30% of freemium users ‘have paid for goods’

A new study by Visa’s PlaySpan and VG Market has found that 30 per cent of freemium game users have paid for goods while playing.

The report has also uncovered a wealth of other freemium user behaviour information. It found that console games with online play account for 51 per cent of virtual purchases using real money, with social networking sites accounting for 30 per cent and MMO games 28 per cent.

“The digital goods market may be enormous, but it’s still part of the Wild West in terms of targeting users based on behavior and spending preferences,” said PlaySpan director of marketing Robb Lewis.

The study also found that women are three times more likely to use Facebook Credits to purchase virtual items than men. It states that, of the 1000 players questioned, about 37 per cent of women are likely to buy virtual items to ‘decorate a page, persona or avatar’, whereas only 19 per cent of men would.

As well as this, the report discovered that around 48 per cent of games users said they have purchased in-game currency in the past year. 47 per cent had bought new maps and levels, and 29 per cent armor and equipment items.

45 per cent said they buy virtual items once a month, and 72 per cent said they would spend more or roughly the same as they had spent on virtual goods in the last year.