Digital Goods Have Been Purchased by 31% of All Gamers

U.S. gamers, whose online purchases of digital goods were once paid for largely by credits earned from advertiser offers, now say they are migrating to “real world” payment for digital goods using debit, credit and prepaid cards, according to a new study of online gamer behavior commissioned by PlaySpan, a Visa company.

According to the study, 31 percent of the general gamer population has used real world money to purchase virtual content. Of those gamers who use real world money, 57 percent said they make purchases of virtual items using real world money at least once every month.

Console games with online play account for the majority (51 percent) of virtual purchases using real world money, with social networking games (30 percent) and massively multiplayer online games  coming in at second and third respectively.

Overall, 72 percent of respondents indicated they expect to spend the same or more money on games in 2011 as they did in 2010.  About 67 percent of those who intend to spend more said they were playing more online games than last year, with 42 percent saying they have more money to spend.

Download the full report here.