Game Monetization Secrets: Spending Depth vs Effective Spending Depth

Many people say that the mobile game economy is an illusion, a mirage that’s hard to grasp. But few truly understand how successful games manage to pull it off. Recently, the YouTube channel Two & a Half Gamers introduced the concepts of spending depth and effective spending depth—two crucial metrics for analyzing player engagement and monetization strategies in games.

Here’s what I compiled after watching the video:

What is Spending Depth?

Sometimes, you’ll hear about huge revenue numbers in games, but spending depth specifically refers to the total amount a player can theoretically spend in a game—from zero all the way up to when there’s nothing left to buy.

However, this definition can be misleading, especially for free-to-play live service games, which keep adding new content over time, causing the total spending depth to grow indefinitely.

This is where effective spending depth comes in. It refers to the amount of money a player needs to invest to fully unlock all end-game content or complete the game. These are two distinct concepts.

Real-World Examples in Popular Games

In Clash Royale, effective spending depth means how much it costs to fully upgrade a complete deck of cards. In Empires & Puzzles, it’s the resources needed to max out a team. In Survivor.io, it’s the cost to fill the equipment slots.

Effective spending doesn’t require maxing out every character or item—just what’s necessary for a competitive or full experience.

Calculating Spending Depth in USD

Every game has its in-app store with defined prices for virtual currencies. These prices act as an anchor to convert in-game currency into real dollars. Pricing tiers often mean smaller purchases have a higher per-unit cost.

By analyzing a game’s economy, you can estimate how much it costs in USD to upgrade characters or gear. For example, in an older Clash Royale model, upgrading all heroes to max level could cost around $14,000 in card shards and another $6,000 in gold, totaling roughly $20,000. But realistically, you don’t need to max every hero.

If we look at a single deck of 8 cards (e.g., 2 legendary, 3 epic, 2 rare, and 1 common), the effective spending depth is only about a tenth of that total.

Games vary a lot: Survivor.io has straightforward upgrades, while games like Candy Crush don’t have HP or gold upgrades but drive spending through boosters and lives needed to pass new levels—levels which keep increasing, with over 15,000 levels added over time.

Endless Spending Depth and Content Expansion

Games like Coin Master offer near-infinite progression by constantly adding new upgrades and buildings, which makes estimating spending depth tricky. Here, player engagement averages and daily play sessions help balance the picture.

In RPGs and 4X strategy games, spending depth can be enormous. For instance, soldiers can be permanently lost in battle, forcing players to spend on training replacements. This permanent loss drives continuous spending, a mechanic seen in games like EVE Online, where expensive ships can be destroyed forever, creating a brutal but lucrative economy.

How to Increase Spending Depth: The Case of Survivor.io

When Survivor.io launched in August 2022, it had just 6 equipment slots. Players could easily reach the in-game purchase cap, leading to stagnation and eventual player churn.

To combat this, the developers introduced “Tech Parts,” doubling equipment slots to 12 and adding slots for attack and HP. This essentially doubled spending depth, but players needed to progress through earlier content first.

Later, pets and skins were added, boosting damage and HP further. These new progression layers required careful balancing—allocating around 20% progress each to base stats, tech parts, pets, and skins—to keep players engaged across different play styles.

If the base equipment spending depth was $10,000, tech parts added another $10,000, pets $8,000, and skins $6,000—bringing total spending depth to $34,000.

Balancing Content, Progression, and Monetization

Simply increasing numbers isn’t enough. Games need new, meaningful features—skills, strategies, and challenges—to keep progression engaging. Content must be created to support these new systems, or else the game breaks down under the weight of inflated stats.

Take World of Warcraft as an example: new expansions raise level caps instead of just increasing damage or HP numbers. This keeps the game fresh without letting stats grow unwieldy over 20 years.

Advanced Spending Depth: Honkai: Star Rail

MiHoYo’s Honkai: Star Rail goes beyond equipment by combining gacha pulls with equipment and skill trees. The game refreshes its character pools every three weeks, and missing a banner means waiting months to get those characters.

Players need a diverse roster with fully upgraded characters, gear, and skill trees, turning each progression vector into a mini-game of its own. Some characters unlock powerful abilities with “Star Souls,” further deepening the strategy.

Because challenges require varied team compositions, players realistically need 12 fully decked-out characters—impossible to achieve quickly without spending, which dramatically increases monetization depth.

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In summary: Understanding spending depth and effective spending depth helps game developers and analysts gauge player engagement and design better monetization strategies. Successful mobile games continuously add meaningful progression layers—whether through equipment, characters, or new content—to keep players invested and spending.

The images in this article are official screenshots released by habby.