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Contact UsA new report from media analysts Screen Digest shows that subscription-based Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs) are now, and are forecast to remain, a lucrative monetization route.
In its new report, “Subscription MMOGs: Life beyond World of Warcraft,” Screen Digest found that the subscription-based MMO games market grew 22% last year.
While 2008 saw subscriptions reach $1.4 billion dollars in North America and Europe alone, the media analyst firm forecasts that figure will grow to more than $21 billion by 2013.
“Industry commentators have for some time been using the example of the Asian online games market to proclaim the death of subscription business models in the West, praising the accessibility and flexibility of free-to-access games that generate revenue by encouraging players to make micro-transactions as part of the gaming experience,” said Piers Harding-Rolls, senior analyst and head of games at Screen Digest.
“Screen Digest has always advocated a mixed model approach for the markets in North America and Europe. Subscriptions remain an important and lucrative way of monetizing MMOGs in the West across all game settings and consumer groups, and the results in 2008 support this view,” he added.
In an interview with Gamasutra’s Simon Carless, Harding-Rolls outlined what he felt were the key drivers of the growth in subscription-based business models, which include Western preferences and existing payment mechanisms.
“It’s also worth mentioning that we believe that low-cost subscription based services are relatively well placed to weather the recession compared to ad-hoc purchasing-based models,” added Harding-Rolls. “While micro-transactions allow gamers to spend unlimited amounts, when people are watching their outgoings the idea of a set monthly fee for a service is likely to be attractive (especially to parents!).”
According to Screen Digest’s report, the 10 most popular subscription-based games, in terms of spending, are:
1) World of Warcraft
2) Club Penguin
3) RuneScape
4) Eve Online
5) Final Fantasy XI
6) The Lord of the Rings Online
7) Dofus
Age of Conan
9) City of Heroes
10) EverQuest II
1 response so far
1 foogooDan ~ Apr 6, 2009 at 9:35 am
Taking the mixed bag approach even further – how about establishing subscription AND free-to-play servers of the same game? That way users could choose how they want to play.
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