Mobile Users Favor Consumable Gaming Apps

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As gaming goes ever more mobile, how are consumers shifting their usage and spending patterns? 

According to new data from app advertising and analytics firm Flurry, more than two-thirds of all items purchased in Apple iOS- and Android-based freemium games are "consumable" -- i.e., goods users deplete. That's opposed to "durable" goods, which provide a permanent game-play benefit.

"Measured another way, approximately half of all real dollars spent within all apps are for game items consumers don't keep," explains Jefferson Valadares, the general manager of games at Flurry.

With Flurry estimating that total U.S. iOS and Android game revenue will surpass $1 billion in 2011, game developers should understand where consumers spend the majority of their money.

Based on Flurry's research, the most popular virtual purchase, consumable or otherwise, is for "premium" in-game currency. Premium currency, for the uninitiated, can be spent in a number of ways to accelerate progression in a given game, including converting it into "grind" currency -- i.e., the primary currency that consumers accrue and use through normal game play.

Premium currency, which also allows consumers to purchase special items that cannot typically be acquired with regular "grind" currency, is said to "alleviate the grind" -- i.e., allow users to advance more rapidly in a game.

"Games that are designed with consumable items in mind tend to monetize very well," Valadares pointed out. "For developers, this offers the best ROI on game development resources."

Also of note, durable items represent 30% of all in-app purchases in freemium games, Flurry finds. From a game design standpoint, it's important to have a good selection of durable items in a game as it offers important variety to the consumer with respect to the core game play, such as erecting buildings in a city.

Buying increasingly better-performing durable items gives players a sense of progress, which can be important for engagement, according to Flurry.

In addition, offering bigger, better durable items allows users to set goals, or even change their game-play strategy, in order to save for -- and make -- bigger purchases.

As an aside, Flurry suggests that the ratio between consumable and durable should vary depending on how critical these items are to the core game-play experience.

Personalization items represent only 2% of purchases. "Since these items don't affect game play, consumers purchase them infrequently," explains Valadares. "Also, consumers don't tend to decorate, and then re-decorate, in most games."

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