This is all from the Newzoo "The PC & Console Gaming Report 2025" - https://newzoo.com/resources/trend-reports/the-pc-console-gaming-report-2025

Newzoo released a report on the PC and console gaming market a couple of days ago, and there are some interesting trends worth highlighting:

- The PC games market has increased slightly. There was a dip in the market that seems to have ended in 2022, and both 2023 and 2024 have shown a slight rise. So overall, PC gaming is on the upswing.

- However, there was a drop in what's called "premium games". These made up 28% of total revenue, but that still reflects a 2.6% decline from 2023.

- What has increased are microtransactions and DLC sales. According to the report, 58% of total PC game revenue now comes from microtransactions. The top earners in this category are Roblox, Fortnite, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

- DLCs accounted for 14% of revenue. The leading earners here are Blizzard's DLCs for Diablo 4 and World of Warcraft, and Elden Ring.

So, the overall trend suggests that PC gaming is growing, but instead of buying new games, people are investing more in additional content for the games they already own. At the moment, the majority of income from PC gaming comes from microtransactions

There are some repercussions from this. Arguably, it could lead to a more fragmented PC gaming market, with increased lock-in, greater pressure to implement monetization systems, and ultimately less innovation, as the primary revenue no longer lies in full-price game releases. On the flip side, this trend also shows support for longer support cycles for games, which could encourage developers to take more risks with additional content, as long as the base game has been established successfully. Since income is now higher from smaller content such as microtransactions and DLCs, there's less risk that a single product failiing will sink a developer. It also demonstrates that players are willing to pay for what they want, and that doesn’t necessarily mean a £70 full game every time.

Most popular games on EPIC (according to the stores 'most popular games' list)

(i'm not sure if the presentation is directed by player numbers,but it does seem like it)

1. Fortnite
2. Rocket League
3. Valorant
4.Football Manager 2024
5. GTA V enhanced
6. Genshin Impact
7. Crosshair X
8. Marvel Rivals
9. Honkai Star Rail
10. Crosshair V2
11. EA SPORTS FC 25
12. Wuthering Waves
13. Base game The Sims 4
14. Zenless Zone Zero
15. Fall Guys

Steam (according to steamdb's concurrent user list

1. CS2
2. PUBG
3. DOTA 2
4. Schedule 1
5. Monster Hunter Wilds
6. POE2
7. Apex Legends
8. Rust
9. Marvel Rivals
10. R.E.P.O.
11. Bongo Cat
12. Naraka:Bladepoint
13. Wallpaper Enhine
14. Stardew Valley
15. Spacewar

I guess there are a few ways to look at this.

But I would like to know, if all those who participate in micro transactions, happy about doing so?
Or are they doing so because they feel they need to, to get the most out of the game?

If the latter then these game providers are being greedy and unethically fostering addiction.

Will this last I wonder?

And what about the makeup of games. How many Indie games are now being sold compared to previously?

One could be cynical and suggest that most new games are old games in new clothes, certainly when it comes to AAA and perhaps AA too.

There's too much financial influence when it comes to games, for sure. But then that is right across the entertainment industry, not just games.

Entertainment is an important aspect of all our lives, but I do wonder how we are being impacted by it, manipulated by it, especially by those who are very controlling and greedy and lack morals and ethics.

This paradigm change comes from a generational change as well.
From what I see in my life, most of these microtransactions and DLC purchase come from kids. Who only play a single game or two but spend plenty of cash on it in order to acquire skins and shiny loot.
Most of the guys my age (Generation X) have stopped playing games at all or play very little.
What I personally don't understand is how those same guys (many of whom were hardcore gamers when they were young) encourage their children to spend $$$$ on microtransactions for their online games. Personally I think it would be money best spent if they bought several full games for their children. But that's just my opinion.

