In-Game Purchases Statistics 2026: Spending, Players and Rules

Most Gen Alpha (69%), Gen Z (78%), and Millennial (67%) players have purchased in-game content, typically spending $20 per month (median), according to the Entertainment Software Association’s 2026 Essential Facts report. The final 2025 numbers are $60.8 billion in total U.S. consumer spending on video games, with $52.4 billion on content, a category that counts downloadable content and microtransactions alongside full games and subscriptions. Those two figures anchor the in-game purchases statistics below.

Publishers now book most of their revenue from that spending. Recurrent consumer spending accounted for 84% of Take-Two’s total GAAP net revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2026. The figures below track who pays, how much the largest publishers depend on in-game sales, where growth is slowing, and how regulators in the U.S., UK, and EU are responding.

Key Takeaways

• Net Bookings from recurrent consumer spending decreased 1% and accounted for 84% of Take-Two’s total Net Bookings in fiscal Q1 2027.
• Electronic Arts’ net revenue attributable to extra content was $4,170 million, down from $4,421 million two years earlier on a trailing twelve-month basis.
• PRI net bookings reached 59.1% of Ubisoft’s total net bookings in Q1 2026-27, up from 53.9% a year earlier.
• Roblox’s bookings growth of 8% landed at the low end of its guidance range, reflecting a decline in per-hour monetization, most notably with younger cohorts in the U.S. and Canada.
• IAP revenue from non-gaming apps surpassed games for the first time, while games saw 1.3% growth in 2025.
• None (0.0%) of the UK’s highest-grossing iPhone games with loot boxes sought explicit parental consent before enabling loot box purchasing by under-18s after the industry’s self-regulation took effect.
• Nearly all (93%) parents who purchase in-game content for their children require approval for those purchases.

Editor’s Choice

• U.S. spending forecast: Circana projects U.S. video game industry spending to rise 3% to $62.8 billion in 2026.
• Global mobile IAP: $167 billion in 2025 across iOS and Google Play.
• Mobile game IAP: approaching $82 billion in 2025.
• EA live services revenue: $1,472 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
• UK consumer games spend: £8.76 billion in 2025, a 7.4% increase.
• Fortnite refunds: nearly $200 million issued to consumers by June 2025.

U.S. Video Game Spending on Content, Hardware and Accessories

• Circana and Sensor Tower restated spending figures in March 2026, moving the 2025 total from the $60.7 billion first published to $60.8 billion.
• Content growth was driven by a 20% spike in subscription services and continued growth in mobile, which rose 1%.
• Hardware and console sales increased 9%, while accessory sales decreased 7% in 2025, a split the console market share data helps explain.
• Total spending in 2025 was the second highest in U.S. history, trailing only 2021’s $61.7 billion.
• Circana ties its 2026 outlook to the second year of Nintendo Switch 2, unprecedented anticipation for Grand Theft Auto VI, and continued strength in subscription-based content.

Source: Entertainment Software Association, Circana and Sensor Tower, 2025 (2025 figures restated March 2026)

About This Data

• Compiled from 18 sourced figures: 10 from primary sources (company filings and earnings releases, FTC and European Commission documents, peer-reviewed research) and 8 from industry research (ESA, Circana, Ukie, Sensor Tower and a Ubisoft release distributed by GlobeNewswire).
• Publication window: December 2024 to September 2026, with one 2020 parent survey labeled by year.
• Only primary or first-party data qualified, and figures are reviewed on a rolling basis as sources publish new editions.

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In-Game Purchases Statistics by Generation

• The ESA’s survey was conducted in partnership with YouGov, and the average age of players rose to 37.
• A majority of players (63%) report that video games deliver the most entertainment value for their money, ahead of streaming services, books and news.
• Players who have purchased in-game content are typically spending $20 per month (median), which frames the adoption rates in the chart below; the gamer demographics behind these cohorts show how broad the paying base has become.
• More than half (58%) of players downloaded a game for free in the past 12 months, the entry point for most free-to-play spending.

What Percentage of Players Spend Money in Free-to-Play Games?

No U.S. survey isolates free-to-play payers, but paying for extras is now the norm among younger players. Gen Z (78%) players lead, and those buying in-game content are typically spending $20 per month (median), according to the ESA. That median is small per person, which is why publishers chase breadth of paying players rather than a few heavy spenders.

