Opportunities

Bringing customers to your world.

Convergence between social networking, internet and gaming technology provides unique opportunities to target, service, communicate with and monetise your customers within global markets. Online Game and Virtual World products offer long term revenue generation opportunities via a wide range of established business models e.g. subscription, micro-transactions, advertising, sponsorship, licensing and real-world trading. Marketing opportunities exist to address large persistent communities of online consumers and communicate with multiple demographic groups embedded within global markets. The online gaming market is segmented into multiple genres, formats, platforms and demographic groupings which address sophisticated global marketing opportunities.

To help facilitate organisations wishing to enter, operate within and monetise the online sector Monumental develop the Monumental Technology Suite. This suite of Online Game and Virtual World development technology, tools and systems allows project stakeholders to prototype, develop, launch, operate and manage online projects within the global marketplace. Licensees of MTS can significantly reduce R&D, technology and project development times& costs whilst launching global products secure in the knowledge that projects will be based on an industry leading, cutting-edge fully supported technology solution respected by commercial, industry and consumer based end-users.

Market Opportunities

• The total number of online gamers worldwide is expected to increase 71% from 2005 to 2011 to 364 million.
• Worldwide online game revenue is expected to increase from $3.4 billion in 2005 to $13.1 billion in 2011. By 2011, 75% of this revenue is expected to be from PC games, 25% from console online games.
• Worldwide online game revenue is expected to be 52% from subscriptions, 41% from digital distribution and 7% from advertising.
• Asia is currently the largest market for online games accounting for 54% of revenue in 2005, with 30% in North America, 11% in Europe and 5% in Japan. In 2009, North America is expected to pass Asia as the leading online game market. In 2011 it is forecast that 36% of online game revenue will come form North America, followed by Asia at 31%, Europe at 22% and Japan at 11%.
• Venture capital and media firms have invested more than $425 million dollars in 15 virtual worlds companies during the fourth quarter of 2007 and $1 billion dollars in 35 virtual worlds companies in the 12 months, from October 2006 to October 2007.
• By 2010, 20 percent of global Tier 1 retailers will have a marketing presence in online games and virtual worlds.
• By the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a ‘second life,‘ but not necessarily in Second Life.

Sources: DFC Intelligence, Gatner, Forrester and Virtual Worlds Management.