Micro-transactions are becoming a big business. In Asia micro-transactions are huge, as purchases of virtual goods are often used to support online free-to-play games. Even in the West, however, virtual goods purchases are increasing. New research from Frank N. Magid Associates and Playspan (a company specializing in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks) shows that 12% of Americans bought virtual goods in the last year.
Unsurprisingly, virtual world visitors are the heaviest virtual goods buyers, with 46% of these consumers buying virtual goods (from virtual worlds, games or social networks) and nearly one third of iPhone owners buying from the same platforms. Incredibly, 51% of consumers surveyed could not even remember how much they spent on virtual goods. 27% did recall and reported that they spent less than $50 in the last year on virtual goods; 15% said they actually spent $100 or more. The average price of all transactions was about $30.
“The fact that lots of people are reaching into their pocket to buy virtual goods is impressive, but even more impressive is that some of those consumers are spending considerable dollars,” said Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors. “As this market grows, Magid believes that the majority of consumers will continue to spend $50 or more on virtual goods every year, and this will grow to be a multi-billion dollar market.”
“This data reinforces the high growth potential of microtransactions and digital goods for online games and virtual world developers,” said Eric Hartness, Chief Marketing Officer of PlaySpan. “Our internal data and client conversations also corroborate the findings, and we’ve noticed a significant increase in the number of customers who now spend several hundred dollars per month on digital goods.”
Estimates put the revenue from virtual goods at a $200-250 million dollar market in the U.S. currently. The market researchers at Strategy Analytics have forecast that micro-transactions will grow from slightly over $1 billion worldwide today to $17.3 billion in 2015. It would seem that Nolan Bushnell would like a piece of that pie too.