Out of the three major games mentioned for microtransactions, 85% of Fortnite’s player base is between 18–35 years old (https://explodingtopics.com/blog/fortnite-stats). Roblox does have a younger player base, with 56% below 16 and 44% above 16 (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1190869/roblox-games-users-global-distribution-age/). There aren't clear numbers available for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, but in any case, it's not accurate to say it's only kids engaging with these games.

The NPD Group conducted a survey on PC gamers in the USA and found that there's a very even gender mix, 49% female and 51% male, with the average age being 38 years old. These gamers are also generally affluent, with an average household income of $69,000 (https://afjv.com/news/4227_37-of-u-s-population-age-9-and-older-plays-pc-gam).

You've hit the nail on the head. But it doesn't just happen to the greedy or unprincipled. It happens to the every-man too, and especially the easily manipulated child. The systems put into place are of sinister design to ensnare a user and maximise their spending. As a cynical adult, these tactics don't prompt me to engage with them. The constant conveyor belt of never ending shiny trinkets that I am pressured into purchasing is exhausting and off-putting.
In more recent years, as in the EU for instance who has been passing increasingly stringent laws to govern over micro-transactions targeted towards children, it's as much as the law will allow.

In the west at least, I do think there has been a shift in culture and technology/availability: globalisation, reduction in manufacturing costs, sufficient economic recovery since WWII, increase in average living standards, an increase in individualism in society over time, reduction in birth rates, and so forth. In a word, there are more people with more wealth to spend, with fewer children and social activities or affordable housing to spend it on (in the UK at least). It only breeds young men who extend that period in their life with no home and few future prospects, but with just enough money for the lonely and directionless to waste on addictive, void-filling video games. I still find it astonishing to see my peers (by age only) be so nonchalant in throwing money at battle-pass systems, and enjoy what they receive. Either they are easily pleased or so accustomed to the concept of being extorted that they embrace it willingly.

As for the general culture shift, it's no secret that in the toy market an increasing about of sales are being made to adults than in the past. There is perhaps less stigma surrounding this than there used to be. People, adults and adolescents alike, will online proudly display their collections of figurines, cards, their computer setup, and what have you and be pleased for the compliments they receive. Such people either like to own and display things, or don't want to be left out. Especially children. Part of purchasing micro transactions, more so in the east, is simply as a status symbol or of affluence. People will purchase a $500 skin just to show that they can.
Does it make these people happy? Yes, in a way. Either they (believe they) look cool, are part of a social group, or simply like the attention or feeling of superiority that comes with wasting money.

Availability is the big one. In the physical age, a child could be imagined begging a parent for money for a comic book or pack of cards or something that might be in stock once every couple of weeks - and had to last that long and more. It's hard to get addicted to collecting baseball or Pokemon cards when there are so many restrictions regarding their acquisition. No longer is it "you can get one game for you're birthday if you're good, sonny Jim", but endless games, all free, available all the time, are here at the touch of one's fingertips. Tap the screen and spend your money!

Anyone here who has ever felt left out as a child, or who still feels compelled to continually add to their vast collections of games just because there is a sale can extrapolate why micro-transactions are so successful.

My two sons seem to play mainly Roblox, and a bit of Team Fortress 2. I've just made sure they don't have access to my credit card so they can't buy any content for those games, and so far they have not asked me to buy anything either. For now they seem to be totally ok playing those games without paying a dime.

I don't know what single-player games I would buy for them (besides Minecraft on Nintendo Switch that my older son still occasionally plays) since:

a) they haven't requested for any single-player games ("Please dad buy that game to us!")

b) I already own thousands of single-player games (most actually on GOG) so if they want to play something from my vast collection, by all means. But it appears they prefer online games where they are part of some kind of community with which they communicate all the time. It is a bit like their social media, meeting other kids online.

Sometimes they do ask me what game I am playing when they saw me playing e.g. Planescape: Torment EE, but it must have seemed like a weird game to them. When they recently saw me playing Daggerfall Unity, they just commented "Ewww, old game!".

I sometimes wonder whether most of those Roblox etc. microtransaction purchases are from kids of ultrarich American and Chinese families where the kids can buy anything they want, no matter the cost?

