Alongside inflating development cost, it explains a lot of the recent moves by companies towards live service games.
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[NPD] ~60% of non-Mobile video game spending was DLC/MTX/Subscriptions in 2021 (US)
- Thread starter Deleted member 93062
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Alongside inflating development cost, it explains a lot of the recent moves by companies towards live service games.
How. Surprising.
Duh lol.
If anything, I'm more surprised that this only grew ~10% since 2016. The proliferation of GAAS games and more effective monetization has only expanded since then. I'd have expected it to explode, actually. But, perhaps the market is surprisingly mature already. I'd be interested in the full breakdown, though. I bet we see a relatively small set of games dominate the vast majority of MTX sales.
Duh lol.
If anything, I'm more surprised that this only grew ~10% since 2016. The proliferation of GAAS games and more effective monetization has only expanded since then. I'd have expected it to explode, actually. But, perhaps the market is surprisingly mature already. I'd be interested in the full breakdown, though. I bet we see a relatively small set of games dominate the vast majority of MTX sales.
You're misreading the tweet. It's grown by much more than 10%.
Am I? I guess "Well under half" is a bit ambiguous. Was this well under half as in it was 46%? Was this well under half as in 35%? Was this well under half (of 60%) as in 25%?
My natural reading was that this meant between 40%-50%. I still think that's the natural reading, but you're saying that it was "well under half (of that/60%)"? If so, then yea, that's a pretty consequential rise in revenue breakdowns in just 5 years. And I think it means we should expect some long-standing narratives to shift pretty quickly, whether customers are fully prepared/bought-in or not.
On the positive side, with so many companies and minds thinking about this new design problem, I have faith that devs will find ways to make GAAS games more appealing to people who have never given service games a second thought.
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I took it to mean "this figure was well under half [the 2021 figure]", so less than 30%.
I figured the number was high, but that is an incredible number.
Above all other companies, Sony is 100% leading the charge, you can point to their earnings, with their recent news and investments. You best enjoy MTX/ GaaS/ DLC because that is where a large chunk of the market is headed.
Above all other companies, Sony is 100% leading the charge, you can point to their earnings, with their recent news and investments. You best enjoy MTX/ GaaS/ DLC because that is where a large chunk of the market is headed.
Eh not really. MS and others have been doing this for a number of years. Those investments were made a decade ago (remember MAU being their defining metric of success in 2014?), that's why they're well positioned for this shift without having invest in consultancy or require guidance. The way games are consumed has shifted though, GaaS is generating money in a way traditional games cannot.
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Yea, I realized that's what he probably meant when Matt said that. But, ideally he would have said "this figure was well under half that". Without something to signify the relationship, it's a big ol confusing meh. lol
I think Sony is leading the charge in terms of getting a ton of GAAS revenue out of the big three platforms. But they're certainly not leading the charge in any other way. They're not making more GAAS revenue than Tencent (though, it's possible they're making more than Tencent specifically in non-mobile). That's not because Sony has fielded industry leading GAAS games, but rather that they were the default platform that all of these games were supporting - like FF14 and Genshin Impact, which both skipped both console rivals' platforms.
Nevertheless, their recent news shows that they're spending big just to catch up to the (first) party now. Bungie, Haven, etc. are very recent purchases/investments and indicate a pretty hard strategy shift started somewhere not terribly far from when Jim Ryan started talking publicly (but somewhat obliquely) about wanting to reach more people than the console could ever provide him. He's certainly not shy about that direction now.
But yea, either way I'm optimistic this doesn't crash and burn like people are wont to believe (and often hope for) around here.
As I've stated, Sony is leading the charge here, that doesn't mean other companies aren't also invested.
As per Sony's FY 2021/22 Q3 earnings report, add-on content/ MTX/ DLC represented the largest net sales (CY 2021) of PlayStation @ 32%. Factoring in the news where Sony stated PlayStation to launch 'more than 10' live service games By 2026, we see where this is going. No need to sugar coat it.
Also, GaaS and Live service games are incredibly similar, both intended to keep the player engaged, both receive constant stream of new content added post launch, and is purposefully designed to keep you playing years after launch. Both models are a way for a company to continue the growth of a game for years after its initial release.
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I've found some of the DLCs and services like Game pass are worth the price, but I can respect avoiding paying more on games. And as long as more people avoid paying for something like PS+, PS5 upgrades, MTX, boosters, seasons etc. the better.
