According to this Fortune article, the market for virtual goods is huge: In China, it is even bigger than online advertising! Now, I knew that there were lots of people spending their hard-earned money on virtual items they would then use in video games, but just how big the market really is I did not know.
It turns out that in China gamers spend an estimated $1.2 billion annually on virtual goods. For comparison, online advertising spending in China has been about $1 billion, a staggering 20% less than spending on virtual swords, armors or the other equipment and items you need in an online game.
And this market is still very young, so notionally it’s still a good time to enter. But unfortunately, getting into the market for virtual goods as a seller might turn out not to be that easy after all. There are lots of professional companies hiring hundreds of Chinese gamers, who sit in front of their computers for countless hours, providing their labor for cheap in order to get their employers the coveted virtual goods which the company will later put up for sale on the Internet. So simply playing video games on your own won’t be very productive compared to the level of professionalism of these Chinese gaming companies.
Still, this is yet another great opportunity that has come along with the Internet in the recent years. Maybe starting a specialized trading platform or auction house for virtual goods could be profitable, as well. (Live auctions, anyone?)
Lots of untapped opportunities on the web waiting to be picked up by us and turned into something valuable.
I think that the key to unlocking the Virtual World is through tweens and ther “virtually” untapped buying power. This Christmas “The Gift” will be prepaid game gift cards to spend in your Virtual world.
It will be an easy online purchase for Mom and Dad and thankfully no returns!!! I am betting my domains on it!
These cards are huge in Asia and the UAE.
Yes, ‘untapped opportunities on the web waiting to be picked up by us’ – that’s the biggest draw of all for me as far as domaining is concerned, it’s the most fascinating.