{"id":24732,"date":"2011-03-20T02:59:53","date_gmt":"2011-03-20T02:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=24732"},"modified":"2011-03-20T03:05:51","modified_gmt":"2011-03-20T03:05:51","slug":"we%e2%80%99re-starting-to-take-virtual-sales-to-the-real-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/we%e2%80%99re-starting-to-take-virtual-sales-to-the-real-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019re Starting to Take Virtual Sales to the Real Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n                                google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<p><script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">The following is by G. A . &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken, President of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.markencom.com\/index.htm\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.markencom.com\/index.htm', 'Marken Communications']);\" ><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">Marken Communications<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking article. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the opinions expressed are solely those of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and the <strong>opinions of the rest of the ABT staff.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> <\/span><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> \u2013Mark Poppin,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">ABT Senior Editor<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-15.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24733\" title=\"Untitled-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-15.jpg?resize=441%2C295\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-15.jpg?resize=441%2C295 441w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-15-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 441px) 100vw, 441px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201c<\/em><em>The leader who stays in the rear, takes it in the rear. Besides, violence is one of the most fun things to watch.\u201d<\/em> <strong>\u2013 Mr. Hertz, Shoot \u2018Em Up (2007), New Line Cinema<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A friend just had his PayPal account (hence his AmEx account) tapped for $50.<\/p>\n<p>His son had bought a big bunch of virtual gold on a Zynga game he was playing.<\/p>\n<p>$50 for something that doesn\u2019t exist?<\/p>\n<p>OMG, someone really can sell the Brooklyn Bridge!<\/p>\n<p>The game industry has come a long way since our Atari days.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s approaching a $1B \u00a0industry!<\/p>\n<p>Sony<strong>, <\/strong>MS and Nintendo still fight it out for leadership in the number of devices, but the real profit makers are the social and mobile games.<\/p>\n<p>Why would millions of people buy something as meaningless as <strong><em>Raging Birds<\/em><\/strong>?<\/p>\n<p>How can Zygna have a market value of $10B when they deliver no tangible product?<\/p>\n<p>As Mr. Smith said when looking at the screens, <em>\u201cIt\u2019s just as good as cash.\u201d<\/em><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Growing Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a numbers game:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Six plus billion people on the planet<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nearly 4 billion feature\/smartphone subscribers<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 40 million tablet users<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 60 million+ notebook system users<\/p>\n<p>A friend pointed out that these people aren\u2019t \u201cgamers\u201d\u2026 they\u2019re looking for something to combine Facebook, forums and 3D gaming &#8212; a better world.<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And\u2026they\u2019ve got money!<\/p>\n<p>Social gaming exploded last year.<\/p>\n<p>Addictive apps like <em>FarmVille<\/em> and <em>Mafia Wars<\/em> really caught on with the social network crowd.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s an estimated 61.9 million internet social game players and they\u2019re spending real money.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-27.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24734\" title=\"Untitled-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-27.jpg?resize=414%2C253\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-27.jpg?resize=414%2C253 414w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-27-300x183.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Serious Bucks \u2013 <\/strong>Suddenly video games \u2013 consoles, PC, social and mobile devices \u2013 have become a real and serious business.\u00a0 Between last year and 2014, worldwide sales will nearly double. \u00a0<strong>Source \u2013 Screen Digest<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>According to industry analysts, 27 percent of the U.S. iNet users are social gamers; and by 2012, more than 29 percent will be playing and buying virtual goods.<\/p>\n<p>All of that in less than two years!<\/p>\n<p>No wonder CES and Macworld were overrun by developers, publishers, investors.<\/p>\n<p>True, most of the social gamers match up with the overall social media community\u2026they love free.\u00a0 But a lot are buying virtual goods and purchase in-game content.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><strong>US Social Gaming Revenues<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-33.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24735\" title=\"Untitled-3\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-33.jpg?resize=502%2C142\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-33.jpg?resize=502%2C142 502w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-33-300x84.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 502px) 100vw, 502px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Buying Air \u2013 <\/strong>Game developers and publishers will achieve revenues from ad sales as well as marketing special offers.\u00a0 But the real money will be racked up by selling virtual goods, products, places, tokens that enrich and help users play the games.\u00a0 <strong>Source &#8211; eMarketer<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Microtransactions pretty easily turn into big bucks.<\/p>\n<p>Then too, marketers have found embedding ads in games is good business as long as they fit into the game and aren\u2019t too intrusive.<\/p>\n<p>Game developers constantly work to improve their game design to reel in more freeriders and turn them into paying customers who buy more stuff!<\/p>\n<p><strong>More Eyeballs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With social media becoming an increasingly important part of \u201cconventional business\u2019\u201d marketing mix, it\u2019s no wonder folks have started to compare the audience size with that of TV.<\/p>\n<p>Heck, they\u2019re more involved with their games than folks were with the daytime TV soaps!<\/p>\n<p>Take <em>FarmVille<\/em>, for example \u2013 50 million users worldwide and most social gamers are women 18-50.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Smith glared back at the other gamers and said, <em>\u201c<\/em><em>I&#8217;m a British nanny, and I&#8217;m dangerous.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Media analysts at Flurry got advertisers attention when they dared to compare TV audiences with social gaming.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-42.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24736\" title=\"Untitled-4\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-42.jpg?resize=490%2C323\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-42.jpg?resize=490%2C323 490w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-42-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Show Time \u2013 <\/strong>Kids, men and women increasingly play video games in their down time rather than watch TV shows.\u00a0 Daytime, primetime viewing and weekends all pull TV viewers away from their sets to the many game choices that are now at their disposal.