An analysis of the barriers and drivers of microtransactions in online video games

Abstract

The aim of this research was to analyze and identify the barriers and drivers of microtransactions in online video games. The relationship between customer satisfaction against different forms of Microtransactions created by developers will be explored. The idea is to retain or increase potential profit while increasing/retaining customer satisfaction and not impact brand image or entice negative connotations. This research attempts to answer it’s objective questions via a quantitative survey with a relatively large sample size ( n = 496 ). The research specifically targets users of consoles and personal computers and splits up the sample between those users that have participated in the purchase of Microtransactions and those who have not. Through the data analysis were the competitive nature of games and the inclusion of a trade system identified as donating factors that promote users to make Microtransaction purchases. It was found that both Microtransaction users and Non-Microtransaction users are both most likely to spend realmoney in Free-To-Play games. Despite the uncertainty surrounding microtransactions from the gaming community, it was identified that Microtransactions users described their purchases with positive elements, with 69.1% (320 out of 464) of respondents agreeing that their purchases allowed them to enjoy their game experience or promote them to play more. The most popular donator for users to make Microtransaction purchases were “Superiorly designed cosmetic products”. Users were asked their opinions on new Microtransaction initiatives such as the “Crate-Unlock System” that has begun to change the world of cosmetics and character customization. Even though such newly implemented systems have gained substantial popularity and success the majority of reactions were negative ( 68.1%+ , 314 respondents ). Downloadable content still proved to be more of an attractive purchase than cosmetic purchases, with 70% of users stating that they were more likely to pay for downloadable content than cosmetic items. Even though Microtransaction users accounted for 93.5% of the respondents, exactly half of them only spent less than 5 euro per month on such purchases, implying that there is still room for improvement in such regard. 61.3% of the Non-Microtransaction users base answered that they would rather purchase games that did not feature any microtransactions ( 19 out of 31). Several questions aimed for Non- Microtransactions indicated that a fair portion of Non-Microtransaction users were not planning on converting and did not identify any factors that would promote them to make such purchases in the future besides a reduction in price.