While the summer olympics may put a spotlight on virtual goods because of China’s huge ambitions, signs of the coming boom are popping up everywhere. The most significant recent news concerns a virtual currency engine called Twofish Elements:
… users are looking for interactive experiences online that are too costly to be paid for by ads alone, so micro-transactions are the logical next step.
… That’s where Twofish Elements comes in, with an offer to help game companies optimize these transactions.
Its software is a plug-and-play platform, and is a sort of combination of web analytics and Paypal for games. Twofish watches what players do and helps create transaction steps to optimize revenue. It handles the micro-payments (even those from players overseas) and protects against the risk of fraud and chargebacks.
Twofish Elements, billed as a “turnkey solution” for companies with online worlds and game networks that want someone to handle in-game currency, micro-transactions and other features that comprise a virtual economy.
It will be interesting to see how open this is and whether Linden Lab will enter this space any time soon. Technology News has a high level overview of virtual currency systems and I’ve rounded up some notable quotes dealing with virtual goods:
the business of selling virtual items that enable internet users to express themselves is booming. Over $2bn is spent on virtual items every year and I don’t think this is a trend to bet against. Disney certainly didn’t with its purchase of Club Penguin, which could be worth up to $700m.
And it was announced yesterday that Paramount has inked a deal with Habbo Hotel to create merchandise for one of Paramount’s upcoming movies.
