Payers among Players: Case Study of the UK

A recent study by Newzoo and ACI Worldwide provides interesting consumer insights about the UK game market, which is the world’s sixth-biggest ($5.1 billion revenue). These findings help better understand payment behavior of gamers in the UK in comparison with other countries.

Payment behavior by gender and platform

The study looks at how payment choices differ across platforms by gender. Mobile is the platform of preference for 94% of gamers, with PC and console games favored by 85%. However, most spending happens on PC and console, with only half of mobile gamers ready to pay. Gender-wise, men constitute two-thirds of all paying gamers. Gender difference between male and female paying gamers is most striking on PC (17%), less so on console (12%) and nearly non-existent on mobile (1%).

All data in this article is from “Newzoo 2018 Global Mobile Games Market Report” and ACI’s reseach, “Turn Players into Payers,” ACI and Newzoo, 2018

The report points out that while consoles are not the favorite platform in the U.K., it is the platform with the highest percentage of payers.

The findings also suggest that loyalty/reward programs can make the game more attractive for paying players. Women, specifically, are more susceptible to this form of incentive. The biggest motivation to spend, according to the study, is enjoyment. Consequently, a free experience that is enjoyable enough can prevent people from spending.

What are gamers buying?

In PC/console sector, gamers spend money mostly on downloaded/digital games and in-game purchases.

Popular in-game purchases

It is also interesting that more than half of gamers buy digital content as opposed to physical copies.

Payment methods

Another major factor affecting the willingness to pay is a quick and trustworthy payment service. Accorrding to the study, “U.K. gamers in the age ranges of 18-29 (74%) and 30-40 (82%) both list PayPal as the payments method they feel most positive about”.

Most used payment methods by platform

The revenue from the UK game market will exceed $5.5 billion by 2022, the report says.