Online Microtransaction Market

Online Microtransaction Market Size by Payment Model (Prepay, Post-Pay, and Pay-as-you-Go), Type (In-game currencies, Random chance purchase, In-game items, Expiration, and Others), Device (PC, Gaming Console, Mobile Phones, and Others), Regions, Global Industry Analysis, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2024 to 2033

Base Year: 2023 Historical Data: 2020-22
  • Report ID: TBI-14553
  • Published Date: Oct, 2024
  • Pages: 231
  • Category: Information Technology & Semiconductors
  • Format: PDF
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The global online microtransaction market was valued at USD 67 billion in 2023 and grew at a CAGR of 12% from 2024 to 2033. The market is expected to reach USD 208.09 billion by 2033. The rapid expansion of the gaming industry will drive the growth of the global online microtransaction market.

Market Introduction:

Microtransactions are small scale and relatively small value financial transactions that are commonly used in numerous online games, applications, and various online services and products. money ranges from a few cents to a few dollars. These transactions are used in various ways: in video games, they are form of real money transactions, which enable a player to buy virtual assets in a game, like weapons, coins, boosts or special powers that bring improvement in the game or make the progress faster. In mobile apps, microtransactions might get users access to the pro versions, the removal of ads and uninterrupted content. Similarly, web applications they allow the purchase of downloadable content (DLC), additional content, or subscriptions to premium content. The microtransaction business model often has a freemium model where the core content is available for free; however, if additional content is desired, the consumer has to pay. For developers, this model is advantageous because it ensures a constant return of investment, and for the users, it show that most of the content can be accessed without any additional cost. the market of microtransactions is continuing to grow due to the development of mobile gaming and the availability of digital platforms.

Online Microtransaction Market Size

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Recent Development
  • Although Final Fantasy XIV Online has been available on Xbox for a while, fans may not have anticipated the addition of new microtransactions centered around "FFXIV Coins," a currency. The PC and PlayStation versions of the game do not have the new MTX. FFXIV Coins will be needed for "service fees and optional item purchases," according to an official FF XIV Lodestone post. Coin bundles are available for purchase at the Microsoft Store. After buying FFXIV Coins, you must use the Final Fantasy XIV Online Store or the Mog Station in-game to spend them.

Market Dynamics:

Drivers

The rapid expansion of the gaming industry – An increase in mobile and online gaming is one reason why customers demand microtransactions over the Internet. The increased availability of handheld devices such as smart phones and tabs has also enhanced gaming since most of the gaming applications which are downloadable are free but at the same time the users are given an option to purchase virtual items, upgrades or currencies. This model gathers a big audience and brings a lot of earnings to the platform. They also increase the need for microtransactions, as players want to gain edges, customize their avatars or receive unique items in online multiplayer games. The social factor such as the leaderboard and competitions also encourage the spending of money. Mobile and online games are popular across the globe and hence the growing demand for microtransaction.

Restraints:

Regulatory constraints legislation is a major factor affecting the growth of online microtransaction market as governments and organizations begin to address issues of consumer protection and fair competitive market practices. Some of the critical regulatory issues are the lack of adequate disclosure and transparency in relation to Microtransactions. There is also a concern regarding the dark patterns affecting and influencing young minds and hence some places have set certain age limits and verification procedures when it comes to betting and other such games involving money. Furthermore, regulators are also concerned with the mental health effects of microtransactions; most recently relating it to addictive behaviours which has facilitated the introduction of legislation to reign in the proliferation of online gaming. Therefore, regulatory constraints will hamper the market’s growth.

Opportunities:

Technological advancements and other developments – Technological developments in the payment sector and the opening of new markets are driving the development of online microtransaction market. Modern advances in technologies have greatly improved the efficiency and security of the micro-transactions. Electronically enabled payment systems, which include PayPal and Apple Pay, make the buying process convenient. furthermore, the steady growth of internet connection across the globe has increased the access to online gaming and other digital services thus increasing the market for online microtransactions. The localization of the content and the prices makes the microtransactions appealing to the respective population, whereas new markets of developing economies hold tremendous potential.

Regional segmentation analysis:

The regions analyzed for the market include North America, Europe, South America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Asia Pacific emerged as the most significant global online microtransaction market, with a 38% market revenue share in 2023.

