2009-09-22 00:00:00 UTC
Linden Lab Shares Statistics Revealing Tremendous User Engagement and the Largest User-Generated Virtual Goods Economy in the World
SAN FRANCISCO — September 22, 2009 — Linden Lab®, creator of the virtual worldSecond Life®, today announced that Second Life Residents have transacted the equivalent of more than one billion US dollars with each other while spending more than one billion hours in Second Life – significant milestones for the virtual worlds industry. The company also shared a series of additional statistics that reveal the scale of Second Life and its virtual goods economy, as well as the activity and engagement of its Residents.
From its inception, Second Life has offered a rich three-dimensional environment that is built upon and fueled by the collective imagination and ingenuity of its Residents. Representing nearly every country and hundreds of cultures from around the globe, the Second Life community uses the virtual world as a place to create, connect, collaborate, communicate, and more across barriers of language and physical location. The combination of a world without boundaries and a highly engaged user base has led to a number of key milestones for Second Life. Some of these accomplishments include:
Industry-leading content creation and transactional tools, coupled with the fact that Residents retain the IP rights to the content they build inworld, have enabled Second Life Residents to make Second Life a leading hub of user-generated content (UGC) and the largest user-generated virtual goods economy in the world. The unique content Residents create and sell in Second Life makes the virtual world a more compelling experience for individuals and a more useful platform for enterprises and educators, as well as providing an entrepreneurial opportunity for content creators who can profit from their creations.
A wide variety of activity makes up the more than 40 million hours Residents spend in Second Life each month. For example, Residents meet and socialize with friends while exploring unique environments, dancing at live music performances, visiting art galleries, learning new languages, sailing the virtual seas, and building new creations. Entrepreneurs around the globe have built successful businesses in Second Life, selling their virtual goods and services to others and earning real profits. Hundreds of universities and real world businesses, including many of the Fortune 500, are using Second Life as a platform for learning and training, meetings and events, and collaboration and prototyping.
"These metrics give a sense of some key aspects of Second Life – the deeply engaging nature of the 3D world, the immense use of Second Life as a communications platform, and the scale and strength of the economy based on the huge number of unique virtual goods users are creating," said Mark Kingdon, CEO, Linden Lab. "These numbers are a snapshot of the success of Second Life and its Residents today, and a validation of Linden Lab's leadership in the virtual worlds space, but there's much more to come. This is a year of renovation for Second Life, and we're well positioned for reinvigorating our growth in 2010 with a range of strategic initiatives that will enhance the experience for existing Residents and propel our expansion with new users."
About Second Life and Linden Lab
Developed and launched by Linden Lab in 2003, Second Life is the world's leading 3D virtual world environment. It enables its Residents to create content, interact with others, launch businesses, collaborate, educate, and more. Since its inception, Second Life Residents have logged more than one billion user hours and generated more than USD1 billion in user-to-user transactions. With a broad user base that includes everyone from consumers and educators to medical researchers and large enterprises, Second Life has become one of the largest hubs of user-generated content and the largest user-generated virtual goods economy in the world.
Linden Lab, founded in 1999 by Chairman of the Board Philip Rosedale and headquartered in San Francisco, develops revolutionary technologies that change the way people communicate, interact, learn and create. Privately held and profitable, Linden Lab is led by CEO Mark Kingdon, and has more than 300 employees spread across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
Media Contacts:
LEWIS PR for Linden Lab
Tel: (415) 992-4434
secondlifeus@lewispr.com