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MMOG Subscriptions Update
As he does every few months, SirBruce has updated his page detailing Massively Multiplayer Online Game subscription numbers. No major additions this time around, just some minor tweaks reflecting recent trends. FFXI is way up, with EQ taking a slight dip. No data on EQ2 is included yet. For slightly cynical further analysis, Anyuzer provides us with his opinions.
Yeah, no shit that FFXI would be "way up." They just finally got their asses around to releasing the European version of the game. So finally, three years after the original release, European players can play.
Except it to drop massively by the end of next month as the people still playing it to waste time until EQ2 and WoW cancel their accounts.
I remember the Realm Online, that game has been around for ages, one of the first graphical ones ever released, initially by Sierra, and it's still around. I find it interesting from the Q&A from the Cities of Heroes put on the front page of slashdot earlier (I don't feel like linking) states there are no "blockbuster" MMORPG, and in the graph it shows Lineage at the highest currently, with over 2.25 mil.
Lineage? How can this game be so popular? I've played it...I've played it again...I just don't get it.
Yes yes yes, it's huge in Korea...that's always thrown at us, Korea. Every man, woman and child in Korea playes MMORPG's since the day they're born blah blah blah. I get that. But Korea doesn't have any other game to play there? I mean, are they forced to play this or something?
Ok, this isn't a troll, it really isn't. Do people here play that game and if so, what is the draw for you? Just because I don't get it doesn't mean someone else doesn't.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
With Everquest2 already out, World of Warcraft coming out on the 23erd and The Matrix Online coming out on 1/18/05 the old leaders in the MMORPG genre are going to start to slip, EQ's dip is only the beginning of a major shakeup in the MMORPG market.
**insert favorite profound quotation here**
The combat revamp was delayed by the JTL expansion. While JTL isn't perfect, they did manage to essentially add a second complete game to SWG, integrating it very well with those who don't have the expansion. The most interesting thing about JTL is how it has drastically altered the economy. Prior to JTL resources were selling for about 1 credit per unit, now the resources needed for making ships are going for as high as 10-15 credits per unit. This is happening on all servers and is confirmed by reading the shipwright profession forum.
JTL's ship combat is FPS like Tachyon or Starlancer or similar. It's pretty nice compared to the turn-based combat on the ground. What they've done for higher-level pilots are extra ship skills. There are also different levels of responsiveness for ships and ship components, altering things like energy regeneration and rate of fire. It doesn't change the FPS feel, but not everyone fights at the same level. It is now not just natural ability but also how good the gear is that you can put together for your ship.
In Seoul this fall, I visited a good number of their very cool "PC Rooms" (pronounced "PC bong" ... lol). I was determined to find out the Lineage - Korea Connection !! Gotta admit first this might not be the whole story because some of the details were lost in the language barrier. Yeah, it's true, Lineage is big-time popular there. However, I think I discovered at least part of the reason behind the popularity. Apparently, entering one's Korean ID number (might not have been a national ID number, maybe tied to a phone number?) unlocked one free Lineage / Lineage II account. As much as I wanted to play, no one had any idea how a westerner without this ID number could register on the Korean Lineage servers, and I tried about four crowded "PC Rooms" with the same results. One guy actually let me register with their unused ID number saying he was never planning to use his Lineage II account. Although a weird server problem kept it from working, I got to see the whole registration process, and it was remarkably unobtrusive (no immediate questions about credit cards, home telephone numbers, next of kin... American companies, are you listening?). While I don't think the game is entirely free to Koreans, I do think Lineage makes it very easy for Koreans to get started maybe offering an automatic free month or so. Even still, consider these regular players are walking out of their apartments down to the "PC Room" (generally one per two/three blocks sometimes more or less). It was surprising finding at even 7 AM Saturday there were people down there racking up XPs online!
Of course it is just a play style but it is one that is not there in the korean games.
At least not with korean players. At a previous job we had some contact with asian companies and I got to know 2 geeks who were into ragnarok. They were rather amazed at the way westerners played it. All solo and not chatting just bend on leveling up.
To them these games are far more social afairs. Kinda like how some people play bridge or whatever. Not as a serious competition but as just something to do while they chat.
Think IRC with pictures.
Most games can be done like that. You got people who play bingo and turn it into a party and you got people killing each other because the other shouted bingo to early.
Some men go fishing as an excuse to sleep during the day away from the wife. Others throw stones at watersporters.
If I read some of the reviews of EQ2 and WoW (and seen the way some people play SWG) then I almost feel they are playing a solo Diablo/Baldur gates style game with online ladder/ranking system.
It is not that lineage or ragnarok can't be played in the same way. It is just that its rather simple nature also lends itself more easily to chat while playing it.
For some reason checkers or monopoly is more often a fun game played for playing with others then chess. Perhaps party games need to be simpler.
If you are playing in a nice group then lineage and ragnarok can be fun. If the more solo style play does it for you then the western games offer more. Wich is better? Neither, both are multiplayer games but the motivation for you wanting to play multiplayer might make you choose one or the other.
Oh and think about this. More people are playing korean RPG's with all their horrible western support then are playing ALL western games. Perhaps they got something right.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
EQ2 seems to be doing well out of the starting blocks. