In-game Gambling & Loot Boxes: Market Forecasts, Legislation & Evolution 2021-2025

• Market Dynamics: Extensive examination of different approaches to loot boxes and skins gambling; highlighting different features that are becoming part of popular games and how this fits into the overall in-game monetisation landscape.
• Legislation Assessment: Analysis of existing and forthcoming legislation on loot boxes and skins gambling across several key markets, including:
  • Belgium
  • Brazil
  • Japan
  • Canada
  • China
  • The EU
  • The Netherlands
  • South Korea
  • UK
  • US
• 5-Year Forecasts – Loot boxes & skins gambling market prospects analysis, together with 5-year forecasts for key metrics, including loot box revenue, adoption and purchase rates across mobile, PC and console games platforms.
• harvest Digital Markets Intelligence Centre: Visualises all the data in easy to use and exportable graphs, tables, and charts, and features continuous data updates for 12 months.

1. What impact will forthcoming legislation have on the in-game gambling market?
2. Where will the biggest market for this sector be?
3. How can video games publishers make the most of loot boxes?
4. What other market developments will affect the sector?
5. What revenue will the loot boxes market generate over the next 5 years?

Case Studied: Blizzard Entertainment, CSGO Lounge, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Rollbit.
 
Mentioned: 2K Games , Apple, ARJEL (National Gaming Authority), Belgian Gaming Commission, Bet365, Bethesda, Big Fish Games , Bungie, CS:GO Diamonds , CSGO Lotto, Danish Regulatory Authority , DCMS (Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) , DGCCRF (General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control) , DMarket, Dota2wage.com, ESA (Entertainment Software Association), eSportsPools, ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board), Ethereum, Facebook, FIFA, Google, House of Commons , House of Lords Gambling Committee , IGDA (International Game Developers Association) , Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission, Kantan Games, King, Konami, Korea Association of Game Industry, MGM Grand, Microsoft, National Health Service , Netherlands Gaming Authority , Netmarble, Nexon, NextFloor, NFL, Nintendo, Norway’s Gaming Authority , Norwegian Tipping , Perfect World, Psyonix, PUBG Corp, Reddit, Riot Games, Sony, South Korean Fair Trade Commission, South Korean Games Ratings Board , Steam, SteamLoto, Take-Two, the TIGA (Independent Game Developers' Association), Twitch, Ubisoft, UK Gambling Commission , University of British Columbia, University of York , Valve, Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, Washington State Gambling Commission , Wedbush Securities, YouTube, Zhengtu Network, Zynga.
 

Juniper Research’s Loot Box and In-Game Gambling forecast suite includes:

• Loot box data for:
  • Number of loot box purchasers
  • Average number of loot boxes purchased per user
  • Average revenue per loot box
  • Loot box revenue per annum
• For each of the following platforms:
  • Console
  • Mobile
  • PC
• Skins gambling data, including:
  • Number of people involved in skins trading
  • Number of skins listed for trade
  • Value of skins listed for trade
  • Number of skins listed for gambling
  • Value of skins gambled
• Interactive Scenario Tool allowing users to manipulate Juniper Research’s data for 14 different metrics.
• Access to the full set of forecast data of 48 tables and more than 10,000 datapoints.

Geographical splits: 25 countries

Harvest: Our online data platform, harvest, contains the very latest market data and is updated throughout the year. This is a fully featured platform enabling clients to better understand key data trends and manipulate charts and tables, overlaying different forecasts within the one chart - using the comparison tool. Empower your business with our market intelligence centre, and get alerted whenever your data is updated.

Interactive Excels (IFxl): Our IFxl tool enables clients to manipulate both forecast data and charts, within an Excel environment, to test their own assumptions using the Interactive Scenario Tool and compare selected markets side by side in customised charts and tables. IFxls greatly increase a clients’ ability to both understand a particular market and to integrate their own views into the model.

We expect the revenue from loot boxes used in video games will exceed $20 billion by 2025, up from an estimated $15 billion in 2020. This growth is slower than the sector has previously experienced, because we expect both consumer fatigue with loot boxes and legislative constraints to limit the market in the coming years.

• We expect over 230 million gamers to buy loot boxes in 2025, approximately 5% of those playing video games. The report notes that mobile gamers will be the largest of these categories, as alternative forms of in-game monetisation, like battle passes and downloadable content packs, are less common in mobile gaming.
• With the origin of loot boxes being in the Far East & China (particularly Japan with gacha mobile games), and legislation that restricts the scope of loot boxes but does not ban them outright, we expect that these will be the biggest markets for the technology over the forecast period.
• Juniper Research believes that publishers need to innovate on the format of loot boxes and their rewards in order to remain a viable market. The report notes that legislation restricting loot boxes, either classifying them as gambling or outright banning them are becoming more prevalent, particularly in Europe.