Video game industry profit overwhelming comes from microtransactions, so I am unsure why the frequency of game purchase would matter very much

> If, on average, players are spending, say, £140 on two full price games (or less) each year

I buy games, but except for I think Call of Duty MW2, I don't think I've ever paid more than £20 for a game. I doubt the average purchase price is £70. Maybe if you limit to people who buy COD and Fifa (or Madden) every year?

Not sure the relevance of the headline.

What I do know is that by revenue, the video games industry more than twice the size of the film and music industries combined. It also is growing faster (>9% yoy). Mobile gaming alone is about the same size as the whole film industry.

Here is the source data (sorry I know it's not public) https://www.statista.com/outlook/amo/media/games/worldwide?c...

Constant insistence that we lump "Mobile games", which are just thinly disguised skinner boxes and gambling machines, in with actual video gaming is genuinely ruining the industry.

They are vastly different worlds.

I guess I'm in the minority. I set aside some monthly budget for guilt-free spending (ala Ramit Sethi approach) and $70 for a game that I play for 20 hours or more of entertainment is a no-brainer to me. Back in the day that would be like $3.50 an hour at an arcade (or less if more than 20 hours). 14 quarters per hour, I think I averaged way more than that back then.

Then there are subscriptions like PS+ for Playstation that is about $15/mo and I get 3 games that I mostly add to my library and hardly play.

If I play half a game and get distracted or bored, I just stop. If I'm not naturally pulled back in, I don't care. The whole "guilt free spending" budget concept really shifted my perspective from wanting to "get my money's worth" to more "its spent, I had fun, what's next/interesting now?" approach.

I don't buy more than two new games in a year which is why Game Pass has been great for me, now I play many more games and a greater diversity of indie games now that I can try them without committing to a purchase. I don't replay games so not owning them isn't a downside for me.

I'm willing to spend $20/month on Game Pass as an ongoing expense but never did feel great about spending the equivalent $60x4 on four games I could keep.