SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Interpret, a leading entertainment, media and technology market research firm, today announced new findings from its semi-annual global GameByte™ study. The latest data reveals that an average mobile gamer on smartphones and tablets spends only $0.92 per month on full game apps, and only $0.79 per month on mobile in-game items. This is significantly lower than the $3.25 spent monthly by free-to-play MMO gamers, the $4.25 a month spent by subscription MMO gamers, or the $10.40 a month spent by players of traditional retail home console games.
“In the US, 48 million people are actively engaged in smartphone and tablet gaming, more than double the 23 million playing free-to-play MMOs on PC,” said Jason Coston, senior analyst at Interpret. “But the average spend is so much weaker for mobile games that the two business models generate comparable revenues.”
Mobile games also face an uphill battle in converting players into paying users. Only 47% of US mobile gamers paid for a full game app over a six-month period, and only 21% paid for in-game items. By contrast, fully three-fourths of traditional retail gamers paid for a physical console or PC game in the same period.
The challenges facing mobile gaming extend to countries that enjoy a strong head start in microtransaction business models. China, where console games are banned, sees about half as much spent on virtual items per mobile player as per F2P player. The situation is the same in South Korea, another bastion of free-to-play games.
“The mobile game market may be a pretty big cookie jar,” said Coston, “but the neck is rather narrow, the cookies are small, and there are a lot of hands trying to reach into the jar.”
Interpret will soon roll out in-depth reports covering 2013 data, including revenue sizes and gaming attitude and behavior in each territory, over the coming months.
About GameByte™
GameByte is a syndicated study designed to understand cross-platform digital gaming adoption and behavior in key global markets. Conducted twice a year, it includes market and revenue sizing as well as attitude and behavior data for a variety of digital gaming business models for consoles, mobile devices and PCs, including downloadable game apps and in-app purchases, subscription MMOs, freemium online games, downloadable content (DLC) on consoles, casual games, and social games. Kids 6-12 and teens/adults 13+ are included in the sample, and countries covered include US, UK, France, Germany, China, Japan, Brazil, Australia, South Korea and Russia. GameByte™ is available as a subscription, or you can purchase individual data modules or reports.
About Interpret LLC
Interpret is a leading cross-media market research firm. The company applies proprietary, cutting-edge methodologies and extensive category knowledge to help clients plan, test, and measure business strategies in the fast-evolving media landscape. Interpret’s unique combination of syndicated measurement products and custom market research services provides a common language across media for the key stakeholders of the digital age. www.interpretllc.com.
