Americans spent $2.3bn on virtual goods in 2011

"Paying for all those virtual tractors and fences on "FarmVille" adds up. Spending on virtual goods in the U.S. rose 28% to $2.3 billion in 2011, per Visa-owned e-commerce company PlaySpan and Frank N. Magid Associates.
Among consumers, seven in 10 can be classified as gamers. Half of U.S. gamers bought virtual items last year, and one-third of the 600 gamers surveyed overall for the study. The average spent was $64 in 2011. U.S. male gamers were almost twice as likely as their female counterparts to purchase these virtual goods."

Source:  MediaPost, 29th February 2012

Online game Bigpoint generated revenues of over €2m in 4 days on sales of just one virtual item

"German online games publisher and developer Bigpoint made over 2 million euros of revenue this month on a single in-game item purchase.
The company's free-to-play MMO space shooter DarkOrbit, which launched in December 2006, has seen 66 million registered users in total over its five year life.
Earlier this month, BigPoint sold a special in-game item called 'The 10th Drone', which cost 1,000 euros to purchase, for a total of four days.
Simon Davis, producer on DarkOrbit, has now told Gamesbrief founder and Gamasutra contributor Nicholas Lovell that over 2,000 of these items were sold, meaning that over 2 million euros was spent on this single item over the course of four days."
Source:  Gamasutra, 23rd November 2011

The Asia Pacific region account for 70% of the world's virtual goods sales, down from 81% in 2007

"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, says In-Stat (www.in-stat.com)."

Source:  Press release from InStat, 25th January 2011

In 2009 more virtual roses were sold in the UK by Flirtomatic than real roses by Interflora

"The currency has quickly found favour among the growing and increasingly engaged online gaming community – and not just inside Facebook, the world's most popular social network. Flirtomatic, a social network with 1.8 million users in the UK, sold more virtual roses last year than Interflora sold real roses. Earlier this month, more than 100,000 Flirtomatic citizens "attended" its virtual firework display – online."
Source:  The Guardian, 19th November 2010
Via Interesting Snippets

Snoop Dogg has earned over $200,000 from selling branded virtual goods in social networks

"A case study that is part of a new report on the growth of virtual good sales estimates that Snoop Dogg has sold more than $200,000 of branded virtual goods across several social networks. Snoop has generated  sales across social platforms like Gaia Online, Zwinky and Viximo’s network of social networking partners. On social game WeeWorld, his sales are 2.5 times more than non-branded goods.
“My virtual items are off tha chain jacc! It’s a world and a movement that I have been down with since day 1,” says the rapper.
The report by social gamer Viximo and virtual goods platform Virtual Greats predicts that branded virtual goods (BVGs) will reach $150 million in 2013 and $318 million by 2015."
Source:  Data from Viximo and Virtual Greats, reported by Hypebot, 23rd August 2010

75% of American gamers have paid real-world money for virtual goods

"July's report reveals that 75 percent of the respondents (a sample size of 2,221 respondents was polled) have used real-world money to pay for virtual goods, and that roughly half expect to continue to spend about the same amount of real-world cash over the next 12 months.
Additionally, women over the age of 25 are stepping up their games and spending more than everyone else. When looking at the median spent on first-party purchases within social-network games, the average female spent $55 dollars, compared to only $30 for males. Females also spent twice as much ($50 compared to $25) when comparing purchases of in-game currency and the median overall expenditure was higher for females than males, at $80 to $60, respectively."
Source:  Digital Goods Spending Report by VG Market and Playspan, reported by CNET, 21st July 2010

World of Warcraft generated $2m in 4 hours from the sale of Celestial Steed 'pets' to players

"If you haven’t been surfing through Bilzzard’s pet store in the past two days, you might have missed one of the new pets for WoW: Celestial Steed.
This horse has generated $2 million in a little over 4 hours and people were still lining up to get it. These figures are just based on the first four hours since the Celestial Steed was released, but Bilzzard certainly earned a lot more from selling this horse. You will have to spend $25 if you want to get it and the upgrade is purely visual because mounts don’t improve the ability of the character."
Source: GossipGamers, 17th April 2010

13% of American internet users bought virtual goods in the last 12 months

"Research and consultancy firm, Frank N. Magid Associates, and PlaySpan, the global leader in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, today announce their second annual study that evaluates attitudes and behaviors of media and entertainment consumers on virtual goods expenditures.
According to the study, 13% of the overall population surveyed reported that they had bought virtual goods in the last 12 months, with the mean of digital good purchase up 14% from $87 in 2009 to $99 in 2010. The median of digital goods purchase is $50 in 2010, a 67% improvement from $30 in 2009. In terms of the heaviest concentration of digital goods buyers, iPhone owners took over the #1 spot, moving from 28% of iPhone owners in 2009 to 43% in 2010. Virtual worlds came in second place with 41% of regular visitors having bought a digital good. Of weekly handheld and mobile gamers, 33% and 32%, respectively, bought digital goods. Overall, more than one-fifth (21%) of those who bought digital goods said they plan to spend more in the next 12 months. Among ways to purchase digital goods, 16% of digital goods buyers say they have used Facebook Credits."
Source: Press release from Magid Associates and PlaySpan, 27th May 2010
The press release also includes lots of data on the demographics of buyers, and the sorts of places (games etc) where they are buying.

