The consoles are still the stars of the video game. The real money is in mobile and microtransactions

“The videogame” as a concept tends to be instinctively associated in the mind with video consoles, perhaps with computers, and above all with AAA titles that monopolize conversations and the relevance of their market.

However, the parné prioritizes the protagonists of its industry in another way: if we talk about video games, mobile is king, and microtransactions, the leading form of monetization. Or that is extracted from newzoo reportone of the most reputable consultancies in the video game industry, for the year 2022.

Mobile, micropayments and old games

2022 was the year in which the corrections arrived after the temporary boost caused by the pandemic years, with an excess demand for video games in the same vein as other technological sectors that are now paying the consequences. Amazon and Meta have announced layoffs after overcontracting during a pandemic whose effects were believed to be permanent. Netflix is ​​still embracing the return to normality. Video games also see the correction arrive.

However, a trend that is consolidating is the one mentioned about mobile phones: no platform brings as much money into the gaming market as the smartphone (and tablets). In the last ten years they have gone from being the minority in the sector to the absolute majority.

Specifically, in 2018 there was the surprisedwhen the share of mobile in terms of revenue from video games surpassed both that of the computer and that of the console.

In the breakdown of the last year, which exceeded 180,000 million dollars in revenue, we can see that 50% still marked by mobile phones, and above all a breakdown in computer games: the game via browser is practically residual and they continue to send those that require installation, either purchased by physical support or downloaded. Nothing unexpected, but curious quantified.

Another trend that has also been emerging to monopolize the market in an even greater majority is that of monetization through microtransactionsWhat loot boxes and DLCs.

A residual figure a few decades ago that, thanks to the permanent connectivity for the game that the latest generations of consoles have brought, and above all, mobile phones, has skyrocketed its presence. Data from 2020, when they predicted an increase in sales in-game up to 77%:

A few years ago it was common to buy complete sets in the box… and that’s it. At best, cheaper expansions could be purchased on additional disks. The first years of the smartphone and the app stores were not very different, beyond taking these previously physical purchases to the digital environment.

Nevertheless, the rule changes of those app stores, which began to allow purchases in apphad a tectonic effect for the industrywhich was able to start offering free or more affordable titles at the cost of gradually monetizing them later, with formats such as season passes, collectibles, cosmetic improvements or directly competitive advantages as paid products.

Now micropayments account for 75% of the industry, something that can also be explained from the mobile domain, more prone to free download dynamics and low-quantity recurring transactions.

And one last curiosity that leaves the study is that of the top ten most played games (in millions of unique users) in 2022, only one was released in 2022 (and hardly another one was released in 2021), the ranking being full of games from three, seven or even sixteen years ago, such as Roblox.

This table talks about an industry more predisposed to retain its players for a long time with constant updates, rather than new periodic creations. Perhaps GTA is the most notable case, if not bloody, for the change it brought about: from a game with release cycles of between three and five years In most titles, we are going to turn ten waiting for the sixth installment, without Rockstar having let us see a trailer for it to date, something that it did with the previous one almost two years before its launch. But that is another topic.