One of this year’s buzzwords surely must be branded virtual goods. You may have heard this term used in articles or in conversations and wondered what on earth are people on about.
Simply put, branded virtual goods, or BVGs for short, are digitally presented items directly attached or associated to a brand in electronic games. Or if you want to really impress people the technical definition is “branded virtual goods are non-physical objects purchased for use in online communities or online games which have no intrinsic value and are intangible by definition but have a direct link to a brand or product which usually exists in tangible form”.
In fact, it may come as a surprise to you, but BVGs have been around for over 10 years. Not only that, they exist in offline games and have done so for arguably even longer than online games.
Take for example the FIFA games on home consoles. The 1998 release of the FIFA football game allowed players to select branded items such as brand specific footballs and later releases allowed players to earn branded items for customising their footballers, choosing which Nike football boots for their custom made player. In these games though, players earned the ability to ‘unlock’ these items by achieving specific goals within the games rather then buying with virtual or real money.
In fact BVGs are so popular with the FIFa games franchise that fans of these games wanted branded virtual goods so much that game hackers brought out unofficial downloads to bring branded items to the football game series.
One of the first known instance of an online game using virtual goods available for purchase with real currency was Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands by the game developer Iron Realms Entertainment back in 1998.
Since then, the Asia took virtual goods under its wing and made it the phenomenon of the 21st century, to the extent that it is estimated that approximately 70% of virtual goods sales were in Asia.
Fast forward to the present and plenty has changed. Rather than branded virtual goods being a throw away last minute add-in to games they are now becoming an absolute must have for both online and offline games.
PlayMob can create the perfect synergy between your brand, a social game and consumers.
This is a great article – I love the Snoop Dog jackets within IMVU! Anyone who says Virtual Goods are a fad, or that people who but they are silly, are themselves a tad out of the loop on reality. We buy music, art and other things which we like the look/sound of or that we collect, or both! So why would this be a passing ers for Virtual Goods? Virtual goods are here to stay and will only become more popular the more time we spend online. Would love to hear feedback!
[...] through virtual branded goods: In addition to internet purchases users will be able to buy virtual goods associated with a [...]