Chinese internet and mobile company QQ saw total revenues increase by 68% Y-o-Y in Q1 2010

"Highlights of the first quarter of 2010:
- Total revenues were RMB4,226.1 million (USD619.1 million1), an increase of 14.6% over the fourth quarter of 2009 (“QoQ”) or an increase of 68.7% over the first quarter of 2009 (“YoY”)
- Revenues from Internet value-added services (“IVAS”) were RMB3,387.4 million (USD496.2 million), an increase of 19.0% QoQ or an increase of 77.9% YoY
- Revenues from mobile & telecommunications value-added services (“MVAS”) were RMB618.2 million (USD90.6 million), an increase of 12.4% QoQ or an increase of 40.7% YoY
- Revenues from online advertising were RMB204.3 million (USD29.9 million), a decrease of 26.8% QoQ or an increase of 39.4% YoY
- Gross profit was RMB2,897.7 million (USD424.5 million), an increase of 13.9% QoQ or an increase of 68.6% YoY. Gross margin decreased to 68.6% from 69.0% last quarter
- Operating profit was RMB2,148.4 million (USD314.7 million), an increase of 20.9% QoQ or an increase of 84.5% YoY. Operating margin increased to 50.8% from 48.2% last quarter
- Profit for the period was RMB1,802.4 million (USD264.0 million), an increase of 17.6% QoQ or an increase of 71.1% YoY. Net margin increased to 42.7% from 41.6% last quarter
- Profit attributable to equity holders of the Company was RMB1,783.2 million (USD261.2 million), an increase of 18.3% QoQ or an increase of 72.2% YoY
- Key platform statistics:
- Active Instant Messaging (“IM”) user accounts increased 8.7% QoQ to 568.6 million
- Peak simultaneous online user accounts for IM services increased 13.2% QoQ to 105.3 million
- Active user accounts of Qzone increased 10.4% QoQ to 428.0 million
- Peak simultaneous online user accounts of QQ Game portal (for mini casual games only) increased 9.7% QoQ to 6.8 million
- IVAS paying subscriptions increased 16.1% QoQ to 59.9 million
- MVAS paying subscriptions increased 14.8% QoQ to 23.3 million"
Source: Press release from Tencent Holdings Limited, 12th May 2010

Approximately 60% of gamers say they have bought some sort of virtual good within a game

"Free-to-play games, where you can play a game for free but are then encouraged to buy virtual goods such as weapons, have taken off. Even though this business model is like a return to the expensive old days when gamers paid a quarter for minutes of play, hardcore gamers are embracing virtual goods.
About 88 percent of 4,816 gamers surveyed said they had purchased some form of digital content, including music, movies and games. About 60 percent of respondents said they had purchased a virtual good inside a game (where the virtual good was not a full game), according to a new report by market researcher DFC Intelligence and virtual goods platform company Live Gamer.
Many of the virtual goods games fall into the category of MMO Lite, or relatively casual massively multiplayer online games. These games don’t have the high monthly fees of World of Warcraft, which charges $14.95 a month. DFC Intelligence forecasts that the North American and European MMO Lite market will grow from $800 million in 2009 to $3 billion by 2015.
Gamers in both Europe and North America are now comfortable with buying digital content, the report said. Buying virtual characters, weapons, decorations or other items is now common in games ranging from Zynga’s FarmVille on Facebook to Nexon’s Combat Arms. These sorts of online games have hundreds of millions of users around the world."
Source: Research from DFC Intelligence and virtual goods platform company Live Gamer, reported by VentureBeat, 29th March 2010

FarmVille players exchanged 690m virtual Valentines gifts in February 2010

"Game players can also exchange special virtual presents for the holiday -- in essence, small pictures of flowers or heart-shaped boxes. FarmVille users have given one another 690 million valentines since the promotion began Monday, according to Zynga Game Network Inc., the game's maker."
Source: Zynga Game Network, reported by LA Times, 13th February 2010

Farmville sells 800,000 virtual tractors every day

"FarmVille has nearly 81 million monthly uniques on Facebook, and [Gerd] Leonhard pointed to sales of 800,000 virtual tractors daily. Several months ago, BusinessWeek estimated annual revenues for parent Zynga at $100 million, though more recent estimates have pushed past $200 million."
Source: Gerd Leonhard, speaking at MIDEM, reported by DigitalMusicNews, 18th February 2010
Note - a virtual tractor costs $3.33

