An international mobile commerce platform has discovered that Brits have wasted more than £180 million on unused in-game currency through abandoned mobile games. Candy Crush Saga was revealed to be the game with the most unused currency in it, followed by Clash of Clans and Pokémon Go as two fifths of mobile gamers (39%) say they have deleted games that still have paid-for in-game currency left in them.
One of the world’s leading mobile commerce platforms has surveyed 2,910 Brits who regularly play mobile games to discover how much in-game currency they have bought and left unused in games they no longer play.
Released in 2012, Candy Crush Saga was named the game with the most leftover currency, with an estimated value of £26.7 million residing unused in the game’s gold bars.
The platform which carried out the research, DOCOMO Digital, discovered the average mobile gamer spends £61 a year on in-game purchases, while a third (32%) spend over £500 a year.
The five mobile games with the most unused in-game currency are:
- Candy Crush Saga – £26.7 million in Gold Bars
- Clash of Clans – £25.3 million in Gems
- Pokémon Go– £23.5 million in PokéCoins
- Angry Birds (all versions) – £21 million in Gems
- Candy Crush Soda Saga – £17.2 million in Gold Bars
To view the top 10 games for unused currency with the results for the average leftover amount per player, visit: https://www.docomodigital.com/resource/blog/mobile-games-in-game-currency/
Two-fifths (39%) of players said they had knowingly deleted games with paid-for in-game currency left unused. This is despite the fact that half of gamers (49%) have never paid to download a game.
In-game purchases can include character customisation, extra lives and reduce waiting times for upgrades and progression. These items are often bought with each game’s unique and virtual in-game currency which is purchased in exchange for real-world currency and is often non-refundable.
Out of the 100 most popular free mobile games on the AppStore this August, three quarters of them have in-game purchases (76%), while 64 out of the top 100 paid for games also feature in-game purchases.
With the advancements in mobile technology, mobile gaming’s worth has expanded to now represent 50% of the global games market and was worth $63.2 billion dollars in 2018 and is expected to bring in over $91.2 billion in 2021*.
DOCOMO Digital is the mobile commerce-related business of NTT DOCOMO, world’s fourth-largest telecom company. DOCOMO Digital has partnered with hundreds of carriers and merchants globally to offer innovative payment solutions to help connect digital platforms, payment providers and telecom carriers to enable secure and seamless mobile commerce at scale.
Greg Sigel, VP – Partnerships at DOCOMO Digital said,
“From the early days of Snake and Tetris to high definition multiplayer games with hundreds of players, mobile gaming has advanced massively over the past two decades. The fact that it now makes up half of the global games market speaks volumes for how far the industry has come.
“It is great that so many of these games are free to play and can be enjoyed by everyone. Obviously a lot of them do have the option to enjoy extra content that comes at a price, and as long as you are sensible this can still be enjoyed responsibly. I think if anything this survey will remind people of any games they may have forgotten or to at least think twice before buying that next batch of virtual gold bars!”
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