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- US Virtual Goods Market To Hit $2.9 Billion In 2012, With Facebook Games Maturing, Mobile Booming
- Oerlikon Solar works to pull down PV costs in 2014
- Gates discussing new nuclear reactor with China
- Sony hints at holodeck future with captivating videos
| US Virtual Goods Market To Hit $2.9 Billion In 2012, With Facebook Games Maturing, Mobile Booming Posted: 08 Dec 2011 03:02 PM PST
The business of selling virtual goods in games has been around for a decade, but it only came into its own in this country when developers started building social games on Facebook's developer platform in 2007. Since then, it has been one of the fastest-growing types of businesses online. But it may be maturing, according to a new report out today — at least on Facebook. In the meantime, mobile virtual goods are taking off. The overall market for virtual goods in the US is headed towards $2.9 billion for 2012, according to the Inside Virtual Goods report. That's up from $2.2 billion this year, and $1.6 billion in 2010.
Speaking of Facebook, you can also use this data to estimate its virtual goods revenue going forward, because it began taking a 30% cut of all virtual goods sales on its platform beginning this past July. When the company's filings come out at some point next year, expect to see it registering somewhere towards $500 million in revenue from its developers. Overall, social developers have gotten savvier about how to make money from virtual goods, even as traffic to many games has flattened or fallen. In particular, a significant portion of revenue is now coming from games that target hardcore gamers. Typified by early successes like Kabam's Kingdoms of Camelot, these games don't have that many users relative to hits like Zynga's CityVille, but they make a lot more money per user. But because these games are attracting players who might otherwise buy virtual goods in web-based or downloadable MMOs, it's unclear if this growth means more money coming into virtual goods overall. Mobile has also been coming into its own in the last 18 months, report co-author Charles Hudson tells me. The report estimates that mobile virtual goods (for games only, not including other digital media like iTunes songs) made $350 million this year, and will grow to $500 million next year.
The key factors haven't just been the introduction of in-app purchases and the proliferation of devices for iOS and Android. Many social game developers have shifted more resources to building for mobile. One reason is that Facebook's viral channels aren't as viral any more, so developers needing to spend more on advertising to get growth and retention. Another is that mobile platforms don't have a single overbearing competitor like Zynga. But mobile has its own limitations. Facebook provides a single venue for developers to build, grow and monetize their games, while the dueling mobile platforms have weaker social features and additional development costs; iOS also has the 30% tax on virtual goods sales, same as Facebook. The report is based on quantitative analysis of publicly available traffic data, as well as dozens of interviews with developers and service providers. The authors have been deep in the social gaming industry since its early days. I know because I've worked with them. One, Justin Smith, was my cofounder at Inside Network, which he built up after leading Facebook app product development at Watercooler (now Kabam). The other is Hudson, a serial entrepreneur who sold Serious Business to Zynga in 2010. He's now an investor with SoftTech VC as well as cofounder of Android game developer Bionic Panda. (c) 2011 3tlink.info Share and Enjoy• Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Digg • Delicious • StumbleUpon • Reddit • Google Buzz • FriendFeed • MySpace • Add to favorites • Email • Print • PDF |
| Oerlikon Solar works to pull down PV costs in 2014 Posted: 08 Dec 2011 02:36 PM PST Switzerland-based Oerlikon Solar, kingpins in thin film silicon solar module equipment, has announced that it has reached a milestone in reducing the cost of production for its thin-film silicon photovoltaic panels. Oerlikon Solar describes its business as one that designs and manufactures equipment and turnkey manufacturing lines for the mass production of environmentally sustainable thin film silicon solar modules. The company said it is to realize a module manufacturing cost of 0.35 euro ($0.47) per watt in 2014.
The significance of this announcement is seen by observers as an industry marker that (1) PV generation might turn out to be cheaply priced in 2014 and (2) that the energy industry is going to see some recalibrations of price points not seen before. The Oerlikon Solar company said the price advantage being announced, however, is not a given if certain conditions are not met. The manufacturing cost of 0.35 euro per watt will be possible, according to the company, only if production takes place in some regions in China where labor costs are low and where production lines are in full operation. Oerlikon Solar, which is headquartered in Trubbach, Switzerland, does business in 13 locations worldwide. The company's key mission has been to achieve cost reductions, and the company forged key partnerships to make that happen. Oerlikon Solar has teamed up with two major players in photovoltaics, Air Liquide, gas suppliers, and Linde Electronics. Air Liquide is in the business of gases for industry, health and the environment. The company produces air gases (oxygen, nitrogen, argon, rare gases) and other gases including hydrogen. Linde Electronics supplies gases, chemicals and technologies to solar cell manufacturers. The two partners will support Oerlikon's lines (“Thinfab”) with infrastructure and customer supply-chain requirements. The three are aligned to a strategy to bring costs down. One approving body will be the EU-funded PEPPER project, which focuses on thin film silicon solar research. PEPPER's stated goal similarly is to see decreased costs of thin film silicon PV modules within the next three years. Project supporters emphasize photovoltaics as an emerging power source carrying significant environmental and economic benefits. PV systems are touted as safe, reliable, having a constantly decreasing payback time, and potentially able to create thousands of jobs. At the same time, its weakness at present is easily acknowledged: It continues to be a more expensive approach than grid-supplied electricity produced from conventional sources. (c) 2011 3tlink.info Share and Enjoy• Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Digg • Delicious • StumbleUpon • Reddit • Google Buzz • FriendFeed • MySpace • Add to favorites • Email • Print • PDF |
| Gates discussing new nuclear reactor with China Posted: 08 Dec 2011 02:29 PM PST Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates confirmed Wednesday he is in discussions with China to jointly develop a new and safer kind of nuclear reactor.
