Global research by Kaspersky has found that over a tenth of gamers (12%, ~179 million¹ globally) have had their ID stolen, which could be worth a combined $347 billion² globally.

Kaspersky commissioned the research and Savanta conducted it in November 2020, in order to look at the state of global gaming in 2020. According to the 5,031 gamers surveyed across 17 countries, nearly a fifth (19%) have also been bullied while playing. This trend is even more prevalent in the US (27%), Saudi Arabia (27%), Turkey (28%) and Russia (44%).

A third (33%) of gamers have suffered at the hands of cheaters. All of these issues together caused stress and anxiety in 31% of them. This is in spite of the fact that stress relief is the very thing the majority of them (62%) go to gaming to remove, as well as thrills (62%), and then friendship (46%).

“When gaming, it’s important to consider from the outset how you can best avoid or handle bullies, cheats and hackers,” said Marina Titova, Head of Consumer Product Marketing at Kaspersky. “Acting on this early means you can put many of those fears to the side and focus on enjoying the game.”

Kaspersky offers seven ways to help be as safe as possible while gaming online:

1. Buy from official sources: Always shop for PC games either on well-known platforms like Steam and GOG or on official developer sites.
2. Save smart: Official stores often provide amazing discounts, or even free games. But many e-mail offers can be a scam. Go to the developer’s or store’s website to see if the discount is mentioned there. If not, it’s not real.
3. Check the return policy: Before buying, know the store’s rules for returning a game you don’t like or that doesn’t work on your computer.
4. Use a dedicated card for online shopping: Instead of linking a card that has all your savings, get a debit card for online shopping and refill it as needed. That way, should intruders break in to a site you use, they won’t get much.
5. Use a secure connection: We recommend logging in to online stores only from home, having properly secured your home network and using products like Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection.
6. Protect your accounts: Protect your account on Steamand net, and on any social network profiles you use to sign in to gaming stores (but don’t use social network accounts to log in elsewhere, if you can help it).
7. Protect your devices: The computers, smartphones, and tablets you use for gaming also need protection. A reliable solution like Kaspersky Security Cloud blocks fraudulent websites and malware, provides alerts about security issues, and, contrary to popular misconception, does not spoil gameplay. The Gaming Mode you’ll find in modern security solutions turns on automatically when you play in full-screen mode.

To read the full report, visit our blog.

Notes to editors

^“Generation Game” was commissioned by Kaspersky and conducted by Savanta in November 2020, over 17 countries and 5,031 respondents. All respondents were under 35, spread evenly across gender, age and socioeconomics within that, consider themselves gamers, and game at least 5-10 hours per week on a PC. The countries are: Russia, USA & UK (at least 500 each), Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and UAE (at least 250 each).

¹Global gaming reach based on 3.1bn global gamers, 48% of which are on PC. 12% of 1.488bn is 178,560,000 or 179 million

²Average Steam account is worth $1,936

³Negative Stereotypes of Online Gamers and the Communication Consequences