WebProNews

Tag: Virtual Goods

  • Gamers Spend $2.3 Billion on Virtual Goods

    According to a recent study by PlaySpan, over one in four consumers spent money on virtual goods in 2011, with gamers spending an average of $64 a year. These figures represent a 100% increase from 2009. The rise in consumers helped make virtual goods a $2.3 Billion industry last year.

    “Consumer acceptance of virtual goods represents a huge growth opportunity, not just for game publishers, but for all digital content companies,” said Karl Mehta, founder of PlaySpan. “We believe we will continue to see a positive growth trend in games and that virtual goods will expand across multiple industries, such as music, movies, social gifting, and rewards, to name just a few. Data we’ve uncovered in our study should help producers and distributors of all digital content fine tune their strategies for reaching audiences across some of today’s most commonly used platforms.”

    It’s not surprising that purchases are predominantly male. Nearly 50 percent of males 24 and under said they bought a virtual good in 2011. By contrast, only 15 percent of females in that same age group made the same claim. Surprisingly, females between the ages of 35 and 44 show the largest participation among women in the purchase of virtual goods–23 percent.

    Reasons for buying virtual goods are varied, but mostly have to do with expanding, enhancing, or boosting performance in their gaming experience. The findings break down like this:

    Reason for purchase vs. Percent who bought
    To be able to do more: 59 %
    To get a better experience playing: 49 %
    To reach an advanced level or state: 35 %
    To decorate or develop my avatar or to express myself: 32 %
    To improve my skills: 27 %
    To beat my friends: 17 %
    To continue progressing or have more fun: 16 %
    To achieve a common goal with a friend: 14 %
    To show off a brand or think I like in real life: 10 %

    Most purchases are made through a console (XBoxLive or Playstation Store), or directly within the game, or both, as multiple answers were allowed in the survey. About 48 percent purchased on their console, 42 percent bought within a game application, 40 percent bought prepaid game cards at retail stores, 16 percent bought in an online store, and 13 percent bought at a game publisher’s site.

    These goods also show tremendous growth potential. Among U.S. gamers who have not purchased a virtual good, 70 percent show a willingness to do so

  • Diablo 3 Taps PayPal for Virtual Goods Payments

    Diablo 3 Taps PayPal for Virtual Goods Payments

    PayPal and Blizzard have teamed up around Blizard’s new Diablo 3 and the Battle.net platform.

    “With the launch of Diablo 3’s public beta, gamers around the world will jump into Blizzard’s dungeon crawling masterpiece that, with its auction house system, promises to allow players to buy and sell virtual items from the game using real money,” a spokesperson for PayPal tells WebProNews. “PayPal will be the payments solution for the auction house service in several regions of the world and PayPal will also be added as a payment option on Blizzard’s Battle.net platform.”

    The announcement comes just after PayPal’s recent announcement with Microsoft that will see Xbox 360 users be able to pay with PayPal directly on their Xbox consoles.

    The announcement on Blizzard’s Battle.net blog says:

    We’re pleased to announce that in most regions, PayPal will be our payment-service partner for the Diablo III auction house, allowing players who trade with real-world currency the ability to cash out the spoils of their battle-torn adventures via a PayPal account.

    PayPal will also soon be added in several regions as a payment option on Battle.net, providing another convenient and secure payment method for digital purchases of Blizzard products and services.

    We’ll share region-related specifics, as well as further details on everything mentioned above, in the near future.  Stay tuned!

    “Gamers want to focus on gaming and prefer an in-game payments solution that’s convenient, easy and secure,” says PayPal’s senior director of emerging opportunities, Carey Kolaja. “Last month we told you that our research has shown that over 70% of gamers are PayPal users, and we believe that’s because we understand that central principle.”

  • Study Looks at Virtual Goods Purchasing By Ethnicity

    MocoSpace has put out an infographic looking at virtual goods purchases by ethnicity. This is based on the results of a study based on Americans by ethnicity, with data collected during June, looking at 40,000 mobile social gamers. The firm says the findings demonstrate that consumer markets vary in their habits.

    “Sponsoring virtual goods is a no-brainer approach for marketers to build brand equity, awareness and to start learning about the space,” MocoSpace CEO Justin Siegel tells WebProNews.

    How can a business determine whether or not they should offer customers virtual goods? “I think if the company sees a clear fit between their brand, a virtual good, and a community where the virtual good has value, then they should pursue it,’ he says. “The key is to understand the role of virtual goods in the context of the game and community to make sure they aren’t doing something counter productive.  Sponsor items that are only positive and appropriate.  For example, a company shouldn’t sponsor an item that helps people steal animals from another member’s farm, etc.”

    Here’s the infographic:

    Virtual Goods by ethnicity

    “MocoSpace has a very diverse audience, and the results show some interesting trends – for example, Caucasians made up 18 percent of surveyed users, but made 26 percent of virtual goods purchases on the MocoSpace Games Platform,” a spokesperson says. “eMarketer estimates that US virtual goods spending in social games will grow to $792 million in 2012, from $653 million in 2011. Other reports predict that virtual goods in general will generate $billions in the coming years.”

    “With this incredible level of growth, the virtual goods industry holds great potential for savvy marketers,” she adds. “Understanding how different ethnic groups spend on virtual goods provides the knowledge necessary to make wise mobile marketing decisions, and can help developers as they create new games.”

    As Siegel says, virtual goods have become a mainstream business.

  • Study: Virtual Goods Increase Brand Awareness, Purchase Intent

    A new report from Appssavvy claims that "virtual goods may be bringing the largest disruption entertainment, communication and e-commerce infrastructure companies have seen for a long time." The company’s research found that leveraging social activity around virtual goods has been successful in building brand awareness, influencing positive opinion about products, and even driving purchase intent.

    The research centered on measuring an iPhone app campaign led by Maxus Global and M80, involving the Powermat brand. Powermat rewarded Booyah’s MyTown users with virtual goods when checking in at a Powermat retailer, such as Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, or Target.

    Appssavvy says virtual goods increased all brand metrics, beating out mobile advertising "norms". Aided brand awareness increased 44.5%, mobile ad awareness increased 60.1% and, purchase intent increased 31.5%.

    Virtual Goods Boost Mobile Ad Awareness

    "There is a tremendous amount of buzz in the advertising community around virtual goods. Today’s research should significantly raise that as the results of delivering branded items proved to drive metrics through the roof," said Chris Cunningham, co-founder and CEO of Appssavvy. "The key to virtual goods marketing is, first and foremost, understanding the social activity taking place and then adding value to that experience, which the Powermat campaign did to perfection."

    The full study can be found here.