“The idea is to be very low cost, very safe and generate very little waste,” said the billionaire during a talk at China’s Ministry of Science and Technology. Gates said he had largely funded a Washington state-based company, TerraPower, that is developing a Generation IV nuclear reactor that can run on depleted uranium. TerraPower says it has discussed its plans with India, Russia and other countries with nuclear energy programs. The general manager of state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation, Sun Qin, was quoted in Chinese media last week saying Gates was working with it to research and develop a reactor. “TerraPower is having very good discussions with CNNC and various people in the Chinese government,” said Gates, cautioning the talks were at an early stage. Gates says perhaps as much as a billion dollars will be put into research and development over the next five years. TerraPower says its traveling wave reactor would run for decades on depleted uranium and produce significantly smaller amounts of nuclear waste than conventional reactors. “All these new designs are going to be incredibly safe,” Gates told the audience. “They require no human action to remain safe at all times.” He said they also benefit from an ability to simulate earthquake and tidal wave conditions. “It takes safety to a new level,” he said. Since leaving Microsoft Corp., Gates has concentrated on philanthropy and advocating on public health, education and clean energy issues. He is an investor and strategic adviser to TerraPower. Gates was at the Ministry of Science and Technology to talk about a joint project between China and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support innovative research and development to help alleviate poverty. Gates said the ministry will help identify entrepreneurs and companies to manufacture new products in global health and agriculture to “change the lives of poor people,” including new vaccines and diagnostics and genetically modified seeds. “China has a lot to contribute because it’s solved many of the problems of poverty, not all of them but a lot of them, itself, and many Asian, south Asian and African countries are well behind, whether it’s agriculture or health,” said Gates. No specific poverty alleviation projects were mentioned.
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| Sony hints at holodeck future with captivating videos Posted: 08 Dec 2011 02:22 PM PST You have to hand it to the imaginative people at Sony, or at least those they partnered with at Studio Output and the Marshmallow Laser Factory; together the three have produced three videos that are likely to evoke feelings of nostalgia, even as they stir yearnings for more. The three videos, commercials, essentially for Sony's Playstation Video store, show what the future may soon hold even as they remind us of what our collective imagination can inspire, the awe-inspiring holodeck of Star Trek fame.
Sony hints at holodeck future with captivating videosBut the videos aren't about the guy on the couch, they're about showing off what can be done with simple existing technology and some old fashioned film-making trickery. To make them, the team used the Playstation Move, a Steadicam an EyeToy camera and some guys dressed in white body suits, girls with fish poles and other extras to manipulate various other objects such as tentacles. The videos were made to advertise the immersive effect buyers will find if they will only rent movies for download from the Playstation store; though they will likely not find that out from the videos themselves, as those, sadly, demonstrate what's possible for the future, not what's available now. At any rate, in the videos a guy sits on his couch and the room around him changes as 3D imagery is projected onto all the surfaces around him, including the guys in the white suits. In one scene, the guy is morphed into a rocket and flies over a cityscape. It's all very impressive stuff, perhaps even more so when taking into account that no fancy post-editing was allowed to insert computer generated imagery, or to remove stuff, such as the strings that held dangling objects. Also impressive is the fact that it was all done using a Steadicam, which had not been done before. The fact that the camera recording the videos is able to move about adds to the three-dimensional effect; something movie-makers and those that make commercials for television are likely to want as soon as possible.
After all is said and done though, the coolest part of the whole project for those not a part of it, is just watching the videos they've produced, free of charge. (c) 2011 3tlink.info Share and Enjoy• Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Digg • Delicious • StumbleUpon • Reddit • Google Buzz • FriendFeed • MySpace • Add to favorites • Email • Print • PDF |
Virtual goods on Facebook are continuing to comprise more than half of that, going from $835 million in 2010 to $1.2 billion this year to $1.6 billion next year. The gains each year are around $400 million, which means growth is going from 50% down to around 35%. While the report doesn't break out company-specific numbers publicly, Zynga's pre-IPO filings indicate it made more than $300 millionlast quarter. Assuming that number stays around the same, look for Zynga to continue to its historical dominance with about 75% of the Facebook virtual goods market.
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates leaves after he delivered a speech at the Ministry of Science and Technology in Beijing Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011. Gates confirmed Wednesday he is in discussions with China to jointly develop a new kind of nuclear reactor.
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