VIRTUAL WORLDS MANAGEMENT REPORT:  150+ YOUTH-ORIENTED VIRTUAL WORLDS NOW LIVE OR DEVELOPING, UP FROM 100 WORLDS IN APRIL 2008

AUSTIN, TX - August 22, 2008 - Virtual Worlds Management (VWM), the leading media company tracking the virtual worlds industry, has announced the latest findings of its analysis of Youth-oriented virtual worlds. Based on comprehensive research available through VWM's Virtual Worlds News,  there are now over 150 virtual worlds operating or in development with a focus on the youth market (18-and-under). That's up from just over 100 in April. This does not include products still in stealth mode. The news comes in advance of the second annual Virtual Worlds Expo taking place September 3-4 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The complete list, including the operational status, demographic focus and detailed news coverage on each virtual world can be found online at http://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/2008/youthworlds0808.html .

In all there are 95 youth worlds currently live. Another 68 are in concepting, development, or testing phases. That's up from 53 in development in April. The demographic breakdowns have stayed relatively the same as our April 2008 study. While many worlds target a wide range of demographics (sometime as broad as '5 to 18'), there are clear leaders. As in April the tween category (here looked at as 8 to 12) leads with 88 worlds live or in development (up from 62 in April), followed closely by kids worlds (7 and under) with 72 worlds (up from 52 in April) and then teens (13-18 years old) with 60 worlds (up from 44 in April). Those that overlap are counted twice, once in each category.

"As younger users continue to grow, one of two things will happen, said Joey Seiler, Editor of VirtualWorldsNews.com and the author of the report. "We'll either see a boom of interest in developing virtual worlds for the teen and older sets as we already have for the younger generation, or we'll see the demographics of these youth worlds trend upward in age while other worlds rush in to fill the space at the bottom for the new young users."

About Virtual Worlds Management

Virtual Worlds Management is the leading provider of trade events and media for the emerging virtual worlds industry.  Virtual Worlds Management provides comprehensive media and events including Virtual Worlds Expo (September 3-4, 2008 in Los Angeles), Virtual Worlds London (October 20-21, 2008) and Engage! Expo Conference (March 10-11, 2009 in New York). The company also publishes the Virtual Worlds Weekly email newsletter and the daily VirtualWorldsNews.com blog. More information about Virtual Worlds Management can be found at http://www.VirtualWorldsManagement.com .

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Tim Williams
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