or insights for a game launch plan in Thailand, contact ANBU to develop a tailored research scope.