The games industry is incredibly lucrative. According to an infographic released by web hosting company 100TB in 2017, the games industry will be worth $118.6 billion by the year 2019 and is expected to grow at a rate of 6.6% each year. Compare the estimated 2019 figure to 2016 when the industry was worth $99.9 billion.
With so much money at stake, many game developers are eager to cut themselves a slice of it. And because of fierce competition, devs are having to try much harder to get us to play, including using quests and bonuses.
Free to Play and Casino Games
A person plays a game on a PC via Pexels
We typically see bonuses used in free to play games as well as casino games that provide bonuses that allow fans to play for free.
This is one of the reasons that Epic Games’ multiplayer game Fortnite has become so popular. In the Fortnite Battle Royale game mode, players can purchase a Battle Pass, whereby the more they play, the more bonuses that they can unlock, including XP bonuses and bonus cosmetics such as new skins and emotes. Meanwhile, the game’s narrative mode, Save The World, features daily quests allowing players to unlock bonus resources upon completion. These all help to keep players coming back each and every day, keen to see what new, free goodies await.
Bonuses are also popular with casinos. In explaining Casino Room’s bonuses, this review notes that Casino Room offers a range of different bonuses, including extra spins on certain online slot games such as Boomanji. Players can also get free spins just by signing up for an account. This allows players to try the games before they spend money on it and in this way, they can see if they really like it.
League of Legends if another example, as this free to play MOBA has introduced quests more recently in an effort to re-engage its playerbase. The game does offer some currency for completing games but daily quests give players something extra to work towards, including exclusive icons, thus giving players more reasons to play.
Mobile Games
A person holds a phone with the Pokemon GO app on it via Pexels
Mobile games have an even longer legacy of using bonuses and quests, including daily log-in bonuses where players get extra premium currency, cosmetics, and other helpful resources just for opening up the app each day.
Pokemon GO recently introduced quests, offering rewards including the mythical Pokemon Mew for visiting PokeStops, catching Pokemon, hatching eggs and more. Meanwhile, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes features Guild Activities, which allow players to replay certain missions by completing them with the members of their guild.
As it stands, the industry of online and mobile games is going away is only going to get bigger. So while many games currently use bonuses, daily log-in rewards and quests to entice us, game creators may get even more inventive with their players rewards in future.
