Mobile games are something so casual that many people don’t even consider them cutting-edge technology. However, the fun fact is that mobile games have some interesting innovations that impact the player’s experience directly.
Microtransactions in the freemium mobile game revenue model are exactly that kind of innovation. In this post, we look a bit deeper into the concept.
The Freemium Concept
Freemium mobile games are a comparatively new concept. They combine free and premium, or paid, in other words.
The point of playing a free game before you pay for it makes total sense; you get to try out something totally free, with no strings attached. Then, if you level up and get some rewards in the game, you can decide it is worth paying for.
It’s like claiming a no deposit bonus Canada offers from an online casino; you make bets in games and explore the site before you start depositing your own money.
Or, the game remains completely free but offers some extra perks or content for a small price that is not recurrent (not like a monthly fee). Players may choose to pay it or ignore it.
Freemium games are good both for the players and for the publishers, but to take the best of them, one has to be aware of the types and mechanisms behind this freemium abundance.
Microtransaction Types in Mobile Games
There are different types of microtransactions; the key difference is that they are not recurring. The most common types are:
- In-game items: you can play the game for free and win extra items as you complete missions. However, you can also chip in a small amount and buy the item you need, immediately. In-game items can be functional, like weapons, or cosmetic, like skins or customized appearance.
- Expiring offers: people love exclusive offers no one else has. Games often offer a free feature but then it expires if you don’t pay for it. Players get used to the feature for free and are ready to buy it for using it on a regular basis.
- Loot boxes: there are chance packages that contain in-game items or extra perks. The catch of any loot box is that the player doesn’t know what is inside, they just pay for the loot box hoping to hit something they need or want. Loot boxes are very much like gambling when you hope that the money you invest pays off when you hit a good payline.
- In-game currency: buying in-game currency allows the player to buy stuff in the game. It is like the first type but with a twist.
- Additional content or levels: you can play the free version forever or you can pay for extra content, additional quests, and so on.
Microtransactions are versatile and only being aware of the mechanisms behind each type will help the player get the most out of each freemium mobile game.
People Download Freemium Apps More Often
While many people complain about the freemium mobile games calling them fraudulent or unfair, in reality, no one forces the player to buy anything in the game. It is completely possible to play a free version forever and even get updates and bug fixes. This is especially true for ad-based games that get paid by third companies for adding ads in the middle of the game.
In reality, though, free games get downloaded more often than games behind the paywall. People are not willing to pay lots of money on mobile games anymore but they still want to play those games. Therefore, publishers should really offer a solution of some kind.
Yes, most console games have to be paid for upfront and it makes sense. But nobody wants a casual mobile game that is only available behind the paywall. In other words, mobile game publishers were forced, in the first place, to find ways to make people pay for their products. And only after trying out the microtransaction and freemium concepts, they found out that it worked.
Rising Costs and Industry Competition
Basically, microtransactions are a way to secure some recurring costs for the publishers, exactly like subscription-based or ads-based revenue models are expected to work. However, somehow it is microtransactions that attract so much negative attention.
At the same time, mobile gaming becomes more and more expensive on the publishers’ side as the costs of technologies, as well as the competition in the niche, increase.
Microtransactions are the industry’s reaction to the time and the studios’ adaptation to the industry. Improved graphics, improved designs, improved safety, better sound – all these things cost money. And the truth about people paying for mobile games is that they are more willing to pay for their favorite content in the form of microtransactions.
If players keep spending money for extra in-game content and publishers keep making new games for the players, it seems like a win-win situation and microtransactions fuel this success.
Final Thoughts
There are many legal, ethical, and economic issues about microtransactions. The only undoubted fact is that they, well… work. Sometimes, microtransactions do make the player’s experiences worse but otherwise, the games might not have excited at all in the first place. And there would have been nothing to make it worse.
The truth is that for quality mobile games, it is either in-game ads, microtransactions, or upfront fees (that constantly lose popularity). So, microtransactions are very likely to stay in the industry for a while.