Monthly in-app gaming spend per user 2016, by platform
In-game purchasing – additional information
In-game purchases have become one of the fastest growing monetization methods for game and gaming app makers in recent years. In-game consumer spending worldwide amounted to 22 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 and is projected to increase by 45 percent to 32 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. Globally, as of mid-2016, iOS users were more likely to make in-game purchases, with more than four percent of users doing so on a monthly basis, about one percent more than Android users.
The mobile market is no stranger to in-app purchasing, either. Nearly six percent of mobile users in North America were reported to have made in-app purchases as of May 2016. What is more, in the United States, forecasts show that in-game mobile gaming revenue is expected to reach nearly two billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2016, up from the 1.12 billion generated three years earlier.
The majority of money spent on in-game purchases in the U.S. was invested in entering a new level or gaining more lives, each accounting for 36 percent of in-game spending. In 2015, Game of War – Fire Age held the top spot in average annual in-game spending of mobile gamers in the United States with about 550 U.S. dollars, followed by Big Fish Casino Free Slots with around 320 U.S. dollars and Summoners War with more than 270 U.S. dollars.