Countries of the region, especially China, Japan and South Korea have a large and passionate gamers’ base, especially on mobile devices that widely dependent on the monetization through microtransactions. A popular business model for game publishers is the freemium model that means that the game download is free but in-game assets can be bought for money and this has been very effective in Asia where people make many small purchases frequently. Mobile gaming constitutes a very large proportion of the Asia-Pacific region since many users use smartphones as their gaming devices. Furthermore, consumers in Asia-Pacific region are familiar with the concept of using microtransactions to improve their gameplay which will contribute to the market’s growth.

Asia Pacific Region Online Microtransaction Market Share in 2023 - 38%

 

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  • With an emphasis on gacha rolls and lootboxes, the Chinese government droughted new regulations to restrict the amount of time its citizens can spend playing online games. They also forbade login events and placed spending caps on microtransactions. The Chinese National Press and Publication Administration droughted the legislation. By mandating that developers use pop-up warnings to discourage players from engaging in "irrational consumption behavior," prohibit minors from purchasing lootboxes, set a reasonable pull limit for gacha, and make the exact lootbox or a comparable one directly available for purchase, the intention is to reduce "excessive spending" on online games.
Payment model Segment Analysis

The payment model segment is divided into Prepay, Post-Pay, and Pay-as-you-Go. The Pay-as-you-Go segment dominated the market, with a market share of around 42% in 2023. It is important to note that the greater proportion of online microtransaction payment solutions use the Pay-as-you-go payment model because it has many advantages. It lets its users make payments only when they wish to buy something available in the game like items or special privileges, and this is for those who do not want to pay subscription or any large sum at once. Such model will prove especially popular among ‘occasional’ gamers, allowing person to make relatively cheaper single purchase, without being tied to continuous commitment of monthly sum. Additionally, this model is easily accessible to a wider audience. the pay-as-you-go payment demands a low level of commitment and its user-friendly nature contribute to its growing dominance in the market.

Type Segment Analysis

The type segment is divided into in-game currencies, random chance purchase, in-game items, expiration, and others. The in-game items segment dominated the market, with a market share of around 37% in 2023. In-game items include virtual goods like outfits of players’ characters, objects that affect gameplay like weapons and virtual currency. Consumers are attracted to purchase in-game items as they give players the opportunity to add customization features to their characters and personalize them. furthermore, developers often introduce new items in the market to make the game interesting to players. In-game items are normally cheap making them accessible and affordable and thereby increasing their appeal.

Device Segment Analysis

The device segment is divided into PC, gaming console, mobile phones, and others. The mobile phones segment dominated the market, with a market share of around 39% in 2023. mobile games can be simply downloaded and are used by millions of users all over the world. the convenience offered by mobile games where one can log into a game and spend money at any time and place contributes to its popularity. mobile gaming has wider audience coverage. mobile phones are almost ubiquitously used and especially popular in developing countries, and the proportion of smartphone users is greater than that of PC and game consoles users. This broadens the scope of mobile game and the microtransaction opportunities connected to them.

Some of the Key Market Players:
  • Activision Blizzard, Inc.
  • CyberAgent Inc.
  • Electronic Arts Inc.
  • GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc.
  • NCSoft
  • NetEase Inc.
  • Nexon Co., Ltd.
  • Niantic, Inc.
  • Riot Games
  • Valve Corporation
  • Wargaming.net

Report Description: 

Attribute Description
Market Size Revenue (USD Billion)
Market size value in 2023 USD 67 Billion
Market size value in 2033 USD 208.09 Billion
CAGR (2024 to 2033) 12%
Historical data 2020-2022
Base Year 2023
Forecast 2024-2033
Region The regions analyzed for the market are Asia Pacific, Europe, South America, North America, and Middle East and Africa. Furthermore, the regions are further analyzed at the country level.
Segments Payment Model, Type, and Device

Frequesntly Asked Questions

As per The Brainy Insights, the size of the global online microtransaction market was valued at USD 67 billion in 2023 to USD 208.09 billion by 2033.

Global online microtransaction market is growing at a CAGR of 12% during the forecast period 2024-2033.

The market's growth will be influenced by the rapid expansion of the gaming industry.

