Virtual sales boom, will top $3 billion in five years
Gamasutra reports on a new study from research firm DFC Intelligence that concludes that sales of virtual goods are on the rise. The study surveyed 5,000 gamers from Europe and North America for a two-month period in early 2010, and also sampled seven years of Live Gamer historical data. Live Gamer, a virtual world monetization company with clients that include Sony Online Entertainment and Funcom, partnered with DFC for the study.
DFC reports that 88 percent of their survey base purchased virtual content, a label that includes everything from MMO microtransactions, to music, to movies and games. Sixty percent of this group said their digital purchases were in-game items.
DFC says the growing trend of virtual item sales paints a bright future for MMORPGs as well as social networking platforms, predicting that total item sales for "MMOG Lite" titles will exceed $3 billion by 2015. Head on over to Gamasutra for the full article.
