$1 billion invested in virtual worlds in past 12 months - study

A new study by Virtual Worlds Management claims that over USD 1 billion (EUR 709.1m) has been invested in virtual worlds companies over the past twelve months.

Although the study's definition of a virtual world company is tenuous in places — it includes Intel's recent acquisition of Havok - it does highlight how seriously media and investment companies are taking virtual communities.

"Investors are not just venture capital firms, but also include major technology, media and entertainment companies," commented Christopher Sherman, executive director of Virtual Worlds Management.

"The amount of money invested in this period of time is staggering. We don't see any slowing in the market adoption of virtual worlds technologies and expect investment in the space to continue."

"In fact the market is growing significantly, with the rate of adoption of virtual worlds increasing as the technology matures and has more to offer both consumers and enterprise customers," he added.

The report includes Disney's acquisition of Club Penguin, Benchmark's investment in Gaia Online and multiple investor support for Trion World Network.