Gaming monetization - Statistics & Facts
In 2015, the global video games market was worth approximately 71 billion U.S. dollars. By the end of 2020 its value is expected to exceed 90 billion U.S. dollars. The gaming software industry depends on three monetization models to make such profits: consumers may simply buy games; revenues can be generated via in-game advertising; or gamers spend money on micro-transactions. Each of these models can be exploited individually; however, in many cases gaming companies choose to combine at least two of the three models to boost income prospects. The combined models function mostly in free-to-play (F2P) games, where gamers are encouraged to pay for enhancements, such as additional lives, currency, personalized avatars, an ad-free experience, or unrestricted playing time. Those playing for free may face in-game advertisements, timers, a lack of customization options, or other annoyances.
In the United States the average annual expenditure on gaming software in 2015 amounted to approximately 12 U.S. dollars per consumer. It is estimated that roughly 60 percent of gamers in the country own between one and ten paid PC games, paid console games, or paid mobile games.
On the other side, recent calculations indicate that consumer spending on in-game purchases will grow from 22 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 to 32 billion in 2020. In 2016, more than a quarter of gamers in the United States admitted to purchasing such additional video game content. The majority of those transactions were worth between one and 20 U.S. dollars, while 11 percent of U.S. gamers claimed to have spent more than 250 U.S. dollars on in-game purchases.
From the point of view of gaming companies, the pay-up-front method of monetization is the preferred way to earn money. However, only 18 percent of mobile gamers said this was how they would choose to pay for games. A staggering majority said they would much rather watch rewarded video ads in exchange for free gaming content. In line with these findings, 67 percent of games in Google Play Store were utilizing the ad-supported model. Also, nearly 60 percent of iOS games contained advertising, as opposed to 40 percent that did not rely on in-game advertising at all.
Gaming monetization - Important statistics
- 1. Overview
+Value of the console gaming market worldwide 2011-2020, by type- +F2P & P2P MMO games market value worldwide 2016, by region
- +Share of U.S. consumers purchasing additional gaming content 2016, by type
- +Share of global mobile users making in-game purchases 2016, by platform
- +Digital games industry revenue in the U.S. 2016, by category
- +Share of mobile games on Google Play 2016, by monetization type
- 2. Free games
- +In-game consumer spending worldwide 2015-2020
- +F2P PC games revenue worldwide 2016-2019
- +PC F2P games revenue in North America 2010-2015, by genre
- +U.S. in-game mobile gaming revenue 2013-2016
- +Number of in-game purchases made by freemium mobile gamers 2016
- +Amount spent on in-game purchases according to U.S. gamers 2016
- 3. Paid games
- +U.S. household expenditure on video games 2011-2015, by type
- +Leading locations for video game purchases in the U.S. 2016
- +Game pre-order frequency according to U.S. gamers 2016
- +Paid PC games possession in the U.S. 2016
- +Paid home console games possession in the U.S. 2016
- +Paid mobile games possession in the U.S. 2016
- Top paid PC games on Steam 2015, by unit sales
- 4. Monetization
- Global in-app advertising and app store revenues 2015 & 2020
- Online gaming monetization methods used by gaming companies worldwide 2016
- +Preferred monetization channels for mobile games worldwide 2015
- +Monthly in-app gaming spend per user 2016, by platform
- +Annual mobile in-game spending in the U.S. 2016, by game
- +Share of free mobile games on Google Play 2016, by monetization model
- +Google Play games using selected monetization models 2016
- +Share of Android and iOS games in the U.S. containing ads in 2016
- +Top SDKs used by Google Play games 2016
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