According to a report of digital payment vendor PayPal, 12 million Monthly Facebook gamers in U.S. pay for virtual goods.
It is estimated that out of this figure, 19% accounts for spending under$10, 54% accounts for spending amount from $10 to $50 while remaining 27% accounts for purchasing over$50 on games like FarmVille.In social games, 33 percent of purchases are under $10. About 58 percent are $10 to $50. And 9 percent are $50 and more. In casual web site games, 29 percent of purchases are under $10. About 49 percent are $10 to $50. And 22 percent are for $50 and more.
Facebook games are a global industry and if we are to take the number of paying players worldwide on Facebook then the figure would be much larger.
Social game sector has been growing at a fast pace over the years, as also an increase Facebook gamers. eMarket estimates that the U.S. virtual goods market will be $1 billion in 2011, while Inside Network estimates it to be $2.1 billion. Internationally, virtual goods market is valued at around $6 billion, with huge growth potential in Asia.
Paypal on Thursday said that it had teamed up with Facebook to use PayPal as a means of currency for ads, as well as for Facebook Credits, Facebook’s virtual currency.
For more than a decade, Paypal’s focus has been on payments – making it easier for customers to send and receive money online in 24 currencies and 190 markets around the world. We’ve always been an important part of the developer ecosystem on Facebook and with today’s news, we’re really excited to expand our relationship directly with Facebook to help grow their advertiser and developer businesses,” writes Osama on the PayPal blog.
Advertisers would be able to pay for Facebook ads using PayPal money transfers, which the company said would help small international advertisers. Previously Facebook advertisers needed to link a credit card to their accounts in order to place ads on the site. The options will be launched within the next few weeks.
PayPal will also become a payment option for Facebook’s virtual currency, Facebook Credits, which is currently being tested in a small number of games and applications. Users will now be able to buy virtual goods using their PayPal account.
“We’ve added another form of payment: PayPal. Facebook and PayPal are establishing a long-term, strategic relationship to simplify payments globally for advertisers purchasing Facebook Ads. PayPal will also be available for users buying virtual items in games and applications. By teaming up with the global leader in online payments, we are able to provide users, developers and advertisers a fast and trusted purchasing experience across Facebook,” writes Facebook in Facebook Ad’s Notes today.
With this partnership that brings together the world’s largest social network and the world’s biggest online payments system, PayPal may very well become the de facto payments system of Facebook and the online world.
