According to recent data from Tebex, discount codes distributed by creators are significantly boosting the adoption of game storefronts

Content creators play a vital role in boosting revenue for game marketplaces by distributing game codes to their followers. This conclusion is supported by recent research conducted by Tebex. Notably, a small group of elite creators predominantly drive this impact.

The analysis of over 1.5 million transactions, influenced by creators and involving 635,000 players over a period slightly exceeding two years, highlighted that 80.4% of these players used creator codes during their initial purchase. Furthermore, half of them completed their purchases on the same day they joined, underscoring the role of creators in generating new consumers, as opposed to merely redirecting existing sales.

Applying creator codes also led to an increased average spend. Specifically, the average mobile webstore purchase rose by 93% when a code was utilized, jumping from $27 to $52. However, the study discovered that this significant impact was primarily generated by leading creators. Specifically, only 1.6% of creators—representing the top 100—accounted for 75.9% of the total gross merchandise value (GMV) recorded across the games analyzed. Remarkably, one unnamed creator alone generated sales worth $4.9 million.

The research highlighted that most players demonstrated loyalty to a specific creator, with 87.4% using only one creator's code. In fact, half of these codes did not provide any discount, indicating that codes often serve as a way for players to show allegiance to their favorite creators instead of merely seeking savings.

Within the gaming community, Minecraft had a notably mature creator ecosystem, accounting for nearly 30% of its GMV through creator activity. Meanwhile, the FiveM platform, associated with GTA 5 and owned by Rockstar, offered significant potential for growth. Despite a GMV of $366.9 million, only 3.9% was influenced by creator codes, identifying FiveM as a major opportunity for expansion in the gaming industry.