At this time of year, we generally tend to hear just how well (or badly) a company has done for the period from the prior year. As always there are winners and losers, but it seems that in gaming, 2017 might have been the year of the microtransaction.
Activision / Blizzard have reported that for 2017, over half of their total income for the year was generated solely from in-game purchases.
It seems these days that no new release is immune from the money that can be made afterwards.
Hitting a record $7.16 billion income for 2017, the figures would suggest that around $4 billion of that came directly from in-game purchases. While this figure might sound surprising, don’t forget that Activision owns King and King has Candy Crush Saga.
The mobile division of the company is though to account for half of this in-game income, however, traditional PC and console gaming is thought to be catching up quickly.
Of course, 2017 wasn’t a quiet year for Activision. With the release of Destiny 2 and CoD WW2 they have seen 2 major AAA titles released. Both of which have generally been well received. More importantly, however, have both sold millions of copies.
Selling millions is always good.
Despite this profits 2018 is looking to also be an excellent year for the company. The new World of Warcraft is set to launch later in the year and, of course, another Call of Duty game will be on the way.
I don’t personally have a problem with in-game purchases. That, as long as the market doesn’t turn entirely into pay-to-win or bit piece gaming. As things stand I can, just about, live with it.
What do you think? Surprised at how much was earned from this? Do you make in-game purchases? Worried about the future of gaming? – Let us know in the comments!
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