Virtual Worlds, Real Profits

Study: 12% of Americans Have Bought Virtual Goods

Roughly 12 percent of Americans, or more than one in 10, have bought a virtual item at some point in the last 12 months, according to a new study.

Why is WoW Gold Cheaper on Euro Servers?

When it comes to Warcraft gold, not all servers are created equal. In a detailed study of pricing trends on World of Warcraft servers, GamerPrice.com found a huge differential between the price of gold on game servers in the United States and those in Europe. The study, which was compiled by GamerPrice staff and students [...]

Sparter Reaction: RMT, VCs and Business Models

There’s been a lot of interesting discussion about yesterday’s post about Sparter, the recently launched peer-to-peer exchange for trading game gold. The new exchange was the focus of a thread on Slashdot and also prompted discussion on blogs covering virtual worlds and real-money trading. Among the commenters was Raph Koster, who most readers will know [...]

Peer-to-Peer Market for RMT Trading Debuts

Sparter is a new entry in the real money trading industry that uses an eBay-like “peer-to-peer” approach for the buying and selling of game gold for World of Warcraft and other MMORPG online games. The company has received venture capital funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and its management includes executives with experience at [...]

MMO Hosting Specialist Acquired by GNi

MMORPG hosting specialist Online Game Services Inc. (OGSI) has been acquired by long-term Global Netoptex Inc. (GNi) in a deal valued at more than $3 million, positioning GNi to provide “pay-as-you-grow” game hosting solutions to the fast-growing industry for massively multiplayer games. “Acquiring OGSi is a natural progression,” said Derek Wise, GNi’s president [...]

eBay Confirms It: No More Virtual Asset Sales

Just posted by Zonk at Slashdot, confirming our earlier post on eBay’s decision to halt auctions in game gold, gamer accounts and other assets from MMORPG online games: Mr. Hani Durzy, speaking for eBay, explained that the decision to pull these items was due to the ‘legal complexities’ surrounding virtual property. “For the overall health of [...]

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 [...]

eBay to Halt Virtual Item Sales?

eBay has reportedly discontinued all sales of virtual items from online games, according to numerous accounts from traders. This would obviously be a significant event for the virtual economy, as eBay has historically been one of the major methods for traders to sell assets and game accounts. UPDATE: eBay has now confirmed that it is no [...]

65% of WoW Users Bought ‘Crusade’ in First 24 Hours

Blizzard sold 2.4 million copies of the Burning Crusade expansion pack for World of Warcraft in North America and the EU in the first 24 hours alone, making it the fastest-selling PC game ever. At $40 a pop, that equates to $100 million in sales in one day, which is exceeded only by Microsoft’s $125 [...]

8 Million Subscribers for World of Warcraft

Blizzard announced this week that its blockbuster MMORPG virtual world World of Warcraftnow has more than 8 million subscribers around the world. That total includes 3.5 million players in China, 2 million in North America and 1.5 million in Europe. That’s a ton of players, and clearly represents a huge revenue stream for Blizzard. How much [...]

Study: 12% of Americans Have Bought Virtual Goods
Why is WoW Gold Cheaper on Euro Servers?
Sparter Reaction: RMT, VCs and Business Models
Peer-to-Peer Market for RMT Trading Debuts
MMO Hosting Specialist Acquired by GNi
eBay Confirms It: No More Virtual Asset Sales
Micropayments Seen Boosting Virtual Assets
eBay to Halt Virtual Item Sales?
65% of WoW Users Bought ‘Crusade’ in First 24 Hours
8 Million Subscribers for World of Warcraft