Post by Morreion on Apr 6, 2010 7:52:09 GMT -5
In virtual world, China consumers best the U.S. (CNN)
Chinese players outspend Americans in virtual worlds (Massively)
China's success with microtransactions is driving the growth in that model here in the US, where it hasn't quite caught on yet.
U.S. consumers may still be the world's top shoppers, but in the growing economy of the virtual world Chinese buyers like Wang are leading the way. Research firms estimate the purchase of virtual goods in China reached roughly $5 billion in 2009 -- about five times more than the United States...
China has many more developers of online games and services than in the United States, a factor industry watchers say has encouraged competition and innovation. The crowded field, however, have fought to turn profits. Selling virtual goods, so far, has yielded the most success....
Justin Smith, founder of the Inside Social Games, says China's far-sighted developers quickly created an infrastructure for users to pay for online goods. Utilizing mobile phones and prepaid cards to buy virtual currency is common in China, "whereas in the U.S. that is pretty rare and just beginning to grow," Smith said.
China has many more developers of online games and services than in the United States, a factor industry watchers say has encouraged competition and innovation. The crowded field, however, have fought to turn profits. Selling virtual goods, so far, has yielded the most success....
Justin Smith, founder of the Inside Social Games, says China's far-sighted developers quickly created an infrastructure for users to pay for online goods. Utilizing mobile phones and prepaid cards to buy virtual currency is common in China, "whereas in the U.S. that is pretty rare and just beginning to grow," Smith said.
Chinese players outspend Americans in virtual worlds (Massively)
After some extensive calculations and use of several spreadsheets, we here at Massively determined that $5 billion is not, in fact, "five times" $3.8 billion. So on one hand, it's all about who is crunching the numbers and how they're crunching them, but on the other hand, there is no doubt that the Chinese gaming market is huge.
At first glance, the fact that a large percentage of the Chinese population is on a limited income makes it a bit surprising that the MMO market is booming. However, it's this very thing that is helping make it so successful: business models based entirely on microtransactions are the norm there, with individual item purchases hovering in the $1-2 range. Such a small amount makes less of a dent in a thin wallet.
At first glance, the fact that a large percentage of the Chinese population is on a limited income makes it a bit surprising that the MMO market is booming. However, it's this very thing that is helping make it so successful: business models based entirely on microtransactions are the norm there, with individual item purchases hovering in the $1-2 range. Such a small amount makes less of a dent in a thin wallet.
China's success with microtransactions is driving the growth in that model here in the US, where it hasn't quite caught on yet.