Recent Developments

• September 2026: On September 17, the European Commission’s EU KIDS Act proposal calls for preventing minors from being exposed to loot boxes and other products with random or unpredictable outcomes or gambling-like features.
• August 2026: On August 7, Take-Two reported Total Net Bookings of $1.39 billion, down 3%, and reiterated its Fiscal 2027 Net Bookings outlook of $8.0 to $8.2 billion.
• July 2026: On July 30, Roblox reported revenue up 36% year-over-year to $1.5 billion, with DAUs up 10% to 123 million.
• July 2026: On July 23, Ubisoft reported Q1 net bookings of €255.8 million, down 9.2% and slightly above guidance, driven by a record performance for Invincible: Guarding the Globe.
• Q2 2026: For the quarter ended June 30, EA’s net bookings were $1,349 million, up 4%, on increased sales of extra content from Apex Legends and full game and extra content sales from Battlefield 6.

Mobile In-App Purchase Revenue Statistics

• Non-game IAP revenue climbed 21% YoY and reached nearly three times the amount spent just five years earlier, which is how apps overtook games.
• Games were downloaded 52 billion times in 2025, and 42 billion were on Google Play.
• Google Play’s game downloads were more than 4x the App Store’s, though the App Store saw 75% higher gaming in-app purchase revenue, a gap the App Store statistics also reflect in spending per download.
• IAP revenue growth skewed toward Europe, while the US was flat.
• Gaming posted a third consecutive year of revenue growth in 2025, as time spent rose slightly even as downloads fell; the mobile game revenue data breaks that down by title.

Source: Sensor Tower, State of Mobile 2026 (January 2026)

Take-Two Recurrent Consumer Spending Statistics

• Recurrent consumer spending is generated from ongoing consumer engagement and includes virtual currency, add-on content, in-game purchases, and in-game advertising.
• Recurrent consumer spending increased 3% in net revenue terms even as Net Bookings from recurrent consumer spending decreased 1%.
• GAAP net revenue was $1.53 billion, compared to $1.50 billion in last year’s fiscal first quarter.
• Management tied its outlook to the November 19th launch of Grand Theft Auto VI, a premium release that will test how much of the business stays recurrent.

Electronic Arts Live Services and Extra Content Revenue

• Live services and other net revenue was $1,472 million, up 7% year-over-year, in the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
• Total net revenue was $1,986 million, up 19% year-over-year, so live services and other made up about 74.1% of net revenue in the quarter.
• Live services and other net bookings were $1,116 million, up 3%, helped by increased sales of extra content from Apex Legends, partially offset by decreased sales of extra content from Ultimate Team within EA SPORTS FC; the Apex Legends player data shows the audience behind that lift.
• Live services net revenue generated from extra content purchased within Ultimate Team, a substantial portion of which was derived from EA SPORTS FC Ultimate Team, is material to EA’s business.

Source: Electronic Arts, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026

By the numbers: EA’s net revenue attributable to live services and other was $5,473 million for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2026, against $5,476 million two years earlier. Over the same span, extra content slipped by $251 million. Flat live-services revenue with shrinking extra-content sales points to subscriptions and licensing filling the gap.

Ubisoft Player Recurring Investment Statistics

• Player recurring investment (PRI) corresponds to sales of digital items, DLC, season passes, subscriptions, and advertising.
• PRI net bookings were €151.3 million, down 0.4% year over year, while the total fell faster.
• PRI’s share of Ubisoft’s net bookings rose 5.2 percentage points year over year. Recurring spending held nearly flat while the rest of the catalog shrank.

Roblox Bookings and Engagement Statistics

• The bookings shortfall reflects a decline in per-hour monetization most notably with younger cohorts in the U.S. and Canada, even though engagement kept growing.
• Roblox generated $318 million in operating cash flow, up 60% year-over-year, and $294 million in free cash flow, up 66% year-over-year.
• In June, Roblox was reinstated in Russia, which had a modest benefit to sequential DAUs and Hours trends; the Roblox statistics page tracks the player base quarter by quarter.

Source: Roblox, Q2 2026 shareholder letter (July 2026)

Why it matters: Roblox’s DAUs grew 10% year-over-year and Hours grew 5% year-over-year, yet bookings growth of 8% landed at the low end of guidance. Engagement is no longer converting into spending at the old rate, and the softness sits with younger players, the same cohort regulators are targeting on loot boxes and spending friction.

UK In-Game and Digital Games Spending Statistics

• Spending on software rose 7% to reach £6.03 billion, Game Hardware grew 3% to £2.17 billion, and Game Culture grew 42% to reach £566 million.
• Spend on mobile games grew 7.9%, and Digital PC software reached £1.15 billion.
• Ukie credits an installed base of new-generation hardware that has now reached critical mass for the digital console gains.

How Much Do UK Players Spend on Mobile Games?

