Asia/Pacific Responsible for 70% of 2010 Worldwide Virtual Goods Revenue

written by: Gianluigi Cuccureddu

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Published on Wednesday, 26 January 2011 15:18

According to In-Stat,  "in 2007, the Asia/Pacific region accounted for more than 81% of the total worldwide virtual goods revenue. In 2010, North and South America regions accounted for nearly 20% of the revenue, with Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) accounting for 10%. The remaining 70% of worldwide virtual goods revenue remains in the Asia/Pacific region."

Vahid Dejwakh, Industry Analyst at In-Stat, said:

“The lucrative Asia/Pacific region is led by the big four Asian giants: Nexon, Tencent, NHN Corp, and Shanda Interactive. The Asia/Pacific region will continue to maintain the majority of the virtual goods market, though this will gradually decrease to about 61% by 2014 with the most growth occurring in the 2D World category as more of Asia/Pacific’s population (currently above 3.5 billion) acquire smartphones and gaming apps.”

Additional research findings include:

• The top 10 virtual goods companies earn 73% of current worldwide revenues.
• Online gaming and social networking will drive virtual goods revenue over $7 Billion in 2010.
• The emergence of social and casual games on social networking sites and mobile phones has created a 2D virtual goods market that exceeds $2 billion.
• In-Stat forecasts total virtual goods revenues will more than double by 2014.  
• Virtual goods revenue in 3D worlds will more than double between 2010 and 2014.

If we relate this to previous reporting on social gaming, high concentration is also shown from a geographical point of view, next to the distribution of spent per player.