REUTERS - Dec 30 - 90% of new online game start-ups sell virtual
goods, estimates Jeremy Liew, managing director at Lightspeed Venture
Partners. In November, video game publisher Electronic Arts paid $275M
for Playfish, which makes games for social networks such as Facebook,
which sell virtual goods. A month later, a group of investors poured
$180M into Zynga, another social networking game company. Virtual goods
account for 90% of Zynga's revenue. For social networks like Ning,
which introduced virtual goods in October, digital wares will remain
one of several revenue-generating businesses, including ads and premium
services, said COO Jason Rosenthal. Ning will introduce new types of
virtual goods in 2010 that could double as promotional coupons,
allowing the recipient of a virtual handbag, for example, to get a
discount or a bonus item in the real world. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
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