What's a Free to Play User Worth?

While most users don't spend any money in a game's cash shop, some do. How much is a free to play user worth? How much money does the average user spend on a free to play game? Well, that depends on the game!

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The chart above is quite interesting; it reveals that World of Tanks and Team Fortress 2 are the best monetized games on a per user basis. Keep in mind, these numbers are just averages and include players that don't spend a dime. The average revenue per PAYING user is significantly higher. What's surprising to me is that DotA 2 monetizes better than League of Legends. I've played both games extensively and I figured that since players can purchase champions in League, the average spend per user would be higher, but I was wrong.

Another interesting data point from the first chart is that the most well monetized games aren't MMORPGs. I suspect this is because free to play MMORPGs make almost all of their money from “whales”, an industry term for a small subset of players (1% or less) that typically outspend the rest of the playerbase combined. The only MMORPG that makes this list if ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2. Despite being a buy to play title, its cash shop generates significant revenue. Given the way cash shops are set up in free to play games, It's fair to say that the average PAYING user likely spends more money on a free to play MMORPG, but on a per-user basis, MMORPGs don't do nearly as well.

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I've paid for Rune Pages before in LoL

I've personally spent money on League of Legends (to buy runepages), but I never spent money on an F2P MMORPG, so I guess I'm one of the reasons that MOBAs make this list but not many MMORPGs. What about everyone else? Do you spend more money in MOBAs and shooters over MMORPGs? Do you spend any money in free to play games? Share in the comments below!