I saw some video recently which discussed about this, the online game makers, also on mobile games, are not trying to get most players buy stuff with microtransactions, but they are trying to catch "whales" that easily spend thousands of dollars on microtransactions without thinking about it. Ie. those ultrarich gamers or their kids.

Damn kids. Don't they know that pretty graphics don't automatically equal fun? ;)

Actually, on that subject, I am always surprised at the hypocrisy of players both young and old who whine about how bad the graphics look in "old" games, but then will happily go waste hours playing Minecraft, an arguably modern game with arguably awful graphics. XD

As for this elderly Millennial, I will buy DLC if it adds something truly worthwhile to a game. If it's just a new graphic for a character, I'm not likely to bother, but if it actually adds something useful/functional to a game, there's a better chance I'll lay out some cash. I'm old enough to remember when expansion packs actually added quite a bit to games (granted, some still do) so that's what I tend to expect when a company asks me for more money for a game I already own.

This is definitely a strategy being employed, and it makes me dubious of much of what's posted in the OP. If whales are the ones buying most of the microtransactions to the point it is a majority of the total revenue of PC gaming, their habits are not an accurate representation of the average PC gamer. Thus it is inaccurate to make claims about the PC gaming market at large, claims that customers now want to buy games in seasons, etc.

Companies only see profit and are blind to everything else. An accurate reading of their customer base is very much part of the everything else.

The OP does not make any claims about what the 'average gamer' is or how they behave. It is simply reporting on the current state of the market. To reiterate: the data shows a general increase in the overall PC gaming market, alongside a decrease in revenue from premium games, but a notable increase in sales from microtransactions and DLCs. This trend allows for the influence of 'whales' and doesn't make assumptions about individual spending habits - it is purely an overview of the market itself.

Okay, yes that is certainly true I introduced the phrase "the average gamer", but I did get the sense at least a partial conclusion was being drawn, specifically by: [emphasis mine]

It is very possible these "people"/"players" are actually a minority of the market, and are significantly comprised of whales. So, it would be more accurate to say "some people" or "some players". However, that would seem to defeat the point of the topic, as "some players buy microtransactions" can be countered by "some/many don't".

In any event, I did not mean to put words in your mouth. That said, I am somewhat curious as to your intentions with this thread. If you are presenting a very general overview that is largely missing information and necessary context with which to draw/debate conclusions, what exactly do you expect people's responses to be to your post?

"Hmm, interesting"
"That sucks, I don't like mtx"
"Good talk, guys"

???

I suppose there is food for thought with the speculation in your OP's last paragraph ("Arguably, it could lead to a more fragmented PC gaming market [...]", but without having further context I think to start discussing possibilities there is putting the cart before the horse. *shrugs*

Now that you said it, I did point out to them that the Roblox games they play has quite bad graphics, yet they don't seem to mind.

I mean, some of the games I see them play there, like some odd game where you run across the corridors of a school trying to find items before an angry teacher catches you or something, damn those graphics are straight from some Sinclair Spectrum pseudo-3D maze game from the early 80s.

If it is indeed mainly the whales spending even up to $100.000+ on their preferred online game (sometimes even a mobile game, not even a PC game) just because they simply have money to spend and it doesn't make a dent to their economy, maybe the silver lining then is that it is a lottery for the developers of such games, where most of those "whale games" will crash and burn, and only a selected few will strike gold and keep making money even for years to come, mainly because the whales flocked to them.

So what choice do those other developers have then that can't catch the whales on the online microtransaction market? Maybe to make single-player games like Baldur's Gate 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 or Elden Ring to make at least some money, even if they will not make several billions like the few most successful microtransaction online games. So the market may and may have already divided to different subcategories where they make money by different means, from different gamers.

Of course there are different types of whales. Many would consider me a whale too, having bought thousands of games so far over the years, and having played only a fraction of them. I guess I have to spend my money somewhere too?