Swrve: 0.15% of users make up 50% of IAP revenue in F2P mobile games

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The group of gamers responsible for half of all in-game revenue in mobile titles is frightening because it is so narrow, according to a survey by Swrve, an established analytics and app marketing firm. About 0.15 percent of mobile gamers contribute 50 percent of all of the in-app purchases generated in free-to-play games.

 

 

Reynolds said that only 1.5 percent of active players surveyed in January actually made a purchase in that month. About 50 percent of revenue comes from the top 10 percent of the players who do make purchases. Expressed as a percentage of players, this group of big spenders represents just 0.15 percent of the total. It makes sense for game companies to identify these spenders and target them with incentives, but they shouldn?t be the sole target of campaigns, Reynolds said.

 

?The problem is you only see the whales, or high rollers, in retrospect,? he said. ?So you target a group and will find your high roller is in there.?

 

Of the people who pay, 49 percent make just one purchase during a month, while 13 percent of paying players make five or more purchases. A significant amount of that spending activity takes place within the first 24 hours the game is played. For the players who make a second purchase, the average time lapse between the first and second purchases is a mere 1 hour and 40 minutes.

 

 

 

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/26/only-0-15-of-mobile-gamers-account-for-50-percent-of-all-in-game-revenue-exclusive/

 

 

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Typical and yet they focus their entire games around this market whereas they'd probably make a lot more if they left it out to begin with & gave people the option to buy outright.

 

[jerzdawg]

Typical and yet they focus their entire games around this market whereas they'd probably make a lot more if they left it out to begin with & gave people the option to buy outright.

That's only a certain % of the games though.  The successful games (Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, <insert anything> Saga, etc) make way more money on the iap then they would have if they sold the game for a set price.  I think at one point I heard a rumor that CoC was bringing in $1 million per day in IAP.  Its sad but these "kids" with money to burn would rather buy their way to the top then grind for it..

[trooper11]

If only that <2% of users that actually make a purchase could be convinced to not do that.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

That's only a certain % of the games though.  The successful games (Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, <insert anything> Saga, etc) make way more money on the iap then they would have if they sold the game for a set price.  I think at one point I heard a rumor that CoC was bringing in $1 million per day in IAP.  Its sad but these "kids" with money to burn would rather buy their way to the top then grind for it..

 

Very true, it'd be wrong to blanket an entire genre / market / demographic with that statement. But I also think there a lot of gamers who would like a complete experience and would be willing to pay for it, I know I would. I have zero interest in the typical smartphone game even less for those with microtransactions. Some see the easy money and care little about actually creating something to be proud of though IMO.