Digital Goods getting aisle attention

MUMBAI, INDIA: In a recent survey, 31 per cent of the total number of respondents said they have sold digital goods and 39 per cent of the remaining 69 per cent, expressed that they are either interested or very interested in doing so. Other interesting demographic information from the study revealed that 89 per cent of the sellers were male with median age of 21 and having an annual household income of $30,000.

VGMarket, a market research firm specializing in the video game industry, and PlaySpan, a player in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, announced the second installment from its study that examines in-depth, individual digital goods sellers and trends across multiple game genres and platforms. The survey is comprised of responses from a sampling of 2,425 customers across the PlaySpan Marketplace, Spare Change, and Ultimate Game Card.

The research revealed that In-Game Virtual Currency is the most frequently sold digital good from player to player and that two out of three sellers sold in-game currency in the last 12 months, earning a median of $22. In terms of genre, one out of two sellers made a sale in a social network game over the last 12 months and earned a median of $50, while one out of four sellers made a sale in a Free to Play game over the last 12 months, with their median earning being $98, or nearly double that on social networks.

"For individuals looking to derive income from secondary markets, this study serves as a useful guide," said Michael Gluck, President, VGMarket. "It's not only the type of item and genre that are deserving of consideration, but the demographic characteristics of sellers and annual dollar amount they are able to generate can provide publishers valuable information about what makes most sense in terms of selecting a business model."

"We believe we're at the tipping point of the industry, which parallels the used game market in its infancy. Unfortunately, publishers ignored the used game market potential and GameStop created a billion dollar business from it. With the secondary market for digital goods, publishers still have the opportunity to embrace it and capitalize on it and PlaySpan is here to help," said Eric Hartness, Chief Marketing Officer of PlaySpan.