As in any business, making a profit from the resources and time spent is the main goal of video game developers and publishers. There is such a strategy for earning on already released products as monetization of games.
The Internet has a huge number of playgrounds where developers can conduct releases of their products and gamers can buy them, and also platforms in the form of devices, such as PCs, consoles, and smartphones. It is the cornerstone in the question of video game monetization, which we will talk about in this article. Have a pleasant reading!
Best monetization strategies for gaming platforms
The development of a video game monetization strategy includes the choice of distribution model and monetization methods. The choice of the distribution model depends on a number of technical factors. To put it simply, that is the genre, the game platform, and the number of users.
Also, the financial strategy of the developer or publisher of a video game matters. The fact is that intellectual property rights often belong to the publisher. As a result, the video game publisher chooses the model of its distribution.
There are three main gaming platforms, such as personal computer, console, and mobile devices. Let’s check out the best monetization strategies for each of the platforms.
Game monetization for PCs and consoles
The best example to illustrate ways of monetization of computer and console games is multiplayer online games. Developers periodically release special modifications and patches for their MMOs. Each of these mods can give gamers a brand-new type of content, new story branches, and features to improve the user and gaming experience. The fact is that each of these add-ons is not free, and gamers should pay money to access this content.
There is also downloadable content or DLC. They may include new locations, characters, and stories about favorite heroes of gamers. These releases are less large-scale, though the distributor may value them at a very high cost. Each of these types of monetization helps developers and distributors continue to earn money from their games even years after the initial project release.
Game monetization for mobile devices
Monetization of mobile games has a qualitatively different vector than in the case of computer and console ones. Creators can earn income through advertisements and the promotion of mobile applications for video games. Also, regular subscriptions remain a good option.
One of the proven ways to monetize mobile games is by promoting the project on the app store platform, such as Google Play or App Store. Moreover, monetization may differ depending on the type of operating system. For example, monetization based on advertising campaigns may be more profitable for Android games since this platform is more popular than iOS.
Other monetization methods
If we have in mind more literal ways of monetization, then there are quite a lot of them as well. Among such methods is advertising space like affiliate marketing, banner ads, branded content, database of gamers, cashback, notice fees, or even personalized content.
Besides, many publishers use combinations of different strategies. Among them are buy-to-play, pay-to-play, and free-to-play models. All of them are legal and can bring unlimited revenue to companies with competent implementation.
Conclusion
Despite the diversity of strategies for monetization and distribution of video games, a trend towards microprogramming has emerged in this industry. The additional content has become a source of revenue for developers even in those games that are sold under the Buy to play model.
The digitalization trend in the leisure and entertainment industry has gained momentum in recent years. So experts come up with new ideas for developing innovative directions of business development every day.
