In the first half of 2024, video ads accounted for 77.8 percent of all mobile game advertising creatives on digital platforms worldwide. Images made 18.8 percent of all creatives.

Explore the Online Microtransaction Market trends! Covers key players, growth rate 10.7% CAGR, market size $129.76 Billion, and forecasts to 2034. Get insights now!

Introduction

Gaming Monetization Statistics: The gaming sector has undergone considerable transformation, moving away from its conventional model of selling games as independent units.

Instead, it has embraced a diverse ecosystem where various strategies are utilized to produce revenue. Gaming monetization pertains to the practices and tactics employed by game developers and publishers to derive earnings from their creations.

This multifaceted methodology holds immense importance in maintaining the industry's expansion, facilitating game development, and furnishing players with captivating interactions. The dynamic gaming monetization landscape is characterized by its ability to adapt to changing market dynamics, emerging player preferences, and technological advancements.

This adaptability will remain essential in sustaining the industry's growth while ensuring that players continue to receive captivating gaming experiences.

Between January 2023 and June 2024, casual mobile game advertisers accounted for 28.59 percent of all mobile game advertisers on digital platforms worldwide. Puzzles ranked second, with 13.87 percent.

In 2025, loot boxes are projected to generate 20.3 billion U.S. dollars in annual revenues, up from an estimated 15 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. Users in North America are projected to spend more than 5.2 billion U.S. dollars per year on loot boxes in 2025.

In 2021, around 70 percent of gamers in Germany had completed a microtransaction in a video game. Microtransactions allow users to purchase virtual goods within video games.

This statistic illustrates the annual revenue of the PC gaming market in the Netherlands from 2012 to 2018, with a forecast for 2019 to 2023 (in million euros), by transaction type. As of 2018, the annual revenue of the Dutch online and microtransaction PC gaming revenue amounted to approximately 214 million euros.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2024, around 17 percent of respondents stated that they spent between 10,000 and 20,000 South Korean won monthly on in-game purchases in PC games. Over half did not spend anything on microtransactions.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2023, around 45 percent of respondents stated that they had bought in-game money or items for mobile games. This represents an increase from the previous year, as well as the highest figured recorded over the past five years.

Mobile gaming is a hobby enjoyed by adults and children alike. However, the potential to spend money on these addictive mobile games is high and this can be a point of tension between parents and children. According to a 2020 SellCell survey, around 34.9 percent of parents stated that they alerted the bank in order to get a refund on unwarranted app purchases carried out by their children.

This statistic illustrates the annual revenue of the console gaming market in the Netherlands from 2014 to 2018 with a forecast for 2019 to 2023, by transaction type (in million euros). In 2018, the annual revenue of the Dutch online and microtransaction console gaming revenue amounted to almost 110 million euros.

In 2021, global gamer spending on loot boxes and in-game currency packs is projected to increase by 16.7 percent year-over-year. Currently, the worldwide loot box market value is estimated at 17.82 billion U.S. dollars and is set to surpass 20.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2025.

Vietnam gaming market size is projected to exhibit a growth rate (CAGR) of 9.60% during 2024-2032. The growing advancements in technology to offer immersive and visually stunning experiences, rising prevalence of microtransactions, downloadable content, and loot boxes, and increasing emergence of esports and professional leagues represent some of the key factors driving the market.

IMARC Group provides an analysis of the key trends in each segment of the market, along with forecasts at the country level for 2024-2032. Our report has categorized the market based on device type, platform, revenue, type, and age group.

This repository contains the SPSS datasheet & supporting data information for an upcoming publication: The gamblers of the future? Migration from loot boxes to gambling in a longitudinal study of young adults.

Abstract: Cross-sectional studies have established a robust correlational link between loot box engagement and problem gambling, but the causal connections are unknown. This longitudinal study tested for ‘migration’ from loot box use to gambling initiation 6-months later. A sample of gamers (aged 18-26) was stratified into two subgroups at baseline: 415 non-gamblers and 221 gamblers. Self-reported engagement with video game microtransactions distinguished loot boxes and ‘direct purchase’ microtransactions (DPMs). Loot box expenditure and the Risky Loot Box Index (RLI) were tested as predictors of gambling initiation and spend at follow-up. At baseline, gamblers spent significantly more than non-gamblers on microtransactions. Among baseline non-gamblers, loot box expenditure and RLI predicted gambling initiation (logistic regressions) and later gambling spending (linear regressions). DPM expenditure did not predict gambling initiation or spend, underscoring the key role of randomized rewards. Exploratory analyses tested whether baseline gambling predicted loot box consumption (the ‘reverse pathway’): among loot box non-users, gambling-related cognitive distortions predicted subsequent loot box expenditure. These data provide empirical evidence for a migration from loot boxes to gambling. Preliminary evidence is also provided for a reverse pathway, of loot box initiation by gamblers. These findings support regulatory steps directed toward young gamers and those who gamble.

In 2022, Activision Blizzard generated 5.89 billion U.S. dollars of revenues through microtransactions and downloadable content, subscriptions, licensing royalties from our products and franchises, and other miscellaneous revenues. Gaming product sales only accounted for a third of company revenues during the measured period.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2024, around 88 percent of respondents stated that they paid for in-game purchases using their own credit cards. Other common methods were buying it via a microtransaction on one's mobile phone or using a gift certificate.

In the fiscal year 2024 (April 2023 to March 2024), gaming publisher Electronic Arts generated approximately 4.46 billion U.S. dollars in revenues from extra content sales with almost half of it being associated with the company's sports games Ultimate Team mode as well as extra content for the Apex Legends franchise. According to the company, extra content revenue has increased as players engage with games and services over longer periods of time, and purchase additional content designed to provide value to players and extend gameplay.

Mobile gaming is a hobby enjoyed by adults and children alike. However, the potential to spend money on these addictive mobile games is high and this can be a point of tension between parents and children. According to a 2020 SellCell survey, an estimated 8.2 percent of parents stated that their children spent more than 100 U.S. dollars on in-app purchases in mobile games each month.

The use of cryptocurrency as a payment method for gaming was similar across different ages and genders in 2024. This is according to a 2024 survey conducted in 14 countries across North America, Europe, and Latin America. Total averages were around three percent on average across all age groups.

The graph shows the amount spent on in-game purchases according to gamers in the United States. During the survey carried out in December 2016, 18 percent of respondents said they had spent between 21 and 50 U.S. dollars on microtransactions in the 12 months preceding the survey.