AUG. 1, 2011 • Paypal released data for the first time that showed that 12 million unique users per month in the U.S. pay for virtual items via the payment service. The data was compiled by Inside Network during the middle of 2010. Paypal virtual items have an average purchase amount between $20 and $30.

Impact: Conventional wisdom suggests most virtual item purchases are primarily $5 and under. It has been our suspicion for a long time that individual sales are significantly higher. When gamers want something, they don’t mind paying for it. The larger question is how often these players are inclined to open their wallets every week.