500 Million Reasons To Write An MMO
Western MMO Market worth more than £500-million annually
A new Screen Digest report claims that the Western market for Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games is worth over $1-billion (approx £500-million), and that the UK and Germany are both set to experience even more rapid growth in the number of new MMO players.
The bulk of this revenue (87%) is made up from subscriptions, with US subs totalling $576-million (approx £292-million) and Euro subs generating a cool $299-million (approx £150-million) in 2006.
Unsurprisingly, World of Warcraft currently accounts for the bulk of this income.
“Over the [next] five year period, Germany will remain the largest subscription market in Europe, followed by the UK,” claims the report.
Piers Harding-Rolls, the author of the report, adds, “During the past few years the Western landscape for massively multiplayer online games has become increasingly fragmented following the introduction of new genres of games including social networking, virtual pet rearing and virtual world building titles. These new games and platforms have brought with them many new gamers and also new business models that are generating revenue that is largely incremental to the incumbent subscription business.”
This WoW-powered news must be music to the ears of the Lord of the Rings Online team up at Codemasters this morning. We spoke with its PR manager earlier today, and we’re awaiting a perfectly formed, on the record, response.
The bulk of this revenue (87%) is made up from subscriptions, with US subs totalling $576-million (approx £292-million) and Euro subs generating a cool $299-million (approx £150-million) in 2006.
Unsurprisingly, World of Warcraft currently accounts for the bulk of this income.
“Over the [next] five year period, Germany will remain the largest subscription market in Europe, followed by the UK,” claims the report.
Piers Harding-Rolls, the author of the report, adds, “During the past few years the Western landscape for massively multiplayer online games has become increasingly fragmented following the introduction of new genres of games including social networking, virtual pet rearing and virtual world building titles. These new games and platforms have brought with them many new gamers and also new business models that are generating revenue that is largely incremental to the incumbent subscription business.”
This WoW-powered news must be music to the ears of the Lord of the Rings Online team up at Codemasters this morning. We spoke with its PR manager earlier today, and we’re awaiting a perfectly formed, on the record, response.
Companies:
Blizzard Codemasters
Games: The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar World of Warcraft
Games: The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar World of Warcraft