MOBAs are big business these days. Companies that develop them bring in record profits each year, and that doesn’t look to change that anytime soon. EEDAR’s (Electronic Entertainment Design and Research) Ed Zhao has taken a look at past years revenue from MOBAs, MMORPGs, and Shooters to see how they have performed and expects MOBAs to be the highest earning style of F2P game this year.
Over the past years MMORPGs have dominated most genres in pulling in money by operating in the free to play space. In the graph above you can see in 2010, MMORPGs were almost the only genre that could pull in money with a free to play style of income. However, the closer we get to now, MOBAs have exploded in popularity. Both with player base, and people willing to spend money, MOBAs are becoming a lucrative cash cow if done right.
The biggest source of income that MOBAs get consists of three parts. Avatar Cosmetics, Hero/Champion Unlocks, and Boosts. The great news about these is that the highest sources of income is in their nature, they are cosmetic and don’t affect the core gameplay. If a person spends $20 on boosts, champion skins, and character unlocks, they will still be on the same playing field as someone who hasn’t put a dime in the game. This is very pleasing news when some F2P games are ridden with pay gates, or become pay to win. It will be interesting to see how these trends shape the future, but for now it looks like 2015 will be the year of the MOBA.
