Micropayments Seen Boosting Virtual Assets

The market for virtual add-ons to online video games is slated for substantial growth, according to a study of console and handheld online gaming by ABI Research.

The study predicts that a growing percentage of gamers’ budgets will go towards the purchase of in-game virtual assets such as “maps, game related add-ons, casual game titles, and, eventually, full core console titles.” Micropayments for consoles alone will account for over $833 million by 2011, as console vendors and their publisher partners look to monetize both in-game and game-related assets beyond initial game purchases.

This is obviously a trend with implications for MMO gaming, particularly as we see more console-based MMOs. Having said that, micropayments have been overhyped before, and some of these companiesa re still failing (BitPass, which got $13 million in VC money, closed its doors this week). Read more at PaidContent.