The sale of virtual goods has risen from $265 million in 2008 to $621 in 2009. By 2013 projected growth estimated at $2.5 billion. That's just in the United States. Second Life currently has the largest market, with approximately $144 million dollars changing hands between users so far for 2009. But those numbers are deceiving, only 219 of the approximately 68,000 users earned profits over $5000 (1). So 0.3% of Second Life users are actually making some money from what presumably is a lot more time spent in their virtual world than would be required to make that same money in the real world. However there are a handful of people making a million plus a year from Second Life (1). But again, that's perhaps a half dozen people among 68,000 users. If you're looking to make it big in virtual worlds, perhaps you should keep looking.
I'm of the belief that virtual worlds are a niche idea, they'll always have value to an esoteric audience but the real money will come with the rise of augmented reality, a fusion of virtual reality and real-reality untethered from a computer screen. More on that in my presentation.
1. The future of virtual goods, from Hypergrid Business
Retrieved November 8, 2009, from Hypergrid Business website:
http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2009/09/the-future-of-virtual-goods/
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