The Current State Of Virtual Reality's Average Revenue Per User

Virtual reality gamers already seem to be spending a substantial amount on software. Average revenue per user of VR gaming could “ultimately exceed” that of traditional gaming, given the former’s “richer games and other content experiences,” Loup Ventures’ Doug Clinton said in a report.

VR Gaming

Citing an analysis of the top 100 VR-only Vive games on Steam, Clinton estimated that HTC Vive had sold ~$35 million in software to date. HTC is estimated to have sold more than 300,000 Vives since the device was launched in April 2016. This translates to Vive owners spending an average of ~$119 on software over the past ten months.

“Given an average sale price of ~$15.50 for the top VR games on Steam, this means Vive users are buying about seven or eight games on average,” Clinton wrote.

Related Link: HTC VIVE Launches $10 Million "VR For Impact" Program At World Economic Forum 2017

PC/Console Gaming

The analyst estimated the total gaming software revenue for PCs and consoles [excluding mobile games] at ~$33 billion. Estimated ~170 million PC and console gamers worldwide, the gaming software ARPU comes to ~$194 per annum.

Mobile

Mobile app ARPU was estimated at $23 per annum, while mobile games ARPU came to $19 per year.

With the current high-end VR users being “very early adopters,” they tend to spend more than their mainstream counterparts, despite limited software titles on the market.

“Longer term, both the number of high-end VR users and ARPU will grow, driven by better, cheaper hardware and better titles respectively,” Clinton commented. He added that VR ARPU would eventually exceed traditional gaming; and as VR evolves beyond a purely digital solution, “we believe that entire industries could be transformed [...] That is why we think VR has the long-term potential to be more transformative to the human experience than AR.”

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