New data tracking from independent UK-based market research agency Childwise has revealed that older children, particularly teenage boys, are not as enamored by open-ended building game Minecraft as they once were.
In its latest Playground Buzz report for summer, which sampled more than 1,000 eight to 16-year-olds in schools across the UK on their favorite brands, Minecraft has fallen out of the top 10 since being ranked second most favorite brand among boys ages 13 to 16 in Childwise’s spring Playground Buzz report three months ago.
Minecraft, which has had 11,000 global PC/Mac purchases in the last 24 hours alone, has also been overtaken by YouTube for the second most popular brand position behind stalwart Xbox, but it still ranks as the third most popular brand overall.
According to the report, the brand is now more popular among younger boys and remains the second most popular brand among tween boys.
Tween girls ages eight to 12, on the other hand, now rate Minecraft at number four, after ranking it as their number one brand in the spring.
“Although we cannot be sure of the reasons why it is falling out of favor, it is possible that Minecraft has reached its peak, with older children now losing interest as it filters down to younger age groups,” said Childwise research exec Matthew Nevard in a statement on the report.
“Older boys may be moving on to games on the new generations of consoles, like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, which are becoming more affordable.”
Additionally, the report found that kids are currently talking the most about about Xbox, Minecraft, YouTube and Fifa 15 brands.
Interestingly, TV series including Britain’s Got Talent, Pretty Little Liars and adult-targeted Game of Thrones continue to be hot topics among the sample.
Streaming leader Netflix and Snapchat have also both broken into the top 10 favorite brand ranking this summer at number nine and 10, respectively.
The next Playground Buzz report will be released this fall. All Childwise reports can be found at www.childwise.co.uk/reports.