DISQUS

VentureBeat: Facebook platform developers could see $500M in revenue this year

  • Justin Smith · 6 months ago
    Great post Eric. Indeed there are a lot of real, sustainable businesses being built on the Platform!
  • chleoku · 6 months ago
    Great post and right on for the virtual goods economy. I think this is coming as a big wave and revolution to the international market. Note that this trend is not new, China Internet companies already monetized pretty well ($1B revenue for tencent) on this:

    http://www.wealthalchemist.com/Blog/2009/04/vir...
  • Eric Eldon · 6 months ago
    Definitely. Here's what I wrote:

    "More generally, virtual goods have already proven themselves elsewhere, especially in web-based virtual worlds like Second Life, Habbo and Gaia, and on Asian social networks. China-based web portal Tencent, for example, made more than $1 billion last year from a variety of virtual goods — like clothing for users’ avatars — that it integrates with its instant message client, social network and games."
  • daveevans · 6 months ago
    Solid post but how could you not mention viximo?
  • Eric Eldon · 6 months ago
    What do you think I should say about Viximo?
  • daveevans · 6 months ago
    Caveat: I've worked with viximo. Points of interest: their platform for providing virtual goods, linking producers, publishers and consumers, the VixML iPhone platform (very cool) and the recent $5 million in a round of funding from North Bridge Venture Partners.
  • Mark Mayhew · 6 months ago
    glad to read that the Facebook Economy is alive and kickin'
    http://FacebookEconomy.com
  • RahulC · 6 months ago
    I am not a avid app/game user in fb but I know I was wrong with my assumption that most applications that I browsed through made no sense to me.

    Most games except for a few have a shelf life - they start, gain speed and then slow down. Any game no matter how good it is, lose their initial momentum after sometime. The challenge is not to come up with a game with definite ending rather using the same viral nature of social networks to keep it open.
  • igniguy · 6 months ago
    Great (and long) post once again.

    Facebook should roll out their own payments service, it will be a great way for them to monetize their app ecosystem. Even if they do not roll out a 'common currency system' [difficult, because there will be no universal agreement among developers], having a facebook-backed payments system [with no spammy offers] will drive even more revenue to us developers. it's a win-win situation.

    Please also note that, according to facebook, they will be launching their 'verified apps' program - that is, they will start labeling well-behaving applications. add to that Facebook Connect apps that are now even on the iphone, and it looks like it's gonna be an intense year for facebook.
  • Carl Andres · 6 months ago
    There are other types of app like this that me and many of my friends visit and I am sure they make bank from us clicking the ads:

    http://apps.facebook.com/partywithme/

    :D
  • MoWidgets · 6 months ago
    Now that the cat's out the bag, can this little industry grow or can it be stopped?
  • mark sendo · 6 months ago
    If Facebook does introduce their own virtual currency, i suspect we will see a new wave of applications, applications that provide real utility, that are meaningful to the average facebook user.
  • leotsai · 3 months ago
    is good to relationship help us to get more friends
  • edsion007 · 1 month ago
    Hmmm.. why it has to do with twitter so much?
  • lucky · 1 month ago
    It's meaningful for common facebook user.
  • Ke Danial · 2 hours ago
    n total, the top few developers are likely to make more than $150 million in revenue this year, according to estimates from several industry sources I’ve spoken with. But then there’s the so-called long tail of smaller game developers who are also making money. Around 50 smaller developer teams making between half a million and $1 million a year, comprising the middle tier of the mcts exams. That group is followed by another hundred or so developers making between a quarter of a million and half a million dollars. Combined, these smaller developers could bring in revenues of $100 million or more this year.