Virtual worlds, the playful fantasy environments such as Second Life, are evolving into the ultimate mash ups of gaming, social networking, meetings and 3D graphics.
Os so say researchers at In-Stat. In the process, they will attract more than 1 billion registered users by 2012 and revenue likely to exceed $3 billion, says In-Stat.
Already, virtual worlds earn 90 percent of their revenue from the sale of virtual items, such as currency, land and fees. And 70 percent of more than 300 users are younger than 18.
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