Virtual iOS gaming economies thriving, no money for real things

The price of food is skyrocketing, the financial markets are slumping and nobody under the age of 25 is employed in the UK. Yet, and it’s supposedly a trend across the world, we’re still spending our money on virtual goods in mobile games. Forget beans on toast, it’s all about consumable virtual goods.

Analytics firm Flurry has been busy monitoring your purchasing habits — all 57 million of them apparently. Both iOS and Android gamers are happy to spend hard earned cash on items in game, and what’s even worse, the majority of these items are one-time use only. So rather than decking out an avatar with a fancy hat for virtual eternity, people are buying fertilizer to help their crops grow faster.

The figures estimate an impressive 65% of revenue comes from in-app purchasing. The games themselves might not cost a dime, but people are happy to support their developers over time.  Real life economies might be fading, but the virtual economics of gaming are very much in full swing. A cross section of the purchase types is below.

Via: TechCrunch
Source: Flurry
Image Credit: Gizmodo

Macgasm's Gaming correspondent. Lover of technology who can be found on Twitter. More detailed musings are located at my blog.