MMORPG Columns
The Free Zone
Richard Aihoshi has been writing about MMOGs since the mid-1990s, always with a global perspective. He has observed the emergence and growth of the free to play business model from its early days in both hemispheres. This column runs each Monday.
Pop quiz. Which title generated the most revenue for NCsoft in 2013? As I noted last time, February is always an informative month for those of us who like to follow the state of the global MMOG industry because it's when various publicly traded publishers report their Q4 and full year financials. So, we now know that the answer to our question was not, as many here in North America might have guessed, Guild Wars 2.
'Tis the season for 2013 fourth quarter and full year financial reporting, which means we can update ourselves as to how various publishers and their key titles fared during these periods. It's an unfortunate fact of life that game companies dislike making their numbers more transparent than necessary. That said, a little data mining can often be edifying and interesting. Last week learned about World of Warcraft, and from elsewhere, about the Russian market.
Research company SuperData recently released a list of the top 10 F2P games based on their estimated worldwide revenue last year. Not surprisingly, the top position was occupied by CrossFire, which is said to have brought in a cool $957 million. Depending on how this figure was sourced, is it possible that the MMO shooter from SmileGate and Tencent may actually have surpassed the $1 billion mark?
It isn't difficult at all to find predictions that this year will be a very good or even a great one for the subscription MMOG segment. For the most part, this thinking seems to be fueled by the impending arrivals of two high-profile titles. The more prominent of the pair is Zenimax' The Elder Scrolls Online, which brings one of the game industry's premier properties into the massively multiplayer space that has undoubtedly consumed hundreds of millions of dollars.
With 2014 a few short hours away, it's time for our annual speculation about the coming year. The Free Zone today looks ahead at 2014 and offers a few thoughts about what we'd like to see. Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments.
Our latest Free Zone column takes a look at new and assertive steps being made by Webzen to gain a foothold in North America and Europe. See what we discovered and then leave us your own thoughts in the comments.
With this year's GStar 2013 behind us, it's time to take a look back at some of the annual event's highlights in this week's Free Zone. Read on to see what shook the game world at GStar before heading to the comments.
One of the things we like to do with The Free Zone is take a look at all of the news surrounding the MMO genre. In our latest column, we do just that, checking out market growth, Trion's Trove and much more. Head through the jump to check it out before leaving your thoughts in the comments.
Free to play is a relatively new phenomenon in the MMO space and it comes complete with growing pains on many levels. In today's Free Zone, we take a look at ways to critique F2P to make it fair and effective. Check it out before leaving your impressions in the comments.
Publishers are often thought of the uber bad boys of the gaming industry, the callous dispassionate tyrants. In our latest Free Zone column, we take a look at that idea. What we think may surprise you. Read on before heading to the comments.
In our latest Free Zone column, we take a look at what may potentially lie ahead for subscriptions. Can we go back to "the way we were" as in the heady early days of MMOs? See what we think and then leave your own ideas in the comments.
With WoW's first decade nearly complete, we begin to speculate what will come next for the fading champion of the MMO space. In today's Free Zone, we opine about a few things we think could happen. See what we think before letting us know your own thoughts in the comments.
An often overlooked aspect of the MMO market in today's world is the Chinese market, one that is vital and enormous. In today's Free Zone, we take a look at the Chinese game community and what it means in game development. Check it out before heading to the comments to talk about it.
In today's Free Zone, we take a look at the recent spate of announcements by several game studios that upcoming titles such as WildStar and Elder Scrolls Online will feature subscription-based revenue models. Check out our thoughts on the subject before leaving your ideas in the comments.
With last month's earnings report, the world learned a thing or two about Blizzard's Titan, most notably that it will not be a subscription-based title like its elder sibling, World of Warcraft. In today's Free Zone, we take a look at that tidbit of news and offer a few thoughts. Check it out!