It isn’t always easy to discern how players feel about the inclusion of paid content like microtransactions or downloadable content in games. The findings of a recent NPD survey entitled DLC and Microtransaction Purchasing should help make public opinion of paid post-release content at least a little clearer to developers.
The survey polled 8,893 American men and women between the ages of 13 and 54 on their purchasing habits, thoughts about paying for additional content, and opinions on the overall nature of DLC and microtransactions.
One of its findings showed that people are more willing to spend money on microtransactions than DLC. 23 percent of people surveyed expressed a preference for microtransactions, while only 16 percent said they favor DLC.
For both DLC and microtransactions alike, people said that price was often what kept them from spending the extra money for more in-game content. All in all, only 28 percent of people surveyed said they have spent money on DLC or microtransactions in the last 3 months, but purchasers of both said they’d buy more if prices were lower.
The survey goes on to say that a 77 percent majority of players think that microtransactions help extend the enjoyment they get from games. Despite this, 68 percent aren’t fans of pay-to-win practices.
48 percent said that they believed microtransactions were, in general, not worth the money while half of people surveyed said the same for DLC.
DLC buyers say that wanting to play games with friends that already own the content is a driving force behind their purchases, as is a desire to own all the content for a game. A small slice of people also said that they believed DLC should be included in the retail price for the game.
According to GameSpot, NPD asked questions about portable, PC, console, and smartphone games. Some of the games mentioned when asking about microtransactions were Battleborn, Grand Theft Auto V, and Halo 5. DLC questions were centered around games like Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Fallout 4, and Super Smash Bros. Wii U.