The microtransaction business model: a study on modern videogame monetization and the economic sustainability of microtransactions

• Autor(a) principal: Coutinho, Tomás de Oliveira Serra Bettencourt
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/24260
• topic: Video games; Microtransactions; Games-as-a-service; Software-as-a-service; Pay-to-win; Mobile Games; Video jogos; Microtransações

Currently, the profitability of the video game industry is at an all-time high. The traditional system of selling physical copies of video games in electronic stores is progressively falling out of practice, as the internet and mobile trends have exponentially transferred business to direct digital access on personal devices. The majority of revenue being generated by video game publishers come from digital in-game purchases, known as microtransactions, which offerin-game content in exchange for a monet a ryfee. The subject of microtransactions have generated significant interest from consumers, developers, academics and legislators resulting in a complete remodeling of the business strategies used in the video game industry. This study aims to document the impacts of the microtransaction business model on the various aspects and stakeholders of video game production and video game consumer markets.