\u00a0 <strong>Source &#8212; Flurry<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>O.K., it\u2019s far from \u201ctruly scientific,\u201d but the narrowly defined iOS gaming audience is between <strong><em>Sunday Night Football <\/em><\/strong>and <strong><em>Dancing with the Stars<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>True, the numbers are something of a leap of faith; but if folks aren\u2019t watching TV, they\u2019re doing something.<br \/>\nFlurry and most game analysts will tell you that social game play is higher on weekends than weekdays.\u00a0 But weekday play peaks at 6:00 P.M. \u2013 9:00 P.M., which is prime TV time.<\/p>\n<p>By 2012, analysts project there will be nearly 70 million social gamers in the U.S. alone and the developers (and their investors) will be raking in about $1.5 billion.<\/p>\n<p>As Mr. Smith said, <em>\u201c<\/em><em>I hate to think what you&#8217;d do to get him into the right school.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>iOS leads us into the other huge and rapidly growing mobile content market\u2026phones!<\/p>\n<p>It won\u2019t come as a huge surprise to you, but Pew Research recently reported that six in ten American adults (percentage is more with kids) are wirelessly online with either their phone or laptop \u2013 20 percent phone only, 47 percent phone and laptop.<\/p>\n<p>Our daughter is like most folks \u201cher age.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Smartphone Generation(s)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>She had to have a new smartphone because she takes a ton of pictures, shoots video, likes to post them online and wants to share with friends.<\/p>\n<p>The phone she had to have included muvee\u2019s automatic slide\/movie production software she could use to painlessly make her movies and throw them up on her Facebook page, YouTube and Flickr.<\/p>\n<p>It turns out, calling minutes for her and most of us are almost a waste of time.\u00a0 Folks spend their time on the data side of the mobile device network.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Non-voice Data Usage<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-52.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24737\" title=\"Untitled-5\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-52.jpg?resize=393%2C311\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-52.jpg?resize=393%2C311 393w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-52-300x237.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 393px) 100vw, 393px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Everything But the Call \u2013 <\/strong>Examine your own smartphone usage and you\u2019ll see that the device is used for more \u2013 a lot more \u2013 than simply making phone calls.\u00a0 The non-voice usage is growing significantly as units and applications become more diverse and bandwidth becomes more readily available, more reliable.\u00a0 <strong>Source \u2013 Pew Internet &amp; Research<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>While texting, \u00a0photos and videos suck up most of the mobile bandwidth, 38 perecent of their data consumption is taken up by games like <em>Raging Birds<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>No wonder people are stumbling over games at MWC (Mobile World Congress) and the upcoming CTIA (the wireless association show)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mobile Gaming<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While folks 18-29 dominate the mobile apps\/game use, owners 30-49 are increasingly mastering the depth and breadth of wireless capabilities.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>US Mobile Gaming Revenues<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-63.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24738\" title=\"Untitled-6\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-63.jpg?resize=371%2C210\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-63.jpg?resize=371%2C210 371w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-63-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 371px) 100vw, 371px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>On the Road \u2013 <\/strong>While the game console at home still is most popular with the younger generation male; new applications for mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, have made the gaming platforms more attractive to both sexes and people of all ages.\u00a0 <strong>Source &#8211; eMarketer<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This year, 64 million people will play mobile games at least monthly; and by 2014, more than 94.9 million mobile users will be burning up their phone\u2019s battery life playing social games.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t include the preinstalled (bloatware) games, which don\u2019t make the developer\/publisher much money.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Hertz looked at the phone\u2019s apps library he mumbled, <em>\u201c<\/em><em>Do we really suck, or is this guy really that good?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Nope, the bucks are made at the app stores and virtual sales!<\/p>\n<p>By 2014, mobile game sales are estimated to top $1.5 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Since smartphones sales are increasing at about 60 percent while feature phone sales remain relatively flat, the number of social and multi-player games \u2013 and the income for developers \u2013 is expected to be huge as the global population goes mobile.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Traditions Change<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s probably why the folks at Nintendo and Sony are looking at ways to add smartphones to their product lines.<\/p>\n<p>Apple, with a very visible\/broad family of mobile devices \u2013 iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad \u2013 has more than 40.1 M people playing games on their thingies.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, more people pay when they\u2019re using Nintendo devices (67%) and Sony (66%) compared to Apple\u2019s iPhone (45%) and iPad (32%); but the latter hasn\u2019t been in the market that long.<\/p>\n<p>You and we also know that gamers play on multiple platforms.<\/p>\n<p>If smartphone users spend more time with their phone, then guess where they\u2019ll spend more on virtual goods?<\/p>\n<p>Yep!!!<br \/>\nAs Mr. Hertz said, <em>\u201c<\/em><em>I can&#8217;t talk right now, honey. I&#8217;m right in the middle of something.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-73.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24740\" title=\"Untitled-7\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-73.jpg?resize=355%2C201\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-73.jpg?resize=355%2C201 355w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled-73-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 355px) 100vw, 355px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh, and our friend who\u2019s son dipped into his PayPal\/AmEx account?<\/p>\n<p>Zynga cancelled the charge after numerous discussions about the value of virtual goods.<\/p>\n<p>And his son promised <em>\u201cNever again Dad!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p># # #<\/p>\n<p><strong>by:   G.A. &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> President<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> Marken Communications Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <a href=\"mailto:Andy@markencom.com\">Andy@markencom.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 164304<\/li>\n<li>SETI@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 138705<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1', 'World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech']);\" target=\"_blank\">World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following is by G. A . &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken, President of Marken Communications Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking article. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":24740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,6,7],"tags":[4517,4577,4579,4578,381,4576],"class_list":["post-24732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-news","category-technology","tag-farmville","tag-microtransactions","tag-mobile-gaming","tag-non-voice-data-usage","tag-smartphone","tag-social-games-revenue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}