We’ve covered a fair bit around toxicity in games in our recent weekly Q&As, from how prevalent it is, to which games are most affected, but…

What are the tangible effects of toxicity on a gaming community?

Aside from the significant mental toll toxicity can have on players, there are also clear reasons for having effective moderation in place from a business perspective as well.

An obvious effect on communities that aren’t welcoming to new players, is player churn. Riot Games published a fascinating study that found that first-time League of Legends players who experienced toxicity were 320% more likely to churn immediately and never play again. While there may not be much data in public about this, you can be sure that publishers are keeping a close eye on this internally.

More and more we’re seeing studios turn to lucrative partnerships from an array of brands looking to gain exposure. Recently, Gucci even unveiled their own branded Xbox Series X, with a price tag of a mere $10,000. While Gucci’s latest PR stunt is an extreme example, these collaborations have formed a vital part of a game’s bottom line, particularly as the development costs of creating AAA titles continue to swell. But communities that are known for toxicity or having a high churn rate can quickly impact brand perception, and risk jeopardising these partnerships as well.

While we know gaming companies are currently working on analysing churn, Utopia Analytics is also processing specific data sets to identify when users are about to churn, providing additional data to the teams to try and address the issue before it begins to snowball.