Megan gives us some thoughts and update on the virtual world perspectives. Things look sunny for Virtual World industry right now.
This is a two- part blog post on the
promise and peril of virtual worlds, this post will specifically
focus on the promise of virtual worlds. Recently K Zero (http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/)
posted a Forecast for the Virtual Worlds sector (http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?p=2845)
on their blog.
"By the end of this year we'll be
at the 150 mark for total worlds. We forecast this number to double
by the end of 2010."
"Combine all of this and we get
to our 2012 forecast of 900 virtual worlds."
"We forecast 2012 revenues to
reach $6bn and 2013 to hit $9bn."
Yes that is Billion with a capital B!
But 900 virtual worlds by 2012 could this be true- a little more
than 2 years away and we haven't even hit the 150 number!? What
will be the differentiating factor from one virtual world to the
next with that many virtual world applications to choose from? We
don't even have that many options with social media apps. as of
yet. It seems like a daunting figure- although I am all for
the growth of virtual worlds- how many is too many? There are many
indications that virtual worlds hold a very bright future.
So you may ask why virtual
worlds?
-Reducing Training Costs
-Increasing Company Revenues
-Training / Education
-Increase in Employee
Productivity
-Customer Interaction
-Product Development
-Process Optimization
-Offer an Immersive Learning
Experience
-High fidelity graphics
Maxping says:
Today, it is even getting complicated to define what a virtual
world is. We are sure to see 3D sites, that have all aspects of a
virtual world - but are company driven warehouses. So maybe more
likely a 3D-website? Read on about that perspective and
needed foundings in the next posting.