Hugo D. As you might have noticed, the medium of video games is an incredibly successful and lucrative one. Now a giant of the entertainment industry, alongside movies and music, gaming is a genre that can be divided into any number of subgenres. With all of these options, it’s natural to ask which of them is the most successful in terms of making a profit. There are some you hear about more than others, but does that equate to financial success?
This could be a question that’s born out of an interest in gaming, but it might also be that you’re curious about what business directions are open to you if this is an area that you wanted to explore. With that in mind, continue reading to find out which are the most profitable sectors of gaming.
Mobile Gaming
Straight out of the gate, this is one worth looking at in terms of lucrative business models. It might come as a surprise, due to mobile gaming not often containing the blockbuster titles you hear about most regularly. However, the freemium model allows for an extensive degree of monetization which allows developers to seed microtransactions throughout the experience. The foot in the door of the free game might make these smaller purchases easier to justify for the player, and the results speak for themselves.
There are also online casinos to consider—Casinoza, for example—as these can be seen to follow a similar model. They can also help to bring in players that aren’t familiar with gaming at all, due to the connection with physical games through venues such as regular casinos.
The Breakout Hits
Then, of course, there are the big names. Grand Theft Auto V is generally thought of as being one of, if not the, most successful entertainment product ever made. This isn’t only due to the incredibly high number of units sold, but it’s also thanks to the in-game microtransactions that continue to support the online mode to this day. A similar situation can be with Rockstar’s other recent success, Red Dead Redemption 2.
However, this model isn’t always required for a game to be deemed a massive success. In much more recent history, Elden Ring was released and enjoyed runaway success without these practices being present. Despite the prevalence of live service games in the discussion surrounding the future of the industry, these examples can showcase a strong argument for why single-player games will continue to rake in revenue.
Live Service Games
Companies wouldn’t be putting so much stock in these types of game if they weren’t hopeful that it could make them some money. Sony, especially, seem to be putting all of their eggs into this particular basket. However, it seems that there have been just as many, if not more, failures in this area than there have been successes.
Destiny 2 might be often pointed to as what a successful live service game looks like, but then there are also examples such as Anthem which speak to the contrary. Other decisions, such as that of EA and Bioware to move Dragon Age Dreadwolf back to a single-player structure after starting as a live service game also cast doubt in that area.
