Consumers surveyed by Inside Network also displayed loyalty as to which games drew their spending for virtual goods. Some 84 percent who paid more than $25 said they had done so for only one game on Facebook. About 15 percent who spent in excess of $25 had invested in two games.
Inside Network surveyed 1,800 people who said they play social games on Facebook. The findings suggest that a small portion of game players on the social networking site generate a majority of the spending on virtual goods, says Inside Network’s Justin Smith, who co-wrote the report. “The top 10 percent or so of the people who spend are spending 10 to 20 times more than what most other people are spending,” Smith said.
Consumers in the U.S. will spend $1.6 billion this year on virtual goods, according to ThinkEquity. The survey’s results may be skewed to favor more active users, said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. “I am not surprised that 90 percent of the people who took the time to respond to a survey that started with ‘only answer if you play social games’ actually play every day,” Pachter said in an e-mail. “It’s like asking people who visit a racetrack how often they bet on races.”