Ukie’s valuation answers it directly. Spend on mobile games has continued its remarkable ascent, growing 7.9% to £2.07 billion, second only to digital console among UK digital platforms. Most of that mobile total comes from in-app purchases in free-to-download games rather than upfront sales.

Loot Box Disclosure and Compliance Statistics

• The 100 highest-grossing iPhone games were examined both before and after the self-regulations came into effect on 18 July 2024.
• The rules were not enforced, contrary to Ukie’s promise.
• 82 of the 100 highest-grossing iPhone games on the Belgian Apple App Store in mid-2022 continued to sell loot boxes despite Belgium’s attempt to ban them under gambling law.
• In mid-2021, 36% of the highest-grossing iPhone games containing loot boxes failed to disclose probabilities, as required by Apple App Store’s platform rules.

Key finding: Among UK top-grossing iPhone games with loot boxes, none sought parental consent for purchasing by under-18s, only 23.5% disclosed loot box presence, and the few disclosures were all visually obscured and difficult to access, according to the Royal Society Open Science study. With self-regulation unenforced, platform spending controls remain the working safeguard for families.

FTC Enforcement Actions on In-Game Purchases

• The FTC alleged Epic Games used design tactics known as dark patterns to trick players into making unwanted purchases and let children rack up unauthorized charges without any parental involvement; the Fortnite player statistics show the scale of the audience involved.
• The first round of refunds was 629,344 payments, and the second round went out as 969,173 checks and PayPal payments.
• HoYoverse agreed to block children under 16 from making in-game purchases without parental consent as part of its Genshin Impact settlement.
• The FTC complaint alleges that some children have spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars to win five-star prizes in Genshin Impact.

Source: Federal Trade Commission press releases (December 2024, January 2025, June 2025)

“Genshin Impact deceived children, teens, and other players into spending hundreds of dollars on prizes they stood little chance of winning,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. The case tied loot box odds and confusing virtual currency exchange rates directly to consumer deception, a template other regulators can reuse.

Parental Controls and Purchase Approval Statistics

• Two-thirds of parents say they use parental controls, with that number jumping to 70% for parents of kids 12 and under.
• Some platforms have a default spending limit set to zero on child accounts.
• All three of the console makers and many of the leading publishers made a voluntary commitment to provide enhanced transparency about randomized in-game purchases, starting in 2020.
• The ESRB survey figures in the table date from 2020 and are older than the ESA data beside them.

Source: Entertainment Software Association (June 2026); ESRB study by Hart Research Associates (2020)

In-Game Purchase Regulation Timeline

• The CPC Network’s Key Principles on In-Game Virtual Currencies were adopted in March 2025, prepared under the lead of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) and the Norwegian Consumer Authority.
• The principles call for clear and transparent pricing and avoiding practices hiding the costs of in-game digital content or obliging consumers to purchase virtual currency.
• Under the EU KIDS Act proposal, all kinds of purchases should be displayed in the national currency of the habitual residence of the minor.
• Only half of children aged 9-16 across Europe say they feel safe online, the problem statement behind the proposal. As a proposal, the KIDS Act is not yet binding law.

Is 90% of Game Sales Digital?

For some publishers it is close, but not across the market. Digital net bookings were 80.6% of Ubisoft’s total in Q1 2026-27, down from 88.8% a year earlier. In the UK, Digital Console spending rose 9.2% to £2.49 billion, with British consumers increasingly choosing digital over physical.

Is Gaming Dying or Growing?

Gaming is growing by spending measures. Circana projects U.S. video game industry spending to rise +3% to $62.8 billion in 2026, surpassing the current all-time high of $61.7 billion set in 2021, and UK consumers spent £8.76 billion on video games in 2025, a 7.4% increase on the previous year.

The growth is uneven underneath. Mobile games saw more modest growth at 1.3% YoY in 2025, and Roblox’s per-hour monetization slipped among younger players. Spending still rises overall, while publishers now depend more on how much existing players spend than on adding new ones.

Conclusion

In-game spending is now the core of the business. U.S. consumers spent $52.4 billion on content in the latest full year; Gen Z (78%) players have purchased in-game content; and recurrent consumer spending accounted for 84% of Take-Two’s total GAAP net revenue in its latest quarter. Publishers with deep live-service catalogs benefit most, while parents gain from default spending limits and approval prompts that most already use.

The next test is regulatory and product-driven at once. The EU’s KIDS Act proposal targets loot boxes for minors, and Grand Theft Auto VI will show whether a premium launch can grow in-game spending further or simply shift where players put their money.