We knew that in recent years older games have more and more monopolized the playing time of players, especially on the PC, but it turns out that players spend more and more money on things that are not real games. Namely things like battle passes and Call of duty Hät. In fact, according to a new report by Newzoo, microtransactions make up more than half of all editions for PC games.
The market research company of the market 2025 report on console and PC games Paints a picture of a landscape that is increasingly dominated by everything, except for the dozens of new games that come out every week. The data from Newzoo concludes PC players Only 8 percent output From their collective season in 2024, which came out this year. Instead, their time spent older games, with over 60 percent of things that were published over six years earlier.
Does this mean that these players don't spend money? No. It only means that you spend most of it for microtransactions in the game, whether that is User -generated content in RobloxPresent new Adventure time Skins in Fortniteor, um, Venom Twerking in Marvel -Rival. It does not help that cosmetics and skins are getting more and more expensive. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6The new Jay and the Silent Bob Tracer bundle costs 20 US dollars. According to Newzoo, only 28 percent of PC gaming editions went to full games in 2024.
The research company's breakdown brings microtransactions in 58 percent of the expenditure with DLC such as Elden ring'S Shadow of the Earth TreeWith 14 percent. Combined that only 10.7 billion US dollars for full -time purchases decreased, which decreased from 2.6 percent compared to the previous year. These figures could change in 2026 with some larger publications such as Elden Ring NightegPresent Borderlands 4And more on the horizon, but the trend is pretty clear. And if the next one GTA online It is almost as big as the current one, which will only be more money from the ecosystem through microtransactions from the ecosystem juice.
Of course, the debate is up for debate whether microtransactions are really triggered from the system. Since the prices for video games (mostly) stagnate, even if the budgets explode and the sales figures for the units are mainly flat, many publishers have decided to regain more income from these purchases in the game. Assassin's Creed Shadows Is only $ 70, but includes a full range of buyable cosmetics and other add-ons. At the same time, games without this business model, especially indie publications, are left in an increasingly difficult position, since a larger piece of the cake is absorbed by a smaller row of players.
The shift is a little less dramatic on the console, but still visible. According to Newzoo, microtransactions make up only 32 percent of the players (this rose by 4.5 percent compared to the previous year). A large number of all expenses are still with complete game purchases, if probably not long. The growth of subscriptions such as Xbox Game Pass, PS Plus Extra and Switch online extension package all prove a piece of around 16 percent of the money (14 percent compared to 0Ver). DLC, on the other hand, accounts for only 5 percent of the expenditure or about 2.2 billion US dollars. It still seems to be a stronger preference for the next new thing.
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