Monetization Factors of Success Revealing in the Mobile Games Market

The gaming industry at the moment is the fastest growing segment of entertainment business. Growth in 2017 reached 10.7% and amounted to 116 billion dollars (Newzoo, 2017). According to the analytical agency Newzoo, by 2020 this figure will reach 143.5 billion dollars. Specifically, the mobile part of the market in 2017 was $ 50.4 billion (Newzoo 2017). This is an extremely impressive figure for the youngest segment of the entertainment business and its mobile part, in particular. The most interesting topic in this area is "monetization", since according to Seufert (2014) only 5% of mobile players spend money in games. The main research issue is how the monetization factors affect the commercial success of mobile gaming applications. To answer this question, a study was conducted to identify the effect of the elements of the monetization structure (monetization mechanics and sales methods) on the main commercial indicator of mobile games - ARPU (Average revenue per user). The results of this work allow to form "monetization standards" of the market in the context of various game genres, to reveal the points of differentiation in terms of the structure of monetization of the mobile game and to formulate recommendations for companies that operate on the mobile gaming market. In general, the influence of different monetization elements varies depending on the genre and its specifics. One can confidently say that the extensive formation of a "monetization portfolio" is poorly applicable in the mobile gaming market. Therefore, developers need to formulate their own strategy for the introduction of certain elements of monetization, based on existing mechanics involved in the project in order to achieve synergy effect between them.