Monetization in video games

Monetization is the conversion of something into a source of income, it’s what allows developers to make a living off the creation of games. I’m going to explain a few popular examples of arguably good and bad examples of monetization in video games. A lot of mobile games handle monetization in an arguably terrible way. These are often handled with hearts or lives that are lost upon failing a mission or objective in a game and are replenished over a long period of real time. The only way to continue playing the game other than waiting the painfully long time that is to pay with your hard earned money. 

In theory this practice makes sense to bring in an income from the impatience of your audience but as a game developer I think it’s a bit unethical to limit how much people can play your game unless they pay you a sum of money every time. Then again this practice has been around for a fair amount of time before mobile gaming was even a thing, arcade machines often featured a limit to how much individuals could play before paying another sum of money but the difference is at the time arcade machines were much more powerful than any home consoles and featured games unavailable to be played at home.

MOBAs (or Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas) handle their monetization in a fairly ethical way where if players spend any real money on the game they won’t receive any dramatic advantages against other players, often most of their money is received through the production of cosmetic changes in the game and access to characters to a much earlier stage which can be bought with in game money but usually takes a fair amount of time.

 

(http://apollo-pbe-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/1413843339600/Untitled.png) 

 

My absolute favourite example of monetization in a free mobile game is Crossy Road, It is extremely rewarding and never feels like its forcing you to pay your hard earned money to progress within the game. Every once in a while you are rewarded with in game currency that can be used to purchase a random character giving you a taste of what you could get if you spent your money. The sweet part is that when you spend a very small sum of your real money you have the choice of which character you will get meaning that if you are impatient (like myself) you could get the character you want at any point of the game.

 

(http://images.pocketgamer.co.uk/images/featimgs/crossy-road-chinese-cai-shen.jpg)