A new report has found that the free-to-play industry has doubled its 2012 revenues of $11 billion USD, now hitting $22 billion USD in 2017.
In comparison, direct games sales have risen from $5 billion USD to $8 billion USD, the Superdata report (via GamesIndustry) suggests.
Superdata projects that the gap between free-to-play and direct sales review will continue to increase, with direct sales unlikely to double 2012 efforts until 2020. In contrast, PC free-to-play sales alone are projected to hit $25 billion USD on 2022.
“While the vitriol is nothing new for Electronic Arts, who has a long history of inciting ire, distrust, and downright hate among its consumers, Battlefront II is the poster child of a new and uncomfortable growing pain for the games industry,” Superdata reported.
“Walking a fine line between increasing content offerings and engagement (and of course revenue) and alienating gamers, the ongoing experiment of microtransactions has had successes and failures. Although gamers are quick to complain that publishers are excessively monetizing additional content for games, players continue to support service-based monetization with their wallets.”
Superdata suggests that publishers may even drop the pricing on direct game sales to better tap into microtransactions.
What do you think of this report, especially in light of reaction to Star Wars: Battlefront 2 after it tried to align itself to both revenue streams?
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