Today the payment services provider PlaySpan issued a virtual goods sales data report describing the payment behavior of the company's customers worldwide. The report revealed that 42% of PlaySpan's revenue is generated by virtual goods buyers in the US, whose ARPPU is $22.76. The only country whose paying users spend more is Australia, where ARPPU is $24.38.
The breakdown of PlaySpan's Top 5 Countries by revenue percentage is revealing. After the US, Germany contributes the most to PlaySpan with 23% of the companies revenues. The rest of the Top 5 countries – Italy, Canada, and Portugal – provide only incremental lifts in the 3% to 4% range.
The data for Top 5 Countries by customer percentage reinforces the idea that Americans are willing to spend a lot more on virtual goods through PlaySpan than counterparts in Europe. Germany actually makes up the greatest percentage of PlaySpan's users, at 29%, followed by Americans with 22%. Italy is in third place with 9%, and then the rest of the Top 5 is filled out with incremental 4% lift from Brazil and Spain.
What PlaySpan clearly hopes readers take away from the data is the idea that freemium games can generate more revenue than subscription-based games, since paying users in top markets will spend more than the standard $14.99 per month if it's possible. Of course, this PlaySpan survey doesn't (and probably can't) reveal the conversion rates for its various client games.
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