Microtransactions mean very different things to gamers and publishers. To most gamers, microtransactions have become something of a dirty word - usually when in-game purchases are forced into video games that we've already paid full price for. After all, why should we be paying for new skins, emotes, or even in-game advantages when we've already handed over £50 for what was supposed to be a full experience?
For publishers, microtransactions are increasingly being seen as the ultimate goldmine - a reliable source of regular income that can actually bring in more money than any other branch of the business.
Take Activision Blizzard. Last week the publisher behind franchises like Candy Crush and Call Of Duty revealed its financial results for the period between July and September. It's safe to say that this is one company that doesn't look to have been hit by the pandemic, as it made over $1.95B in revenue, up from $1.2B for the same quarter 2019.
The overwhelming majority of that success came from microtransactions - $1.2B to be precise, with most of that coming from Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call Of Duty: Warzone. According to Activision's report, monthly active users for both games grew over ten-fold, while microtransaction sales across PC and console were up four times from last year.
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The same report confirmed what I'm sure we all suspected: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has performed better than any other CoD game in its first year. Activision boasted that the FPS game sold more copies than any of its predecessors in its first 11 months. It's not a huge shock, then, that Infinity Ward is already reportedly working on a follow-up to the 2019 game.
Overall, Activision Blizzard expects to bring in an eye-watering $8.1B overall in 2020, which is... well, that's a lot of money, isn't it? Is it too much? I couldn't possible say, if only because I can't even imagine what that much money looks like to begin with. I wonder if Bobby Kotick will lend me a tenner.
Topics: Call of Duty, Activision