Quick Stat: $1M Virtual Good Sales for Home in Under 1 Month; 3.4M Downloads
At CES today, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai noted that Home, the recently launched virtual world for the PlayStation 3, had generated $1 million in virtual goods sales. On day one, Home featured both generic and branded virtual goods, including apparel items from Diesel Jeans that could be picked for free or a few dollars. As far as I know, virtual goods weren't for sale during the extended private beta of Home, so that means the virtual world brought in $1 million in microtransactions in less than one month since its launch on December 11.
While many of the hardcore gamers (and dedicated press) that make up a large portion of PS3 users have mocked virtual goods as nickel-and-diming ploys, evidently at least some users are excited to customize their avatars.
Last month Sony noted that the split is about 80/20, with the most active 20% of users contributing to the revenue stream. At the same time, the company pointed out that the first four days of virtual goods sales had generated more revenue than the first week of more expensive video downloads for the PS3.
Hirai added that Home has also been downloaded by 3.4 million users, which, considering both the fact that Home only officially went public last month and how much money it's generating with that group, seems pretty impressive.
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