Could the Gaming Industry’s Success With Micropayments be a Lesson To Us All?
Once strictly the domain of teenage boys, video games have enjoyed a healthy resurgence in recent years. PlayStation and Xbox led the charge in the console stakes, while the vast array of puzzle and strategy games now available on mobile means gaming in all its iterations has passed into the mainstream.

Fortnite, FIFA, Angry Birds and Grand Theft Auto are all household names, familiar to people who have never even set eyes on a console.
According to Newzoo, a leading market intelligence partner with a specialism in games, mobile and e-sports, Gaming has undergone a definite image upgrade of late. While half the UK population now play video games regularly, men and women represent a fairly equal split of players, with 35–44s almost as control-pad friendly as the 25–34s. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of gamers engage in regular physical exercise, have a job and earn more than the average national average salary.
Fortnite continues to storm the gaming charts, making upwards of $300m last month alone as players pay to customise their characters; Grand Theft Auto V is still the most profitable entertainment product ever; and this year, three of the most anticipated movies — Tomb Raider, Ready Player One and Wreck It Ralph 2 — were all based on video games.
The impact of the success of gaming in the wider marketing industry should not be underestimated. Gamification was the first gift from gaming to businesses as we saw the introduction of point scoring and competition within online marketing increase product engagement.
And the next phenomenon seems to be micropayments, whose revival generally fall into three main categories:
In-game personalisation
Currently, the most popular model for mobile app games is to offer the game for free and then charge for modifications or for users to level up. In games such as Candy Crush, users can buy extra lives, moves or in-game gold for less than £1 — consequently, the free download game franchise generates almost $4 million a day worldwide.
In-game level up
Game developers have come to realise that building a game franchise where players had a set narrative and could only follow a certain path would cause 90% of people who started their game to give up before they finished it. The developer would have to wait another couple of years to make the sequel to the game when they could hope to engage old and new players alike.
However, FIFA released a new feature which meant that instead of earning rewards and upgrades only after putting in the hours at the console, impatient gamers could increase their chances of landing better players by paying for player packs. This feature has improved year on year and is now worth $800m annually to the FIFA franchise.
Appreciation
Twitch is a popular gaming streaming service owned by Amazon in which users watch live gaming, creating a network of gaming personalities, players and spectators. Participants can buy Twitch bits, a virtual currency that they pre-load on to their account and use in exchange for cheering on players. Their reward? A ‘shout out’ from the players, not dissimilar to the days of pirate radio when a nod from your favourite DJ would make you a minor celebrity in the playground the next morning.
The subscription model is proving hugely popular across the full spectrum of media platforms, be it TV and film, music streaming or press, but for every Netflix and Spotify that have hit the sweet spot, there are some sectors still struggling to get the offering right. Newspapers are a prime example, with many readers unwilling to fork out for a monthly subscription. Would a gaming-style pay-per-read micropayment model work here?
Gaming is a growing industry where people are comfortable exchanging their money for digital goods but, as gaming has proved, it works best when it is on their terms, through regular small payments where players can see the direct value and do not feel they have fully committed to a single game.
While every brand is chasing loyalty, many consumers are still reluctant to commit fully to what probably feels like a significant monthly outlay. Perhaps the best way for content providers to build their customer base is to accept small daily payments and focus on producing great content that keeps customers coming back for more.
Nick Graham, Digital Strategist, MC&C Media
