THREATS ENCOUNTERED ON TOP GAMES'
SOCIAL MEDIA PROPERTIES
Subject:
Threats encountered on top games' Facebook pages
Purpose:
Identify the most common threats faced by the gaming industry on
social media
Method:
We extracted and analysed 120,000 comments from 8 of the most
popular games' Facebook official pages
Results:
6,408 social media threats found
1 in 18 comments includes a social media threat
Breakdown of biggest threats found:
Piracy and game hacks, trading of game accounts and game items,
harmful spam and hate speech
Contents:
Content Analysis
Summary of Findings
Definitions of Social Media Threats
Threat Distribution among Audited Games
Facebook Post Receiving the Highest Amount of Harmful Content
Insights on Piracy and Game Hacks
Comments Related to Piracy and Game Hacks
Social Media Threats Trends
Conclusions
BrandBastion.com
G
A
BrandBastion performed an analysis of the Facebook pages of 8 trending games to discover what type of threats
the gaming industry faces on social media.
each game's
page.
Games
analysed:
15,000
comments
were
extracted
and
analysed
Grand Theft auto V, Dota 2, Destiny, League of
from
Legends,
Tomb Raider, Minecraft, EA Sports FIFA and Clash of Kings.
Key insights
Game hacks, cheats and piracy are spreading
fast on games' social media properties.
G
eceiving
Grand Theft Auto V
1,623
15,000
Commenters are selling or looking to buy
premium accounts and hacking games in
exchange for money on games' Facebook pages.
Comments promoting game cheats, game hacks
and free downloads, online bullying and harmful
spam are the most common types of threats.
ost armful ontent
Minecraft
1,032
Clash of Kings
15,000
881
= Harmful comments
BrandBastion.com
15,000
= Total comments
3
S
5,3%
51%
Social Media
Threats
Social spam
5%
Competitor
Promotions
19%
Profanity and
Hate Speech
19%
Piracy and Game
Hacks
2%
Copyright
Infringement
4%
Trading Accounts
and Game Items
M
Piracy and game
hacks
Profanity and hate
speech
Links to
pornography
and malware
BrandBastion.com
4
S
M
Example
Threats
Category
Definition
Social spam
Pornography, chain letters,
generic spam, unrelated
content and harmful spam
such as malware, phishing,
bots and scams.
3,255
comments
Comments promoting piracy
and free downloads of
games, tools to crack
games, mods, game cheats
or
free
game
items,
including selling cheats or
modded accounts.
1,242
comments
Piracy and
game hacks
Profanity
and hate
speech
Racism, defamatory and
inappropriate
language,
online bullying.
1,222
comments
Competitor
promotions
Comments promoting other
games or other game
companies.
Trading of
accounts or
game items
Selling, buying or trading
game accounts or game
items.
Copyright
infringements
Page impersonations and
comments
promoting
copyrighted products.
314
comments
266
comments
112
comments
Threat dial indicates how much potential damage the social media threat poses to the brand and the community.
BrandBastion.com
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A
G
Tomb Raider
Minecraft
League of Legends
GTA V
EA Sports FIFA
Dota 2
Destiny
Clash of Kings
Competitor promotions
Profanity and hate speech
Piracy and game hacks
Copyright infringement
Trading accounts and game items
Social spam
Distribution of harmful content varies across the different games analysed
GTA V
Minecraft
Clash of Kings
League of Legends
Dota 2
Destiny
EA Sports FIFA
Tomb Raider
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
Social media threats
BrandBastion.com
6
A
201 Harmful Comments
955 Total Visible Comments
21%
Social Media
Threats
Social spam
Trading game accounts
Copyright infringement
Piracy and game hacks
Profanity and hate speech
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
19-Jan
26-Jan
2-Feb
9-Feb
Total Comments
BrandBastion.com
16-Feb 23-Feb
1-Mar
8-Mar
Harmful comments
7
G
Amount of fans exposed to threats found
68
million
fans
are exposed to game
hacks, game piracy or to
links that
lead
to
malware,
pornographic
content
and
money
scams.
A
We conducted an analysis on comments related
to game piracy and game hacks. 72% of the
comments included a link.
8%
Pages promoting free game
items in order to spread
malware/adware/spyware.
24%
19%
Pages promoting free game items
leading to referral schemes like
ads or paid surveys.
Pages infringing upon copyright,
trademark or policy violiations.
2%
3%
Click baits: Page promoting
free game items in order to
generate visitors and clicks.
Links leading to Youtube videos
promoting game hacks.
16%
28%
Links leadingEJSFDUMZto game
hacks, cheats and game piracy.
Text
comments
related
to piracy and game hacks.
Users giving activation codes, free gift codes or promotional codes
Users giving info on how to hack/get free items/free games
Users asking for hacks or cheats
Users asking for passwords, license keys
Users promoting game piracy
Users asking for pirated games
Text comments that
do not include links
Users promoting game hacking
Users selling game cheats or modded accounts
BrandBastion.com
8
G
E
BrandBastion.com
9
*$' $#- /- ).
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Mon
Wed
Tue
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Harmful Comments
The amount of harmful content created peaks towards the middle of the week.
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
PST
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Harmful Comments
The posting time of harmful content peaks between 4 AM and 8 PM Pacific Time.
BrandBastion.com
10
1. 1 out of 18 comments on games' Facebook pages included a direct social media threat or defamatory language.
2. Piracy, game hacks and cheats are spreading fast on the social media pages of popular games. 19% of all social
media threats include direct links to game piracy, hacks and cheats.
3. The post receiving the highest amount of harmful content had 21% harmful comments, i.e. 1 in 5 comments
includes a social media threat or defamatory language.
1.
In terms of revenue, video games are now the second most pirated category after Movies, TV shows, Music
and Adult content. Even though the gaming companies are making progress in preventing piracy and game
hacks, these factors are still threatening the industry and can lead to grave financial losses. Research shows
that the total revenue lost to pirated games was approximately $74.1 billion in 2014 whilst the global video
game industry only bought in $83.6 billion in revenue. Preventing game piracy has been implemented with
varying degrees of success and creativity in the past, but now the pirates have a new weapon to add to their
arsenal posting links and harmful content in the comments on social media pages, to drive even more free
downloads of games or to spread harmful hacks.
2.
According to Eugen Harton, cheat sellers can make a tremendous amount up to $1.25 million a year from
selling cheats. This sellers are not afraid to make offers directly on games' social media properties, right in their
own front yard.
3.
Game purchasers are affected by players who "don't play fair" and they expect game studios to take action.
While game publishers are known for banning players who use cheats, the war against the rule breakers is still
going on.
BrandBastion.com
11
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