Microtransactions make the game industry a ton of money, tripling its value

The increasing utilisation of microtransactions, DLCs and loot boxes as supplemental sources of revenue for game publishers is making them a lot of money, it seems, and is unlikely to go away any time soon.

Global ecommerce company Digital River claims "a quarter of all digital revenue from PC games with an upfront cost came from additional content" in 2016 and that not only freemium games but also AAA premium titles for which people already pay an upfront cost rake in significant amount of revenue from the integration of DLC and microtransactions.

The report, titled 'Defend Your Kingdom: What Game Publishers Need to Know About Monetization & Fraud' continues to expound on the growing trend as follows:

"Consumers are less willing to pay $60 for a boxed game and instead choose titles with a steady stream of new content," the report said. "Publishers seek to meet these expectations and have adopted a 'games as a service' model, releasing fewer titles over time while keeping players engaged longer with regular updates and add-ons."

As these schemes of monetisation become increasingly more ubiquitous, consumers may end up paying significantly larger sums of money for their gaming habits, with the report claiming their impact has already tripled the value of the industry as a whole.

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Source: Digital River via PC Gamer