The Rise of Microtransactions
How Much we Spend inside our games in the UK
- How often, if at all, do you purchase microtransactions or loot boxes whilst playing video games?
Percentage of gamers within a UK city who purchase microtransactions
Spending UK video games market in 2020
Video games market in 2020 was a bumper year according to a recent survey by The Guardian, below are some key highlights from that survey.
Value of UK Video Games Market in 2020
Gamers spent £1.6bn more on games in 2020
The games hardware market grew to £2.26bn total spend in 2020
The top seller during the first lockdown, Animal Crossing helped fuel a 24% increase in digital game sales for consoles to £1.7bn last year.
In Europe, and the fifth biggest in the world, behind the gaming juggernauts Japan, South Korea, China and the US.
With cinemas shut for large parts of last year, revenue generated from game-related films and soundtracks fell by 22% to £23m.
- We asked which of the following statements, if any, best describe how your gaming expenditure (including purchase of games, purchase of consoles, equipment, snacks) has changed during the pandemic, compared to 2019?
Gameplay before foreplay
When it comes to surveying people’s extra-curricular activities late in the evening, you might think that there is no comparison but, it seems there is a trend towards taking our late-night stimulation into our own hands and entertaining ourselves with our favourite game rather than enjoying a more physical pastime. A growing percentage of adult gamers – both male and female – believe that settling down with their controllers is going to lead to a more fulfilling, relaxing time than sharing an intimate moment with a partner, even if it’s costing money on the occasional microtransaction here and there.
- How likely or unlikely are you to enjoy playing video games more than having sexual intercourse?
How much are we actually spending on Microtransactions?
The big games might tend to be free to download and not require any real spend in order to progress but we have rapidly become a nation addicted to online spending in our games. be it skins or other cosmetic items or loot boxes leaving you at the mercy of the random number generator we slip into a habit of small but consistent payments to the companies who keep feeding us the digital crack we are craving.
of gamers say they spend the highest amount of their gaming expenditure on microtransactions.
Average spend per year
Nintendo
PC
Xbox
PlayStation
Mobile
- On average, how much do you spend on microtransactions and loot boxes per video game?
Of those gamers who purchase microtransactions,
The average gamer who purchases microtransactions
spends £36 per video game.
spends £53 per video game.
Nintendo gamers
on average spend more on microtransactions then any other type of gamer.
One average they spend £56 per video game.
Do microtransactions need to be regulated?
From parents to whole governments, concern continues to grow around the seemingly unstoppable move towards microtransactions and loot boxes becoming the norm. Many countries are looking closely as to whether the RNG of a loot box in exchange for real-world cash constitutes gambling. Belgium has already taken steps to ban the money-making technique. If other countries follow suit, does it mean it will involve laws already in place to protect the vulnerable. it might just be an opportunity for hard-up leaders to look at taxation of the practice too. But what do gamers themselves actually think?
- Which of the following restrictions, if any, do you agree should be in place for microtransactions?
Gamble Aware Study on Loot boxes
- The report states that 93% of children in the UK play video games, and that up to 40% of these have opened loot boxes.
- At the end of 2020, the UK loot box market was estimated to be worth £700m.
- The researchers’ brief screen of around 14,000 gamers found that young men are more likely to open loot boxes, with those of a younger age and lower educational attainment also more likely to engage with these features.
- Analysis of self-report spend data from 7,771 loot box purchasers found that around 5% of them generate around half of industry loot box revenues.
- When reviewing the academic evidence, our systematic review has established that engagement with loot boxes has been robustly associated with problem gambling behaviours in around a dozen studies.
- Which of the following gaming franchises, if any, do you believe are the worst offenders for introducing microtransactions and loot boxes in their video games?
% of UK votes for worst offender in the video games
Call of Duty
Fifa
Candy Crush
Don't know
Minecraft
Angry Birds
World of Warcraft
Assassin's Creed
League of Legends
Battlefront
CS:GO
More findings
- Mobile gamers believe that Candy Crush is the gaming franchise voted as the worst offender for using microtransactions in their games. (35%)
- 41% of 16-24-year-olds believe that FIFA is the worst offending franchise for using microtransactions.
- Which of the following statements best describes your opinion regarding loot boxes promoting gambling?
Conclusion
Micro transactions are becoming a core, yet controversial part of modern video games. This practice is even starting to creep into other areas of life.
It seems companies are prepared to jump on board the tactic as a way of shorig up longer-term income from a products and we, as users, are prepared to support that with our wallets if we like what we see. The argument over whether we should be gaining advantages from microtransactions will continue to rage, but as far as a game’s cosmetic improvements go, the trend towards spending more and more seems to be going nowhere fast.
How we gathered our data
in order to get the very best data available WePC worked with Censuswide to bring you the results of this survey into the habits around the purchase of microtransactions in the UK.
Censuswide have access to a global network of panels in over 65 countries so can capture thoughts and opinions from a vast number of audience groups. Not only do they deliver insights, but rigorously test the data captured so clients receive the highest quality responses from a panel.
Sample Size
Date of Data Collection
30 March 2021 – 6th April 2021
Survey Provider
