Wooga: Social gamers spend on shortcuts, not decoration

Wooga CEO Jens Begeman has revealed the percentage revenue split of his company's social game income, with the unexpected revelation that his audience is far more interested in saving time than buying customisation and decoration.

Wooga's audience is 70% female, which Begeman says leads many to believe that they'll be spending most cash on avatar costumes and decorative items. Instead, those players are using cash to buy in-game shortcuts which provide them with time advantages over other players.

Of the eight ways to spend real-world money in Wooga's flagship Monster World, just 0.3 per cent is spent on avatar customisation and only 2.3 per cent goes on cosmetic decorations.

2.8 per cent is spent on territory expansions, 6.3 on instant building shortcuts, 9.6 per cent on buying materials instead of finding or farming them and 10.5 per cent goes on in-game currency.

The two biggest sectors of income, by far, are Magic Wands – which make crops grow instantly – and Woogoo fuel, which powers the factories which make rare items. Both of these sections bring in around a third of Monster World's revenue each.

What that big spend shows, says Begeman, is that for players time is money. Whilst received wisdom may be that the largely female audience spends on customisation and cosmetic items, Wooga has found that this revenue split carries broadly across all demographics.

Time, for the average social game player, appears to be the most valuable resource, at least when measured against achievement.

During the same presentation, Begeman also announced Wooga's new title, Magic World – a resource farming/town building title combined with RPG mechanics and exploration.