Anyone familiar with virtual worlds and casual gaming knows it’s big money, although it can be a bit difficult to prove at times. An article over at the guardian takes a look at some of the big players (Project Entropia, Second Life, ‘Project X’, Twinity, Blue Mars, etc) to see how they’re progressing. While almost all of them report growth, they seem to be rapidly replacing each other as they add features, and other worlds come online.
How big is the virtual revolution? Factor in games like FarmVille, massively multiplayer online games such as Entropia Universe and World of Warcraft and other virtual services and it is a case of pick your own number. Some unofficial estimates claim that virtual products are worth $1bn in the US and $5bn in Asia. This is a woeful underestimate since one part of Facebook, FarmVille, may soon be worth a billion and it is already capitalised at more than $4bn. In the future, too, the mobile phone, is likely to be a major incubator of virtual products.
I personally hate to see FarmVille lumped in with the likes of Second Life, but it’s a good example of virtual currency easily translating into big bucks. They make a good point that the entire web is slowly transforming into a ‘Social Space’, which would then easily translate into something virtual world-like. Add in WebGL and browser ubiquity, and suddenly the 3D Internet starts to make sense.
via Where virtual worlds collide with real money | Technology | The Observer.
