Cross-platform experiences can help marketing: insights from Google Play's Best 2021

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Google has announced the winners of Google Play's Best of 2021 , a distinction awarded to apps and games that made positive contributions to culture this year. This is the first time that Google has extended the awards to apps and games on tablets, smartwatches and televisions.

While it may seem like just a fun award, keeping track of the top mint database apps chosen in each category of Google Play's Best of 2021 can give you more valuable insights for your brand strategy than you might imagine.

Keep reading and find out!

A bit of context
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic forced people around the world to stay at home and adopt social distancing as a health measure. With this scenario of anxiety, uncertainty, loneliness and a great risk to health, games became a way to cope with this challenge, as we can see in the Washington Post article about the games that helped us overcome the pandemic .

Multiplayer games, especially, allowed us to connect with friends, make new acquaintances, enjoy fun times together, and be part of a community, even if we were physically separated.

But what about making multiplayer games cross-platform? Well, it just so happens that it's easier to get friends together to play if the game works on different devices.

If you have a Nintendo Switch or an iPhone, you can play Pokémon UNITE with your friends who have an Android smartphone.

Applying a multi-platform strategy (even better if you combine it with interactive content and gamification tools) can generate powerful results for your brand.

Google Play's Best of 2021 Cross-Platform Marketing Statistics and Trends
A partnership between Unity and The Harris Poll produced the Cross-Platform Gaming 2021 Report , in which we can see that:

More than half (56%) of all Americans played multiplayer games in the past year;
A significant majority (87%) of those players also played cross-platform games;
43% of multiplatform players say they want more options in this mode.
So, for the gaming industry, it seems that crossplay is a major trend for multiplayer titles from now on. But what conclusions can marketers draw from all this?

There are some ideas we would like to share.

Keep reading!

Take advantage of interactivity and gamification in your content strategy
Games are some of the most interactive and immersive experiences out there, so thinking about interactive content for your brand and delivering it in a gamified way can be a good approach to engage your audience.

Especially if it is an audience made up of young adults ( 18-34 years old), who are used to a game logic that involves tasks, rewards, completing missions and leveling up.

This video from Gamify shows some good examples of gamification techniques to think about

The Gamify Awards: Best Gamification of 2021
Multiplatform is key
Regardless of the interactive content strategy you use, it is essential to keep in mind that, for users, the fewer conflicts there are between platforms, the better the experience will be and, consequently, the engagement of your audience.

This is even more important when users can interact with each other during the experience. That means you want to avoid a quiz or ad-supported game that works well on iOS, but is seriously buggy on Android, desktop, etc.

Don't forget that humans are social beings
During the pandemic, a significant number of people have taken part in video games. When the pandemic is finally over, it is quite possible that people will spend their time outdoors, with friends and family they have not seen in person for a long time.

However, according to this article , we can consider that people have become more open to using games as social spaces. That means that they may also be more inclined to similar interactive experiences. It may be harder to capture the attention of your audience these days, but listening to their pains and coming up with some creative ideas for interactivity and engagement can be what makes the difference in your strategy.