God almighty
And I bet most of that 60% is hoovered up b a couple titles like Genshin, Apex, Warzone and Fortnite
And I bet most of that 60% is hoovered up b a couple titles like Genshin, Apex, Warzone and Fortnite
So you mean contributing to net sales? That's contributing largest chunk in terms of revenue for consoles. Yes, most likely true. If you mean number of game investments, that not leading the charge as others have more when you factor in current and planned GaaS platforms (PC + consoles).
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So you dont have PS+, EA Play, Xbox Live Gold, GamePass or anything else like that?
It feels like Fortnite / warzone / GTA5 would be skewing that figure quite a bit. I wonder what it would actually look like if you remove the top 1% outliers.
Lol what. How in the world is Sony "leading the charge" when they just decided to jump on this???
The only world this is true is if you pretend EA (who actually lead the charge with Ultimate Team), XBL, Ubisoft, Activision, and Epic (Fortnite), and others don't exist
It's... one of the reasons I like the idea of subscription services like Game Pass. It's a way to make the business model congruent with delivering a variety of games that aren't all GAAS.
But then again, the model is reliant on DLC/MTX as well.
I don't know, I don't ultimately mind this if people are enjoying it, I just hope I can still get the kinds of games I gravitate towards, which are single player, mechanics-driven or narrative-driven games.
But then again, the model is reliant on DLC/MTX as well.
I don't know, I don't ultimately mind this if people are enjoying it, I just hope I can still get the kinds of games I gravitate towards, which are single player, mechanics-driven or narrative-driven games.
I clarified my post afterwards:
The key takeaway is how big add-on content/ MTX / DLC segment is. I feel that this year is going to be a huge watershed moment for Sony's MTX's focused strategy. A lot of the growth is also due to their market leadership position for such titles.
Yeah I was thinking that I must be one of their worst customers. I only do game pass and cheap/oldish base games, and that's it. Only DLC of games that are really worth it, no cosmetics (save once which I regret), and premium currency only once in a f2p game. There are high/mid/low engagement users, and then cheap ass me :D
I don't have a problem paying for dlc or event supporting GAAS games if it's worth it, I truly believe some are) but some GAAS just feel really predatory and I'm expecting much bigger failures when one of these flops if that's the direction the industry is going in. Of course all games are completing for time but sometimes it seems they're built in a way where they only want THAT game to be the thing you play, due to grind, event schedules, and or file size.
Definitely explains the "second wind" Live Service push. All these companies see big money in that area, for better or worse.
Is that really surprising to you? A lot of people on Era strictly play single-player offline games.
Is that really surprising to you? A lot of people on Era strictly play single-player offline games.
There's nothing inherently wrong with MTX or DLC. It's just when they start to feel predatory that they get skeevy. I know development costs are rising, but when people talk about game prices rising, I can't help but think that more people are spending more on games than ever before… a lot of that is directly because of MTX/DLC, etc. And now I'm rambling.
Agreed.
I don't see it as a black & white issue either.
There's lots of scenarios where GAAS & MTX are a perfectly fine way to enjoy a gaming experience. May not be for everyone (isn't for me personally), but it's not all predatory cash grabs. The nuance is in being savvy enough to tell the difference, which honestly shouldn't be a heavy lift around here.
I'll never understand why enthusiast forums like Era are so bristled by this type of content. It's just another branch of the medium that you can choose to interact with or not.
If it's not your thing, there's still more non-GAAS/MTX content out there than you'll ever have time to enjoy in a lifetime.
Well I got gamepass, but I did pay the dirt cheap price on it, and haven't bought an MS game since. So I don't think they made any money of me personally.
To the cheap GP trick, you needed first to buy XBL Gold. So you are a part of it.
Keep reading.
It's really not too surprising. People like buying shit online and combine that with the pandemic with so many at home and
So that includes PS+, XBL and NSO subscriptions? I'm not surprised honestly. Tons of people only play COD or FIFA or NBA 2K, but still need those subscriptions to play that one game each year, so 50% of their spend in a given year (even if they bought no DLC, or MTX), would be on their online subscription.
I've played LeagueOfLegends (including Wild Rift) since I was studing. ~7 years since then, but I have never paid for anything, neither for heros, nor for skins, maybe I am a minority.
Well yeah but those are hardly paid add one micro transactions etc. Even then MS is probably loss leading with people like me. I paid like 30 quid a year for the service over like 3 years