Americans spent $168 million on mobile virtual goods

Last year Americans spent $168 million in mobile virtual goods. Wasn’t there a recession last year?

A study called ‘Magid Media Futures 2010 Wireless and Consumers’ figures that 23 percent of our country’s population owns smartphones, and that about 45 percent of them use their phones to game. When you break all the data down, 16 percent of those gamers spend an average of $41 a year on in-game virtual goods. Add it all up and you’ll find that we threw $168 million out the window last year on sh*t that isn’t even real!

It turns out that mobile gamers download 14 games a year, with the majority of them being free. Someone’s making money, though. And what’s crazy is that this is only about 20 of smartphone gamers making in-game purchases. That means there’s plenty of room to grow. Expect to see virtual goods spending increase even more over the year.

Damn, I need to make aFarmvilleclone or something.

Americans Spent $168 Million on Mobile Virtual Goods Last Year[Industry Gamers]