Few words in the video games industry are as cynical as “whale,” taken from a Las Vegas term for a high stakes gambler. The difference is, a Vegas high roller may actually win something with his money, and at minimum is comped for everything during his stay. In free-to-play games, a whale is nothing but a cash target.
So, who are these “whales”? You’d be surprised. I know the demographics of this readership very well, and I know the disposition of its comments toward mobile games and microtransactions in general. But if a study by EEDAR is actually true, the whales are us: young(er) males who also play console games.
Kind of swats the stereotype that games like Candy Crush Saga amake their money off bored soccer mums who don’t know any better, right? EEDAR, in a survey of 3,000 active mobile and tablet gamers, said men accounted for two thirds of the top 5 per cent of paying mobile gamers. In fact, women were less likely to pay money for mobile games, accounting for 65 per cent of the non-paying segment.
Even more contrary to stereotype, EEDAR’s survey says free-to-play “whales” spent the majority of their gaming time on consoles. “It’s not surprising,” EEDAR’s Jesse Divinich said to GamesIndustry International. “Core gamers have been conditioned to spend money on traditional games and it is fair to assume this habit carries with them into other gaming verticals.” Divinich said gamers view spending $US50 on a free-to-play game “as an investment, as most hobbyists do.”
So, if you despise the trend in mobile free-to-play gaming, well you have met the enemy, and it is us.
[UPDATE:] The EEDAR folks supplied us with an infographic for some more insight on their study. It’s at the bottom of this post.
Two-Thirds of Whales are Males [GamesIndustry International]
To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.
Comments
4 responses to “Who Are The ‘Whales’ Driving Free-to-Play Gaming? You’d Be Surprised”
Reading the term “whales” in this context made me laugh much more than I should have >_<
Personally I skipped a section and got really confused.
Call me a whippersnapper, but I don’t exactly call 30 “young”.
So wait.. is a whale someone who pays or doesn’t pay at all and just “leeches” the free-to-play without ever paying.. confused.
They pay. like he says its a term taken it from vegas ‘whales’ spend the most at a casino.