YouTube influencers are shaping the gaming industry in unexpected ways, and a new study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science uncovers the surprising truth: Although influencers can drive massive engagement with video games, they might also be costing game developers millions in lost sales.
The study, “Opposing Influences of YouTube Influencers: Purchase and Usage Effects in the Video Game Industry,” provides the first causal evidence of how influencer marketing affects gaming. Researchers found that although YouTube gaming content increases playtime, it may also discourage purchases – particularly for narrative-driven games in which viewers can experience the full storyline by watching playthroughs.
More Views, More Playtime – But Fewer Sales?
Using extensive data from Steam, the world’s largest PC gaming platform, the researchers uncovered a double-edged sword: YouTube influencers drive more engagement with the YouTube influencers and longer playtime, but their content can actually hurt game sales.
“YouTube gaming content is a blessing and a curse,” says Nan Li, the study’s lead author and professor at Tongji University. “It can turn a game into a viral sensation, but for some games, especially story-driven ones, people may choose to watch instead of buy. That’s a major challenge for developers.”
The “Adpocalypse” Effect: A Game-Changer for Research
The researchers took advantage of a unique event in YouTube’s history – known as the Adpocalypse – in which a sudden change in YouTube’s advertising policies forced influencers to delay their uploads. This gave researchers a rare opportunity to study the causal impact of influencer content, free from the usual biases.
“Most influencer studies can’t separate cause and effect,” says Avery Haviv, a professor in the Simon Business School, University of Rochester. “But this moment in YouTube’s history gave us a natural experiment to measure the real impact of gaming videos on sales and engagement. The results were eye-opening.”
What This Means for the Gaming Industry
The findings explain why companies have been divided on influencer marketing. Although games that rely on long-term engagement (like Minecraft or Fortnite) benefit from YouTube’s reach, single purchase games (e.g., story-driven RPGs) may actually lose revenue when influencers share full playthroughs.
“It’s clear that one-size-fits-all marketing no longer works in gaming,” says Li. “For games that make money from in-game purchases, influencer exposure is free advertising. But for single-purchase games, developers must think twice about their strategies.”
The Bottom Line: Friend or Foe?
With YouTube gaming content making up one-third of all YouTube traffic, and gaming influencers driving billions of views, this research delivers a critical message: influencer marketing is powerful, but it’s not always profitable. “For game developers, the question isn’t whether influencers matter – it’s whether they help or hurt the bottom line,” says Mitch Lovett, a professor in the Simon Business School, University of Rochester. “The answer depends entirely on the business model.”
