[November 13, 2015]

New Digital River Research Paper and Webinar Explore Monetization Strategies Key to Driving Digital Game Profits

Digital River (News - Alert), Inc., a leading global provider of Commerce-as-a-Service solutions, announced that it is releasing the results of its newest research report, "Best Practices in Monetizing the Global Digital Games Market," during an upcoming free webinar. The webinar, set for Nov. 19 at 12:00 p.m. CST, and the research report will provide a framework for games organizations to innovate their online monetization and payment strategies as pay-to-play models decline and free-to-play mobile game use increases globally. Webinar attendees can gain access to the research paper by signing up for the webinar here: http://driv.ws/aq.

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Prepared for Digital River by SuperData Research, a leading provider of digital games research, the new report provides a variety of actionable insights for businesses involved in the games industry. Highlights of the study include:

• Industry growth provides opportunity-Free-to-play MMO and mobile games generated two-thirds of the $63.7 billion global digital gaming market in 2015. The most lucrative games are becoming "services," which may be downloaded for free, but are ?nanced through steady digital transactions.
• Asia dominates-With $29 billion in games spending this year, Asia is the largest games market and earns almost half of the global games revenue. Publishers must understand local gamer and payer behavior in order to gain an edge in this saturating market.
• Payment choices are localized- Though ewallets and credit/debit cards accounted for more than half of worldwide digital game payments in 2014, alternative payment types are making headway in many developing regions. Publishers need to be aware of the regional brand payment types their gamers prefer to use.
• Variety attracts and keeps players-Publishers need to create a long-term, varied playing experience since it can take massively multi-player online (MMO) gamers three to six months of gameplay before they spend. Offering gamers a way to elongate gameplay and purchase content that will provide new and exciting experiences in the best way to keep them playing-and paying.

The findings are based on SuperData's syndicated digital games sales data, totaling more 4.2 million monthly paying online gamers across genres, such as MMO, console, mobile, PC and social games. In addition, a customized survey was carried out by SuperData in July 2015, involving 2,500 respondents in China, Germany, Russia, Mexico and the United States.

"Games companies have plenty of opportunity for ecommerce monetization, even as increasing mobile use spurs the popularity of free-to-play options," said Jason Nyhus, vice president of global marketing and communications at Digital River "Organizations must be thoughtful and innovative in their monetization strategies. Using best practices, such as monetizing services for free-to-play games and keeping a local focus on payment types, will help organizations be successful in this rapidly evolving industry."

Webinar: Best Practices in Monetizing the Global Digital Games Market
When: Nov. 19 at 12:00 p.m. CST
Click here http://driv.ws/aq to sign up for the webinar and receive exclusive early access to the entire SuperData research paper. Experts from Digital River will share ways for organizations to convert more traffic to grow their online gaming business through the best practices discussed in the research paper, "Best Practices in Monetizing the Global Digital Games Market." Companies looking for ways to compete locally in this global market will get actionable intelligence on specific geographical regions, information on how to maximize payment options in a globally fragmented payment industry, and critical insights into how gamer behavior and preferences are creating opportunities in this space.

For game producers and developers looking for additional educational resources, Digital River hosts on-demand webinars on its corporate website. For information about Digital River's games and entertainment solutions, visit www.digitalriver.com/games or email [email protected].

About SuperData
SuperData is the leading market intelligence firm on the online, digital and mobile games industry. SuperData collects digital point-of-sale data directly from publishers and developers to give customers unparalleled monthly insights into the unboxed games market. This allows the company to identify key trends, evaluate marketing spend, establish accurate revenue estimates and analyze market changes for popular digital games, including MMO, FPS, casino, digital console, virtual world, mobile and social games.

SuperData publishes industry-relevant key performance indicators. Using proprietary data on 2.85 million paying online gamers, SuperData establishes monthly benchmarks such as monthly active users, conversion rates, ARPPU and revenue estimates for markets, genres and titles. Customers use the data to evaluate their performance, identify key growth opportunities, assess revenue potential, optimize their efforts and better understand their audience's wants and needs. Clients include Activision (News - Alert)/Blizzard, EA, Konami, Namco Bandai, Zynga, Wargaming and major Wall Street firms.

About Digital River, Inc.
Backed by 20 years of ecommerce experience, Digital River is recognized as a leading global provider of Commerce-as-a-Service solutions. Companies of all sizes rely on Digital River's cloud-based commerce, payments and marketing services to manage and grow their online businesses. In 2014, Digital River processed more than $35 billion in online transactions, connecting B2B and B2C digital products companies and branded manufacturers with buyers across multiple devices and channels, and nearly every country in the world.

Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices across the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America. For more details about Digital River, visit the corporate website, read the Digital River Blog, follow the company on Twitter or call +1 952-253-1234.

Digital River is a registered trademark of Digital River, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks, registrations or copyrights of their respective owners.

Twitter (News - Alert) Tags: #webinar, #monetization, @DigitalRiverInc, #games, @_SuperData
Click to Tweet: .@DigitalRiverInc and @_SuperData host #webinar Nov 19 on online #games #monetization strategies. Sign up http://driv.ws/ar

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