Report: Free-To-Play Game Spending Is Up: League of Legends Is The Fastest Growing F2P Game In The U.S.

According to a report from market research firm Newzoo, free-to-play game spending across key markets has increased to $4.9 billion (with a "B"). America alone is up 24% ($1.2b) since 2010, taking up 47% of all FTP spending.

The iQu marketing firm also contributed to the report, saying that out of 80 million gamers profiled, Riot Gaming's League of Legends has become the fastest growing free-to-play game in North America. Wargaming’s World of Tanks is the fastest in Europe, and Aeria Games’ Shaiya wins the title in Latin America.

“The MMO games market is rapidly turning global," said Peter Warman, CEO of Newzoo. "It has become increasingly important for MMO developers and publishers to think carefully about which titles to publish in what  territories and how to adapt the games according to local preferences, including monetization models that work best." 

Both Newzoo and iQu seem to believe those publishers and developers who communicate well with their playerbase are the ones who will come out on top.

"Simply put, publishers must use social and mobile platforms to communicate with gamers, because that is where they socialize and how they stay connected, thanks to the rise of smartphones and tablets," said iQu. "Adapting to changing gamer behavior in terms of the types of devices, payments and communication methods they prefer is crucial to maintaining good relationships with the gamers of today and those of tomorrow as well.”

Aside from the massive spending, it was also reported that Americans spend 26 million hours per day in total playing massively multiplayer games and 84% of those gamers play browser-based MMOs. Holy crap, that's a lot of gaming!

I have to admit that League of Legends is easily my favorite free-to-play game. Are there any FTP games out there that you love and would recommend?

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