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This study forecasts revenue at global, regional, and country levels from 2020 to 2033. The Brainy Insights has segmented the global online microtransaction market based on below mentioned segments:

Global Online Microtransaction Market by Payment Model:

  • Prepay
  • Post-Pay
  • Pay-as-you-Go

Global Online Microtransaction Market by Type:

  • In-game currencies
  • Random chance purchase
  • In-game items
  • Expiration
  • Others

Global Online Microtransaction Market by Device:

  • PC
  • Gaming Console
  • Mobile Phones
  • Others

Global Online Microtransaction Market by Region:

  • North America
    • U.S.
    • Canada
    • Mexico
  • Europe
    • Germany
    • France
    • U.K.
    • Italy
    • Spain
  • Asia-Pacific
    • Japan
    • China
    • India
  • South America
    • Brazil
  • Middle East and Africa  
    • UAE
    • South Africa

Methodology

Research has its special purpose to undertake marketing efficiently. In this competitive scenario, businesses need information across all industry verticals; the information about customer wants, market demand, competition, industry trends, distribution channels etc. This information needs to be updated regularly because businesses operate in a dynamic environment. Our organization, The Brainy Insights incorporates scientific and systematic research procedures in order to get proper market insights and industry analysis for overall business success. The analysis consists of studying the market from a miniscule level wherein we implement statistical tools which helps us in examining the data with accuracy and precision. 

Our research reports feature both; quantitative and qualitative aspects for any market. Qualitative information for any market research process are fundamental because they reveal the customer needs and wants, usage and consumption for any product/service related to a specific industry. This in turn aids the marketers/investors in knowing certain perceptions of the customers. Qualitative research can enlighten about the different product concepts and designs along with unique service offering that in turn, helps define marketing problems and generate opportunities. On the other hand, quantitative research engages with the data collection process through interviews, e-mail interactions, surveys and pilot studies. Quantitative aspects for the market research are useful to validate the hypotheses generated during qualitative research method, explore empirical patterns in the data with the help of statistical tools, and finally make the market estimations.

The Brainy Insights offers comprehensive research and analysis, based on a wide assortment of factual insights gained through interviews with CXOs and global experts and secondary data from reliable sources. Our analysts and industry specialist assume vital roles in building up statistical tools and analysis models, which are used to analyse the data and arrive at accurate insights with exceedingly informative research discoveries. The data provided by our organization have proven precious to a diverse range of companies, facilitating them to address issues such as determining which products/services are the most appealing, whether or not customers use the product in the manner anticipated, the purchasing intentions of the market and many others.

Our research methodology encompasses an idyllic combination of primary and secondary initiatives. Key phases involved in this process are listed below:

MARKET RESEARCH PROCESS

Data Procurement:

The phase involves the gathering and collecting of market data and its related information with the help of different sources & research procedures.

The data procurement stage involves in data gathering and collecting through various data sources.

This stage involves in extensive research. These data sources includes:

Purchased Database: Purchased databases play a crucial role in estimating the market sizes irrespective of the domain. Our purchased database includes:

  • The organizational databases such as D&B Hoovers, and Bloomberg that helps us to identify the competitive scenario of the key market players/organizations along with the financial information.
  • Industry/Market databases such as Statista, and Factiva provides market/industry insights and deduce certain formulations. 
  • We also have contractual agreements with various reputed data providers and third party vendors who provide information which are not limited to:
    • Import & Export Data
    • Business Trade Information
    • Usage rates of a particular product/service on certain demographics mainly focusing on the unmet prerequisites

Primary Research: The Brainy Insights interacts with leading companies and experts of the concerned domain to develop the analyst team’s market understanding and expertise. It improves and substantiates every single data presented in the market reports. Primary research mainly involves in telephonic interviews, E-mail interactions and face-to-face interviews with the raw material providers, manufacturers/producers, distributors, & independent consultants. The interviews that we conduct provides valuable data on market size and industry growth trends prevailing in the market. Our organization also conducts surveys with the various industry experts in order to gain overall insights of the industry/market. For instance, in healthcare industry we conduct surveys with the pharmacists, doctors, surgeons and nurses in order to gain insights and key information of a medical product/device/equipment which the customers are going to usage. Surveys are conducted in the form of questionnaire designed by our own analyst team. Surveys plays an important role in primary research because surveys helps us to identify the key target audiences of the market. Additionally, surveys helps to identify the key target audience engaged with the market. Our survey team conducts the survey by targeting the key audience, thus gaining insights from them. Based on the perspectives of the customers, this information is utilized to formulate market strategies. Moreover, market surveys helps us to understand the current competitive situation of the industry. To be precise, our survey process typically involve with the 360 analysis of the market. This analytical process begins by identifying the prospective customers for a product or service related to the market/industry to obtain data on how a product/service could fit into customers’ lives.

