Virtual worlds growth to reach 640m by 2015
Jun 28th, 2009 | By Guy | Category: Second Life, Virtual WorldsThe virtual worlds site Virtual Worlds News has covered the release of a new report into the growth of virtual worlds. The report covers both the standard metric of registrations, and importantly the number of ‘active users’ which can be taken as a measure of success of the virtual world.
The article says that: “the global population of virtual world users growing from 186 million today to almost 640 million by 2015 — that’s almost one hundred million new players a year, a nearly 25 percent compounded annual growth rate. The fastest growing demographic is kids between the ages of 5 and 9 which the company predicts will grow 27 percent; the current largest segment of virtual worlds players, tweens and teens, should grow by some 21 percent, according to the company.
Overall, as virtual worlds continue to improve the user experience, Strategy Analytics see a conversion rate from registrations to active users at a growth rate of 38 percent through 2015.”