Virtual Worlds Are Worth 1 Billion Dollars

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @04:58AM from the that-little-huh dept.

IronWilliamCash writes with a link to a BBC article letting us know some unsurprising news: Massively Multiplayer games are a Billion dollar industry here in the west. They're worth even more in countries like China, South Korea, and Taiwan, but the recognition of the MMOG genre's appeal in Western nations is quite laudable. "Games such as World of Warcraft and worlds like Habbo Hotel are fast becoming "significant platforms" in the converged media world, the report said ... Revenues from subscriptions to MMOGs will hit $1.5bn by 2011. But the growth in MMOGs remains limited compared to developing markets such as video on demand, which is expected to be worth $11.4bn from revenues in four years' time." The article goes on to cover the diversification of the genre and the rise of casual titles in the Massive space.

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Re:It's only a matter of time... by DrEldarion · 2007-03-21 07:21 · Score: 4, Insightful

In-game currency should only EVER be taxed when it is converted into real currency. Until then, it has no real value.

Incidentally, people who do make money from selling in-game currency should already be reporting it on their income taxes, so there's no need for extra laws whatsoever.