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Gaming the Social — Casual Connect Europe 2011
We’ve just uploaded the deck presented at Casual Connect Europe. Our illustrious managing director, Joost van Dreunen, gave a lecture last Wednesday on the relevance of analytics to an audience of 400+ game developers, publishers and payment providers.
SuperData Research reports on Online Gamers’ Payment Preferences in North America and Europe
New York, January 25, 2011 – According to the Payment Mix Report 2011, the most recent study by digital goods measurement company, SuperData Research, prepaid game cards, mobile, bank transfers and others combined facilitate 42% of the virtual goods transactions in Western markets.
Traditionally credit cards and PayPal have facilitated online purchases. But in a key market like Germany, which SuperData estimates at $231 million in annual virtual good sales, these methods stand toe-to-toe with eVouchers and Mobile payment. According to the report, alternative forms of payment total $970 million in virtual goods sales annually in Europe and North America.
“Like language, you have to localize payment methods when you’re targeting a global audience,” says lead analyst Joost van Dreunen, Ph.D. “Effective monetization means knowing by how much you can increase your audience base by offering an additional payment method.”
Methodology
The study builds on a dataset of 2,116,045 unique virtual good transactions from MMOs, social games, casual games, and virtual worlds in North America and Europe. Virtual items are defined as “in-game items or game-related services, such as a virtual currency or temporary subscription, that enable or enhance game play.” Numbers include PC (MMO, FPS, casual, social) and console game platforms. Countries covered by this study are: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States. For more information on SuperData Research’s methodology and dataset, click here.
USA Today quotes SuperData Research
For a recent article exploring Zynga’s explosive growth and its strategy for the coming years, SuperData Research’s Joost van Dreunen helped fill in a few of the blancs.
(excerpt)
“Sure, social-gaming giant Zynga has conquered the U.S. market. But what about the rest of the world?
“The big challenge is international expansion, because they are so dependent on Facebook,” says Joost van Dreunen, founder of SuperData Research, which tracks virtual goods globally. On that front, Zynga has snapped up six companies since May to gain customers in the U.S., Southeast Asia and elsewhere.
Zynga bought XPD Media in China, its first outpost in Asia, signaling it’s just beginning its international rallying cry.
Still, Zynga faces tough competition abroad, from the likes of social-games developers Tencent, Shanda, NetEase.com, Perfect World Entertainment, ChangYou, Giant Interactive, NetDragon and Kingsoft.
“Zynga is often criticized as being direct marketers, and not true game designers like those guys,” van Dreunen says.”
Read the rest here.
