With the growing popularity of free-to-play games on the PC, a new study from DFC Intelligence reports that the English language free-to-play industry is expected to grow from $250 million in 2009 to over $2 billion by 2015. The increasing willingness of consumers to buy digital content and improved payment options have been a considerable factor in the surge, says DFC. An earlier report from DFC and Live Gamer put the global number at over $7 billion.
"For many Korean companies the market in North America has not taken off nearly as fast as they expected,” says analyst Insun Yoon. “Much of this can be attributed to the immature infrastructure and a lack of established payment and service mechanisms. The good news is that this is starting to change and consumers are starting to realize that the game play of top high-end F2P games can be quite sophisticated."
The continued expansion of added digital content and options for consumers has been a major boost for additional play content. "F2P games can have multiple payment options and most successful games look to bundle products in creative packages such as the ability to buy a monthly or annual subscription that include a set amount of virtual currency. Creativity in marketing, packaging and distribution are the keys to generating increased revenue," said DFC's David Cole.
It is projected that by the end of 2010, free-to-play games will have a combined total of over 128 million registered users, but the more important factor is conversion rates. "Registered user numbers are a fairly meaningless metric in this market. Once a consumer is able to get a game downloaded and running conversion rates for high-end F2P games tend to be fairly high," says Yoon.
2 Comments
August 30, 2010
Ben, are you at Xavier in Cinci, or NOLA. If you are in New Orleans, you should know we are launching IGDA chapters in NOLA and Baton Rouge on Sept 23. You should attend the launch party. If you are in Ohio, never mind. Either way, I'm putting a link to your article on our chapter website. ; )
August 31, 2010
Ah, Im at Xavier in Cincinnati Im afraid. I appreciate the link and the offer!