And the most popular European country for virtual worlds is……

Here’s some analysis showing what we call ‘The Virtual World Multiplier’. This is a metric that compares the total number of cumulative registered accounts against the total addressable market of virtual world users and potential users. We have data on a per age and per country basis for both these variables.

The Multiplier can be used to assess the relative popularity of virtual worlds between countries and the individual ages of users within them. A high multiplier is created by a combination of factors such as:

• High proportion of the addressable market already playing in virtual worlds
• Users having accounts in more than virtual world
• Users having more than one account in a virtual world

Users creating accounts in more than world can indicate a high awareness of virtual worlds in general and a willingness to explore new ones. Users having more than one account in a virtual world is an indication of retention and repeat visits. These three factors combined produce a score that indicates the relative popularity.

The Multiplier is a tool we use when assisting our clients with territory planning – deciding which markets to focus user acquisition into. It’s particularly useful for assessing emerging markets such as South America and Asia.

The full dataset (30+ countries and individual age-centric datapoints from the ages of 4 to 13) can be requested via .

Here’s a sample chart showing the European multiplier for the combined ages of five to 13. Interestingly (and surprisingly for some), Sweden has the highest Multiplier in Europe – assisted strongly by Stardoll, as well as good take-up from non-Swedish worlds such as Moshi Monsters and Club Penguin.

Perhaps unsurprinsgly the UK comes in at second place. Moshi obviously assists this metric, as do other companies such as Fight My Monsters and Bin Weevils. Multiplier aside, the UK has one of the highest country ARPPU’s in the world as well as well above average paying user converison rates.