While it’s often a short but sweet affair, this year’s Consumer Electronics Show came to a close on Sunday, but not without a multitude of new gadgets and gizmos, the associated press that comes with them, and of course, a number of industry talks.
One talk in particular revealed some great numbers for the virtual goods sector. In his opening speech on Thursday, Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro acknowledged that 2009 was, “a year none of us would wish to repeat,” noting that the industry overall dropped 7 percent over the course of the year.
However, for those working in the virtual goods and online gaming sector, 2009 might have seen a number of twists and turns, but overall, it was a very good year. A random sampling of vendors at CES estimated that U.S. virtual goods revenues went from zero to hero during 2009. That is to say, the sector went from almost negligible numbers in 2008, to a $1.2 billion dollar industry in 2009, with many saying that these numbers will at least double in 2010. If this were to be the case, the U.S. virtual goods market would not still not equal even half the global industry’s take, which current estimates put around the $6 billion mark, with the Asian market leading the charge.
But what exactly is driving this massive upswing in virtual goods purchases? While initially created to thwart pirates, the microtransaction business model has it’s birth in the MMO world, but has taken on a new character of it’s own. A number of industry experts point to social networking is a major force. David Laux , IBM global executive of games and interactive entertainment clearly agrees with the Q Interactive study that was released earlier this year, stating, “Midwestern housewives are willing to spend on virtual goods,” when referring to Zynga’s FarmVille.
The days of creating that one solid ‘killer app’ may be a thing of the past, but there are a number of ‘critical apps’ that have spawned a generation of similar applications and products. If one were given the choice, it’s not far off to say that Zynga’s FarmVille may just be the one that broke the camel’s back. That is to say, it’s a wildly popular, simple game that just about anyone can play – including Midwestern housewives. Through promotional work, word of mouth, and the ever crucial monetization method that makes it fun for all, Zynga managed to tear down the walls of buyer trepidation through cute virtual cows and corn rows. And how? By designing virtual goods into the virtual world from the very beginning. “People are in these worlds to play and socialize,” says Mark Hansen, Lego director of business dev and project leader from the upcoming Lego Universe MMO. “Items that help gamers accomplish those objectives will be successful.”
Not coincidentally, 
Titled YourAppShop, Sheraton says that the platform was created out of the frustration he, and a majority of other developers have faced in the past of Apple’s highly restrictive (and time consuming) approval process. Sheraton seeks to bypass the middle man with YourAppShop, and allow developers to ship directly to consumers.
