Almost 80% Of Gamers Buying Prepaid Cards For Selves

By Chris Sherman On March 20, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Today PlaySpan, makers of the Ultimate Game Card, released findings from its first consumer insight survey of 2,582 Ultimate Game Card users. Among other key stats, the survey disclosed that only 20.9% of Ultimate Game Card users actually receive the cards as "gifts," even though most pre-paid game cards are typically stocked in retail locations alongside more traditional gift cards.

“The retail game card market has very little data for the industry and our objective with the survey is to shed some light on this fast growing market sector,” said Karl Mehta, CEO of PlaySpan. “As the leader in retail game cards we’re planning to share more data over the months ahead.”

Instead, most Ultimate Game Card buyers appear to be purchasing the cards for themselves with the express purpose of spending on virtual goods later. In this regard, the function of Ultimate Game Cards for users seems remarkably similar to the function that Ukash vouchers fulfill in the markets where they are available, simply serving as a way of turning a kid's cash into virtual currency. The Ultimate Gamer Card is available in 21,000 retail stores throughout the U.S. and Canada.

According to survey data, about 75% of all Ultimate Game Card buyers spend more than two hours participate in virtual worlds or playing online games daily. Of buyers surveyed, about 48% were within the 14-18 age bracket considered the target demographic for prepaid cards. Remaining demographics broke down with 14.6% of buyers in the 19-25 bracket, 10.5% in the 26-35 bracket, and 11% in the 36+ bracket.

"The Ultimate Game Card customers skew younger because its primary benefit is to enable the younger demographic without credit cards to pay for premium content," said Eric Hartness, Chief Marketing Office of PlaySpan. "However, based on their play behavior and games played, Ultimate Game Card customers are certainly core gamers."

Keeping Hartness's comments in mind, it should be noted that the other demographics make up a surprisingly large percentage of Ultimate Gamer Card's sales. This may be another parallel to Ukash, also a payment service intended for the young and unbanked, where older users concerned with privacy also prefer it to other online playment methods.

Also (unsurprisingly) the survey data suggests that Ultimate Game Card buyers are very pleased with their purchases, with 80% of respondants saying they were likely to buy more Ultimate Game Cards in the future. Some gamers appeared to be outright relying on the card as a method of turning real cash into a way of paying for virtual goods, with 35.8% of users stating they had already purchased more than four cards.

This also indicates that some users are willing to spend fairly high amounts of money over time on microtransactions in games. Most Ultimate Game Cards are bought in $20 denominations. The Ultimate
Game Card is currently available in the US, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, and
the Philippines, with plans to move into India in the future.

"Adoption of The Ultimate Game Card is growing quickly," said Hartness. "In fact, it is now in the top five of retail game cards."

Of users polled, 51.9% had recommended the Ultimate Game Card to a friend while 29% had recommended it to more than ten friends. PlaySpan suggests this data indicates online gaming is experiencing "viral growth," but it could also be interpreted as indicating the word-of-mouth nature of participating in the sorts of microtransaction-driven games that the Ultimate Game Card supports. Most microtransaction titles are not promoted aggressively through mainstream channels, instead relying on online ads and game portals to attract users.

"The data is very positive, especially the satisfaction, referral activity, and re-purchase intent," said Hartness. "We strive to continually improve our products and services. This and other data will enable us to make process improvements and market the Ultimate Game Card more effectively."