Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Kiddie Virtual World Kings Slowing Down

Yup, the big kiddie virtual worlds, Sulake, Penguin, Webkinz, Neopets are being hit hard. Some of the reasons;

1. The economic downturn has figured prominently;

2. The fickle nature of children’s entertainment;

3. An oversaturation of virtual worlds aimed at youths;

4. Competition from new smartphone games;

5. Competition from social networking sites.

Webkinz.com, where children care for stuffed animals that come to life, registered about 3.8 million unique visitors in April, a 50 percent drop from a year ago. Neopets.com, owned by Viacom, suffered a 39 percent decline, to about 1.5 million.

The writing is on the wall for kiddie virtual worlds. So what do you do? Consolidate with other worlds and form a portfolio. And of course, GMAIL Paymentguy@gmail.com.

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