According to a report by DigitalRiver supported by SuperData says that $15.9 billion in revenue for games will come from boxed game product in 2012, while $7.1 billion will come from online and mobile. For the latter category, it is expected that free-to-play games and virtual goods sales will make up over 50 percent of online gaming revenues by 2017.
Free to play is expected to be the dominant monetization model for MMORPGs. SuperData estimates that the free-to-play business model is expected to account for nearly 60 percent of all revenue generated by 2015, after reaching parity with subscription business this year.
Projections put the number of mobile game payments at 15.3 billion by 2013, up from 4.6 billion in 2010. In the U.S., social games accounted for 27 percent of mobile payments, followed by casual with 22 percent, and MMO games at 18 percent.
