Summary
A mere 0.23% of free-to-play game players are responsible for 60% of all in-app gaming revenue, according to a report produced by mobile marketing specialists Swrve.
The data comes from Swrve’s Monetization Report for 2015, which is the world’s largest report covering free-to-play mobile gaming of its type.
This statistic alone shows why game developers need to pay special attention to big spenders, with VentureBeat comparing their value to “high rollers” in the casino world, where they’re encouraged to spend money by being offered complimentary services.
Swrve’s report also examines player purchases made in apps.
The report also details how many players make purchases inside apps. It reveals that 44% of players make a single in-app purchase, while only 16.8% make two purchases. The figure continues to drop with three purchases made by 11.9%, and just 7% making four purchases. Highlighting the importance of big spenders, the percentage rises to 20.3% for this making five in-app purchases.
On average, those players who do spend out make 3.5 purchases each month, and the average purchase price works out at $8.27. Players are happy to wait to make that first purchase, with the average time coming in at 15 hours before paying out. However, this figure has fallen from 24 hours when the survey was taken in 2014.
Christopher Dean, CEO at Swrve, said:
chrisdean
“The numbers are clear: the mobile games space is changing and growing. Although still reliant on a relatively small but growing number of players, there is a clear trend towards a broader payer base and a more sophisticated approach to driving revenues. We’re leaving the ‘acquisition phase’ of mobile, as developers realize that success is determined by what happens after the install.”
The report was made from analysing data gathered from 20 million players across 40 different free-to-play titles, during a 30 day period at the beginning of 2015. You can download it from here.
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Fra VentureBeat som kommenterer tallene fra Swrve:
- The headline seems bleak, but Swrve’s data also shows that the average monthly spend was $29.17, up from $22 in the same month last year, an increase of nearly 33 percent.
- These findings continue to demonstrate the importance of attracting targeted players to the game, identifying them early, and ensuring the best possible in-game experience to maximize return on investment, Swrve said.
- The report also indicates the slew of mobile game business acquisitions may be waning as companies learn to manage the player lifecycle: the percentage of players who made real in-game purchases in January rose to 2.3 percent, compared to 1.5 percent in 2014.
Here are more of the key report findings:
- Of paying customers, 44 percent made one purchase, while 20 percent made five or more
- The typical paying player makes 3.5 purchases per month, at an average purchase price of $8.27
- ‘Mid-tier’ virtual items priced at $10 to $20 drive the free-to-play business, contributing 21.9 percent of purchases and 38.6 percent of revenue. The latter figure is up from 22 percent a year ago.
- The average time to first purchase is only 15 hours, down from just under 24 hours in 2014, which makes it clear that successful titles incentivize early spend.
“The numbers are clear: the mobile games space is changing and growing,” said Christopher Dean, Swrve CEO, in a statement. “Although still reliant on a relatively small but growing number of players, there is a clear trend towards a broader payer base and a more sophisticated approach to driving revenues. We’re leaving the ‘acquisition phase’ of mobile, as developers realize that success is determined by what happens after the install.”
Swrve said the report was restricted to free-to-play games and examined 30 days of behavior for all players playing a game in January 2015. Data was collected from over 40 titles, and reflects the behavior of more than 20 million players. Swrve processes more than 6 billion events a day across a billion devices.
Nå er det ikke F2P modell Funcom har i sine spill, men mer freemium. Ta dette som bakgrunnstoff for Funcom har sagt det er F2P som er strategien for fremtiden.
Freemium is game publishers’ top monetization option — here are the others
Mobile Games Monetization: What successful game developers do differently.