New Study Suggests Just How Much We Spend On Microtransactions

There’s no cash prize for knowing that microtransactions piss gamers off. Sometimes they’re okay, but usually they’re shoehorned in and eye-wateringly expensive.

A new study put together by the NPD Group entitled “DLC and Microtransaction Purchasing” has shed a healthy beam of light on just how much we’re spending on the things.

The study found that in the US, 28 percent of men and women aged 13-54 admit to having spent cash money on extra content in the past three months. It also found that young men and teens were more likely to spend, while they’d rather spend on microtransactions (23 percent) than on DLC (16 percent).

Here’s a quick list of some of the other key points from the survey:

– Close to half of non-purchasers of microtransactions are not willing to spend any money on them.
– 48 percent felt the content was not worth the extra expense.
– Half of non-DLC purchasers stated the DLC was not worth the money.
– 16 percent believe the extra content should have been included in the full game price.

Unsurprising to read then, that people don’t like microtransactions when they cost too much and deliver too little. The study goes on to say that people are more likely to spend using in-game currency but would consider shelling out real dollar bills for in-game weapons and power ups.

NPD group analyst Sam Naji stated:

Spending on microtransactions and DLC is currently healthy, but game publishers and developers must not lose sight of the importance of looking at areas that will stimulate spending growth without compromising real and perceived value of the content they’re providing.

If you’re interested, it’s well worth checking out the full report over on the NPD website. The general takeaway though, is that microtransactions are doing the business for big businesses, so don’t expect them to vanish any time soon.