Gamers lack confidence in developers' security safeguards

Despite the number of high-profile data breaches over the last year, many businesses and consumers are still not taking appropriate measures to ensure proper security online. The games industry is no exception, with several major game companies having been hit by significant breaches.

A survey by gaming industry backend service PlayFab of more than 500 users who play video games for more than four hours per week, reveals that 83 percent of respondents believe game developers should be responsible for securing players' personal data. However fewer than 40 percent say they feel confident in current safeguards.

In addition, while 86 percent of participants expressed concern with protecting personal data on the internet, for nearly half of all respondents data security ranked as one of their lowest priorities when making game purchases.

"Data breaches continue to plague businesses across the globe, and the games industry is not immune to these attacks," says James Gwertzman, co-founder and CEO of PlayFab. "These survey results underscore both the opportunity for game developers to improve trust by focusing on security measures, and the importance that they do so to safeguard an audience that relies on them. PlayFab plays a role in this by giving developers a battle-tested, secure backend that makes it easier to protect players' private data".

Other findings include that 46 percent of respondents say they provide the bare minimum of personal data required, and 20 percent indicate they will sometimes give false information, when making game purchases.

Nearly 60 percent cite cost and game play experience as the first or second most important factors when selecting a game, with almost half ranking security as one of the least important factors.

When asked about the security of their game accounts and experiences, more than 80 percent ranked either personally identifiable or financial related information as the most important thing to protect. Most respondents had minimal experience with compromised data -- only 30 percent were aware of data breaches that had affected the games industry, and 85 percent hadn't experienced a game-related security breach. 71 percent say they hadn't ever discontinued use of a game due to security vulnerability concerns, further highlighting a lack of awareness of potential risks.

The majority of participants, 55 percent, either view desktop and laptop systems as safer than other platforms, or believe all platforms to be roughly equal in terms of security, indicating a disconnect from the real world security landscape.

You can see more details of the survey results in infographic format below.

Image Credit: BonD80/ Shutterstock