Skins are a hot commodity among U.S. gamers.
Skins are a hot commodity among U.S. gamers.
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Newzoo: U.S. gamers are in love with skins and in-game cosmetics

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 3 min

Skins (cosmetic add-ons that customize the look of game characters) have become a staple of modern video games like Fortnite, and 85% of U.S. gamers ages 13 to 45 are aware of them.

That’s one result of a survey of U.S. players by market researcher Newzoo and gaming monetization firm DMarket. Skins (and battle passes) are the main reason that Epic Games’ Fortnite makes more than a billion dollars a year in revenue, and they have become a key monetization element in free-to-play games. DMarket, which has a platform for trading skins, estimates the skin market is $40 billion a year.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.