The online gaming industry analysts at Screen Digest recently shared some good news and bad news with Western MMO developers. The good? According to their report, the MMO market in Europe and the U.S. increased to $1.6 billion last year, up from $1.4 billion in 2008. However, the average revenue gained per MMO player declined 10 percent over the same time period, with recurring subscriptions pulling in around $13 million in 2009. (That's the bad news.)
This decline, of course, is a result of new business models in the MMO space, such as microtransactions and free-to-play online titles. These new models appear to be shaking things up a bit -- but we suppose as long as that first number keeps going up, the second one can do whatever it likes.
Reader Comments (11)
Posted: Sep 26th 2010 7:40PM Mike DPad said
Meh. I'm not a fan of one of these "free" MMOs. Everquest Extended only allows you to play certain classes, limits to 6 bag slots (2 inv, 2 bank, 2 @ home vault). You can't use the auction house without "broker" credits. Frequent reminder popups nagging you to upgrade.
Ugh, what a headache! Rather pay you a monthly fee and get a quality game, thank you very much.
Ugh, what a headache! Rather pay you a monthly fee and get a quality game, thank you very much.
Posted: Sep 26th 2010 8:35PM Chareth Cutestory said
@Ashitaka
The problem is, his description fits almost every free to play MMO I've ever played, particularly "western" attempts.
At least with the Korean free to play MMOs, you're almost guaranteed a shitty rip off of Lineage 2 with few strings attached and an external real money store.
I tried LOTRO's free to play incarnation for a little while. I kept running in to quests and game features that I needed to visit the "LOTRO Store" to access. Between that and LOTRO being a dim shadow of WoW, I didn't play for too long.
Free to play is an interesting option, these companies need to figure out how to streamline that stuff before it'll be preferable to me.
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The problem is, his description fits almost every free to play MMO I've ever played, particularly "western" attempts.
At least with the Korean free to play MMOs, you're almost guaranteed a shitty rip off of Lineage 2 with few strings attached and an external real money store.
I tried LOTRO's free to play incarnation for a little while. I kept running in to quests and game features that I needed to visit the "LOTRO Store" to access. Between that and LOTRO being a dim shadow of WoW, I didn't play for too long.
Free to play is an interesting option, these companies need to figure out how to streamline that stuff before it'll be preferable to me.
Posted: Sep 26th 2010 7:52PM mrmobius said
LOTRO has got me back into MMOs. I'm happy to say that it hasn't got its claws into me though, and I'm enjoying it casually, as a Tolkien fan, and not an MMO addict. Those years are long gone, and I've more restraint than I had 5 years ago when I quit Runescape.
Posted: Sep 26th 2010 8:03PM PantsParty said
@mrmobius Getting addicted to Runescape is like getting addicted to sniffing paint. Your not cool among your friends, and it's making you dumber every time.
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Posted: Sep 26th 2010 8:14PM SteveoftheGods said
I'm still waiting for FF14 on PS3 before I jump into the MMO craze. I'm really looking forward to it though
Posted: Sep 26th 2010 8:16PM LaughingTarget said
Normal market maturity process, not bad news. It's normal for per-customer revenues to drop over time, but it's typically countered by increased customer volumes which leads to higher profits. Henry Ford didn't care his per customer revenue was only 1/10 of Rolls Joyce when he sold 100 times as many cars.
Posted: Sep 26th 2010 11:58PM Blackbird said
If you haven't tried it yet, Dungeon Fighter is a pretty good free MMO, and it plays like an upgraded old school beat em up with RPG elements, such as leveling up and choosing what new skills to learn. The only things you have to pay for are aesthetic, like avatar costumes.
Posted: Sep 27th 2010 10:51AM Pingles said
A year or so ago you had maybe a dozen MMOs to choose from. Now you have 100+.
With WoW sucking up the majority of that revenue there's very little to distribute among the rest.
With WoW sucking up the majority of that revenue there's very little to distribute among the rest.
Posted: Sep 27th 2010 11:39AM sigma8 said
First number going up, second one going down = commoditization of the market. If I am properly understanding all the whining and complaining from telco and internet companies over net neutrality, that means it'll be harder for anyone to make decent money there.
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