Farmville players exchanged 220m virtual Valentine's Day gifts in the first 18 hours of release

"Valentine’s day is still a few days away, and Zynga and the rest of the Social Games developers will surely be announcing the massive exchange of virtual goods after it has passed. In the meantime, we have a few numbers and descriptions of the available products from Zynga. First of all, Cafe World has ha 100 Million gifts exchanged so far, with 7.5M unique users have exchanged gifts. Farmville, Zynga’s biggest game at nearly 80 million Monthly Active Users, had 220 million Valentine’s Day gifts exchanged in the first 18 hours since their release. No word on the monetization of these goods, yet."
Source: AllFacebook, 10th February 2010

Zynga games make up 5 of the 10 most popular Facebook applications

"Zynga games make up 5 of the ten most popular Facebook applications – Farmville has 79m monthly active users, Café World 30m, Texas HoldEm Poker 26m, FishVille 25m, & Mafia Wars 25m."
Furthermore Zynga is the top developer, with 233m monthly active users.
Source: AllFacebook, retrieved 15th February 2010

Players of Zynga's social games on Facebook have donated more than $1.5m to Haiti disaster relief in 5 days

"Zynga’s gamers have donated more than $1.5 million in the past five days for Haitian earthquake relief. They did so by making donations directly from within Zynga’s top four games on Facebook.
Zynga, the biggest maker of social games on Facebook, said that some 300,000 Zynga game players from 47 countries have purchased virtual goods inside the games, with all of the proceeds for the specific game item sales going to the U.N.’s World Food Programme. FarmVille users, including me, donated a total of $1 million. Users in FishVille, Mafia Wars, and Zynga Poker were also able to donate money. Donations were also promoted via all of Zynga’s games, which reach 227 million monthly active users."
Source: Venturebeat, 19th January 2010

Online game Moshi Monsters has 10 million registered users

"The free-to-play online children's game Moshi Monsters from UK-based developer Mind Candy has notched up more than ten million registered players.
According to the company's figures, more than one million new users are joining every month and the site has become one of the fastest growing children's sites in the world.
The social online game Moshi Monsters allows children to raise a virtual monster while solving educational puzzles that test their maths, spatial awareness, logic and vocabulary skills. Successfully completing puzzles rewards users with a virtual currency that can then be spent on customising their in-game home."
Source: GamesIndustry.biz, 1st December 2009

69 million people use the Farmville application on Facebook

"To prove the popularity of these extra-curricular sections of Facebook, Johnson explained: "Applications make up a huge part of Facebook. There are over 90,000 applications on Facebook.
"69 million active users are using FarmVille alone, that's more users than Twitter.""
Source: Trevor Johnson of Facebook, reported by TechRadar, 2nd December 2009

EA bought 2 year old social networking games company Playfish for $300 million

"The US video game publisher Electronic Arts has paid $275m (£170m) in cash, plus $25m in share options, for two-year old gaming company Playfish.
The deal could cost a further $100m if Playfish hits certain financial targets by December 2011.
Playfish is different from many rivals as it makes free games for social networking sites - such as Facebook and MySpace - and mobile phones.
Players typically will then start paying for extras as they get hooked.
Playfish has 60 million registered users for its virtual games, such as Pet Society and Restaurant City."
Source: BBC News, 9th November 2009

There are an estimated 400,000 'gold farmers', mainly based in China

"In basic terms, gold-farming [the production of virtual goods and services for players of online games] is a sizeable phenomenon. The rather wobbly-legged best guesses for 2008 are that 400,000 gold farmers earning an average US$145 per month produced a global market worth US$500m; but we could easily more than double the latter to over US$1bn. There are probably 5-10m consumers of gold farming services. The main uncertainty of estimation relates to the gold-farming market in East Asia, which appears much larger than that in the US/EU. That uncertainty in part arises because gold farming operates at four levels – local, national, regional and global. We should encompass all four but, to date, the focus has been almost entirely on the global trade."
Source: Page 66 of Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on "Gold Farming":
Real-World Production in Developing Countries for the Virtual Economies of Online Games, by Richard Heeks, Development Informatics Group, IDPM, SED, University of Manchester, UK
2008, citing Wang, R. (2008) The Truth Behind Gold Farmers, WoWMine, Wilmington, DE
This excellent paper will tell you all you need to know about gold farming!

Chinese site QQ generated approxmately 88% of it's revenues from value added services in 2008

Inside Tencent Presentation

View more documents from Benjamin Joffe.

"QQ made over $1bn in revenue in 2008, with 40% net margin
This came from approximately 8% of its active user base
$719m from online value added services
$205m from mobile value added services
$121m from advertising"
Source: Presentation from Plus 8 Star, August 2009, charts 11 & 17