14 DAY TRIAL // As the video game market is expanding more and more data is extracted from gamers to get to know their consumption patterns. GameStrata is now revealing the amounts of money that gamers are ready to pay to fuel their video game "addiction".
It seems that players who are between 18 and 48 years old spend more than 30,000 dollars on gaming related hardware and video games. The figure does not include the money that they might get from their parents before turning 18 and neither does it take into consideration the fact that those gamers might get some money back by re-selling games to shops or by trading in some of the older hardware that they own.
A simple calculus shows that each gamer spends on average 765 dollars on games. The surprising thing is that downloadable content and micro-transactions are taking the lion's share of the amount above. 85% of the people surveyed stated that they had purchased one type of virtual product or another in the previous month while 40% of them also said that they played between 6 and 10 hours of online games in one week. Direct game purchase accounts for less than 50% of the money spent by gamers.
Barry Dorf, a representative of GameStrata, stated that "The overwhelming majority of gamers are spending their time online with friends, building their reputation and online personas. Video games are becoming so much more than a momentary diversion; gaming is becoming yet another means of community building."
News like this spells trouble for the established business models that publishers and developers are clinging to. Selling games in a box and charging 60 dollars for 20 hours of gameplay is not going to be viable in the long term as MMOs and other online games offer longer and deeper experiences for a lower cost and sometimes even for free, with advertising revenue supporting the companies.