Most Business-Launched Virtual Worlds Fail

bughunter writes "Internet consultant firm Gartner claims that only 1 in 10 commercial virtual worlds succeeds, and most fail within 18 months: 'Businesses have learned some hard lessons," Gartner analyst Steve Prentice said in a statement released Thursday. "They need to realize that virtual worlds mark the transition from Web pages to Web places and a successful virtual presence starts with people, not physics. Realistic graphics and physical behavior count for little unless the presence is valued by and engaging to a large audience."'" Hard to believe it's even as high as one in ten -- most "virtual worlds" with obvious commercial trappings certainly don't inspire much besides mockery.

Comments

Virtual Lawyers?

[CDMA_Demo]

Examples would include training in emergency services within medical institutions and fire and police departments. I'll be a good exercise to try involving some "lawyery" in there. Infact that'd raise some new issues on who sues who, and where. Lets say the virtual fireman drove his truck into a virtual policeman. What will the virtual lawyer do? Might save us troubles such as these": http://www.news.com/Virtual-world-litigation-for-real/2010-1047_3-6190583.html

Dreaming Companies

[eulernet]

The online game companies imagine that since there are millions of Internet users, it means that they'll have instantly a lot of users.

It's also because they need financial partners, so they tend to inflate their numbers to attract money.
Investors like to hear about attracting 0.01% of the Internet users, even if they have nothing new, or even worse, nothing to sell !

Hint: I worked in 2 such game companies, and they both failed !

Re:Um, it's Gartner

[Bieeanda]

Yeah, but the vast majority of MMOs end up collapsing, or never go beyond a few thousand users. MMOs actually have a business function as well: you give them money for the privilege of playing, and they hope that you don't outweigh your monthly fees by using too much bandwidth or tying up other resources.

Re: Buzzwords

[TaoPhoenix]

Once you get past the Snarking, sometimes the buzzwords actually have a point.

A Web Place requires the user to spend tangible amounts of time physically present at the place, preferably with greater than 25% attentiveness. IRC is the case study to "online in absentia".

AOL's legions of Septemberites learned their first wee steps of the web because they responded in raucous rapid-fire quantities to each other.

Re:Most Businesses Fail

[TubeSteak]

http://app1.sba.gov/faqs/faqIndexAll.cfm?areaid=24

8. What is the survival rate for new firms?

            Two-thirds of new employer establishments survive at least two years, and 44 percent survive at least four years, according to a recent study. These results were similar for different industries. Firms that began in the second quarter of 1998 were tracked for the next 16 quarters to determine their survival rate. Despite conventional wisdom that restaurants fail much more frequently than firms in other industries, leisure and hospitality establishments, which include restaurants, survived at rates only slightly below the average. Earlier research has explored the reasons for a new business's survivability. Major factors in a firm's remaining open include an ample supply of capital, being large enough to have employees, the owner's education level, and the owner's reason for starting the firm in the first place, such as freedom for family life or wanting to be one's own boss. IIRC, the SBA commissioned a study that showed the 10 year success rate is something like 20%, but that figure varies up and down depending on the industry. Keep in mind that this represents Small Business, which is defined as less than 500 employees (with a bunch of exceptions).