10:23AM 11th Aug 2010
The Business Opportunity
Here is an opportunity to own your very own kids virtual world “Planet Soccer Live” based around the number one sport in the world….Soccer. It is the only virtual world of its kind for kids in existence. Virtual worlds are now by far the most popular form of online gaming for kids/tweens and increasingly adults. Total membership of virtual worlds as of the second quarter of 2009 grew to 579 million. That combined with the most watched and celebrated sport in the world from kids to adults provides a great opportunity to capitalise in this market.
I have been working on this project for approximately 2 years. After designing the basic concept I hired a web development company in the UK to look into the technical practicalities of the product and build the application. The end product was everything we visualised it to be and more. The feedback we have received from users is nothing short of astounding. We have users playing Planet Soccer from all over the globe including the UK, USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia and many more.
Planet Soccer Live is an exciting, fun and safe virtual world for kids. .Players can create their very own soccer star and interact in the game by completing 50 different level challenges which award the player different Badges from Rookie to International Player status.
Players can also socialize, interact, go shopping, collect trading cards, custom design their own pad, personalize their own character and play a variety of single player and multi player games. Playing games earns you Soccer Dollars which enable you to go shopping for soccer kits, haircuts, furniture for your 'pad', boots, emoticons and chat phrases, soccer balls and many other accessories. Players can safely chat with each other and use emoticons. Our site is 100% safe and is endorsed by Kidzui.
For parents some of the key benefits for kids is to gain social skills, actively learn about the global sport of soccer and the importance of responsibly looking after ones health and fitness. By earning and spending Soccer Dollars, Planet Soccer Live teach kids money management which is an important life skill.
The site is fully integrated with Facebook so when users play games or complete levels they can post their results which is a great way to virally spread the product. Users also have the ability to join the Planet Soccer Live fan page from within the game which also provides a great medium to keep in contact with members. The fan page is linked to a Twitter account which has a solid base of followers.
The site is currently marketed on a number of gaming sites which include primarygames.com, mimogames.com, myfootballgamesco.uk and onlinesoccergames.com to name a few.
Revenue Streams
There are many potential income streams that can be generated through Planet Soccer. These include;
* Premium signup memberships where users can elect to sign up on monthly recurring basis, six monthly or yearly. Users in the UK also have the option to pay by mobile, however this can easily be rolled out to a long list of other countries as the infrastructure has already been setup.
There is huge potential to harness this payment method as a majority of kids/tweens now own their own mobile phones. Paying by mobile is a much easier method of payment comparing with credit / debit card. As the mobile payment facility is setup there is also the opportunity to receive income from micropayments ie kids purchase virtual items (e.g. clothes, soccer dollars, accessories and other virtual items etc).
* Advertising
* In the future there is potential to capitalise on selling Planet Soccer merchandise based on Marley the mascot
Although the site is fully built and been up and running for sometime I haven't been able to dedicate the time necessary to market the product to the degree it requires due to the commitment required for other business ventures.
We are looking to sell between 90-100% of the website (based on cost to build the site only) to an investor who is willing and passionate to take on the project. We have a solid member base and daily traffic to the site.