A new report by NPD Group, a leading market research firm, states that free-to-play games are becoming wildly popular with Americans, and turning into a profit, to boot.
How does a free-to-play game make money? By offering incentives at a small fee. Sure, you could play for hours to earn an upgrade, or you could pay a dollar and get it now. It turns out that instant gratification is a great marketing strategy, enough that it even lends a new name to the genre: "freemium."
Notable examples of this genre are Facebook games, a ton of indy games, even games like World of Warcraft have freemium elements like free trials (in the case of WoW, the trial is up to level 20).
The report states that 38 percent of Americans ages 2 and older are currently playing a freemium game, and 40 percent of freemium game players have made at least one in-game payment at some point. Apparently females are more likely to be freemium game players and to stick with a game that has a free trial, whereas males are more likely to make in-game payments.
“Males and those ages 18 to 34 are traditionally seen as a big part of the core gamer audience," said NPD Group's analyst Anita Frazier, "so it’s likely these groups are not quite as engaged with freemium because the gaming experience is quite different from what they are used to from the games they play on consoles, handhelds or PC’s. At a minimum, for these gamers a freemium game would provide a different experience, like a snack versus a full meal.”
How does a free-to-play game make money? By offering incentives at a small fee. Sure, you could play for hours to earn an upgrade, or you could pay a dollar and get it now. It turns out that instant gratification is a great marketing strategy, enough that it even lends a new name to the genre: "freemium."
 |
| Not bad for $0/month |
The report states that 38 percent of Americans ages 2 and older are currently playing a freemium game, and 40 percent of freemium game players have made at least one in-game payment at some point. Apparently females are more likely to be freemium game players and to stick with a game that has a free trial, whereas males are more likely to make in-game payments.
“Males and those ages 18 to 34 are traditionally seen as a big part of the core gamer audience," said NPD Group's analyst Anita Frazier, "so it’s likely these groups are not quite as engaged with freemium because the gaming experience is quite different from what they are used to from the games they play on consoles, handhelds or PC’s. At a minimum, for these gamers a freemium game would provide a different experience, like a snack versus a full meal.”
No comments:
Post a Comment