what is a virtual good 
a virtual good is an intangible asset that is traded in a virtual economy such as in online games virtual goods are by definition nonphysical their value is determined solely by what users are willing to pay for them the market for virtual goods has experienced exponential growth in recent years spurred by the growing popularity of social media platforms understanding virtual goodsto those unfamiliar with the phenomenon of virtual goods it may be difficult to understand how companies are able to charge significant sums of money for assets that have no presence in the real world nevertheless their popularity is undeniable in 2012 the popular online game farmville published by zynga inc znga generated over 1 billion in revenue from the sale of virtual goods 2 more recently the free to play video game fortnite sold 1 billion worth of virtual goods in 2018 3 globally recent estimates for annual virtual goods revenues have totaled over 52 billion 1 one way of understanding the popularity of virtual goods is by viewing them not as a product but as a service this is because for their customers they enhance and improve the experience of the game or community in which they spend their time this is especially clear considering that many of the games in which virtual goods are most popular are in fact free to play meaning the decision to purchase virtual goods is truly voluntary yet despite their popularity virtual goods do come with unique challenges because of their virtual nature virtual goods can be lost due to hacking or technical glitches likewise their legal status can become unclear especially when several layers of historical transactions are involved many platforms have sought to encrypt virtual goods transactions in order to protect against these risks real world example of a virtual goodin the years ahead it is likely that the line differentiating physical goods from virtual goods will begin to blur indeed this process has already begun in china the practice of trading virtual goods for physical ones became so widespread that the chinese government had to ban the practice in 2009 4 likewise zynga inc announced in march 2012 that it had launched a partnership with frito lay whereby buyers of frito lay chips would find coupon codes for virtual goods redeemable inside their games virtual economies 5 it is also likely that the total size of the virtual goods market will continue to surge driven by the growth of online gaming this will likely increase demand for avatars power ups and other in game items through in app purchases which are being made increasingly convenient by app developers there is likely to also be increased demand for items that impart prestige to users or are otherwise rare for example a user of the online science fiction game entropia universe paid 330 000 in 2009 for a virtual space station 