Digital goods are big business online. These include everything from Facebook applications, to online games, to items for use in those online games. What is the most popular digital good? According to research by VGMarket and PlaySpan, it’s virtual money.

Based on a survey of 2,425 users of PlaySpan’s various virtual goods platforms, 73 percent of all digital good buyers transacted virtual currency, while 40 percent bought virtual weapons, 32 percent bought wearables, 30 percent bought subscription codes, 20 percent bought power-ups, 20 percent bought virtual gifts, and 17 percent purchased maps/levels.

Interestingly, a business model is emerging whereby people play games for free but spend money on items needed or desired for those games. According to the VGMarket and PlaySpan research approximately 58 percent of gamers made purchases in free-to-play games in the past year, while 34 percent made purchases in massively multi-player online, and 23 percent bought virtual goods in social networking games.

How much are people spending on these virtual goods? Buyers of items for free-to-play games tend to spend $75, while the median price of purchasers of items for MMOs is $60, and the median price for social network digital goods is $50. While most people buy digital goods for themselves, around 20 percent buy them as gifts for others.

Source: Dean Takahashi, “The most popular digital goods are virtual money, weapons and gifts,” Venture Beat, September 11, 2009

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