MMOG Subscription Chart Updated
Thanks to the folks at GameGirlAdvance for pointing to Bruce Sterling Woodcock's newest update of his MMOG subscription chart. This update has newer subscription numbers for many of the MMOG leaders, and has added games such as EverQuest: OA, Shadowbane, EVE Online, and Star Wars Galaxies to the chart, commenting that the recent market shows "...the market competition is fierce and the cannibalization of subscribers is now clearly evident... [but] there is still possibility for large success, as the more recent launches of Ragnarok Online in Japan and Star Wars Galaxies have shown."
"PlanetSide (Confidence Rating: D)
Launched in April 2003, Sony has yet to release any subscription figures for PlanetSide, and I lack any data to make a good estimate. http://planetside.station.sony.com"
Yeah, well PlanetSide's stability and technical support is a joke - not to mention that they're still working out the gameplay itself.
Everquest, on the other hand, has (for the most part) been stable for years now. Despite how many bitch about EQ's terrible service, after playing for two years I can sincerely say it's a pretty solid game.
Plans call for massivly upgrading the game and starting to advertise it. Something that hasn't been done in almost 5 years. Expect free trial accounts to come out in the next month or two. Check in if you want to experience some good old classic MMORPG.
The Realm Online
Calmiche,
Anarchy Online shares some of the same themes as SWG, if players were going to leave one game to join another this would probably be the one.
There's been some discussion of this on the AO boards. From what I hear, SWG is too buggy and requires too much sit-around-and-wait time compared to AO for the players who post there to switch.
Of course, we'll have to wait and look at the numbers. Also, AO is releasing an expansion this month, that might keep a few would-be-switchers to stick around.
Too bad that AO got off to such a rough start. The game is stable and fairly deep now. The SW license doesn't mean much to me, I plan on sticking around at AO for a while.