Secondary Research: The secondary data sources includes information published by the on-profit organizations such as World bank, WHO, company fillings, investor presentations, annual reports, national government documents, statistical databases, blogs, articles, white papers and others. From the annual report, we analyse a company’s revenue to understand the key segment and market share of that organization in a particular region. We analyse the company websites and adopt the product mapping technique which is important for deriving the segment revenue. In the product mapping method, we select and categorize the products offered by the companies catering to domain specific market, deduce the product revenue for each of the companies so as to get overall estimation of the market size. We also source data and analyses trends based on information received from supply side and demand side intermediaries in the value chain. The supply side denotes the data gathered from supplier, distributor, wholesaler and the demand side illustrates the data gathered from the end customers for respective market domain.

The supply side for a domain specific market is analysed by:

  • Estimating and projecting penetration rates through analysing product attributes, availability of internal and external substitutes, followed by pricing analysis of the product.
  • Experiential assessment of year-on-year sales of the product by conducting interviews.

The demand side for the market is estimated through:

  • Evaluating the penetration level and usage rates of the product.
  • Referring to the historical data to determine the growth rate and evaluate the industry trends

In-house Library: Apart from these third-party sources, we have our in-house library of qualitative and quantitative information. Our in-house database includes market data for various industry and domains. These data are updated on regular basis as per the changing market scenario. Our library includes, historic databases, internal audit reports and archives.

Sometimes there are instances where there is no metadata or raw data available for any domain specific market. For those cases, we use our expertise to forecast and estimate the market size in order to generate comprehensive data sets. Our analyst team adopt a robust research technique in order to produce the estimates:

  • Applying demographic along with psychographic segmentation for market evaluation
  • Determining the Micro and Macro-economic indicators for each region 
  • Examining the industry indicators prevailing in the market. 

Data Synthesis: This stage involves the analysis & mapping of all the information obtained from the previous step. It also involves in scrutinizing the data for any discrepancy observed while data gathering related to the market. The data is collected with consideration to the heterogeneity of sources. Robust scientific techniques are in place for synthesizing disparate data sets and provide the essential contextual information that can orient market strategies. The Brainy Insights has extensive experience in data synthesis where the data passes through various stages:

  • Data Screening: Data screening is the process of scrutinising data/information collected from primary research for errors and amending those collected data before data integration method. The screening involves in examining raw data, identifying errors and dealing with missing data. The purpose of the data screening is to ensure data is correctly entered or not. The Brainy Insights employs objective and systematic data screening grades involving repeated cycles of quality checks, screening and suspect analysis.
  • Data Integration: Integrating multiple data streams is necessary to produce research studies that provide in-depth picture to the clients. These data streams come from multiple research studies and our in house database. After screening of the data, our analysts conduct creative integration of data sets, optimizing connections between integrated surveys and syndicated data sources. There are mainly 2 research approaches that we follow in order to integrate our data; top down approach and bottom up approach.

Market Deduction & Formulation: The final stage comprises of assigning data points at appropriate market spaces so as to deduce feasible conclusions. Analyst perspective & subject matter expert based holistic form of market sizing coupled with industry analysis also plays a crucial role in this stage.

This stage involves in finalization of the market size and numbers that we have collected from data integration step. With data interpolation, it is made sure that there is no gap in the market data. Successful trend analysis is done by our analysts using extrapolation techniques, which provide the best possible forecasts for the market.

Data Validation & Market Feedback: Validation is the most important step in the process. Validation & re-validation via an intricately designed process helps us finalize data-points to be used for final calculations.

The Brainy Insights interacts with leading companies and experts of the concerned domain to develop the analyst team’s market understanding and expertise. It improves and substantiates every single data presented in the market reports. The data validation interview and discussion panels are typically composed of the most experienced industry members. The participants include, however, are not limited to:

  • CXOs and VPs of leading companies’ specific to sector
  • Purchasing managers, technical personnel, end-users
  • Key opinion leaders such as investment bankers, and industry consultants

Moreover, we always validate our data and findings through primary respondents from all the major regions we are working on.

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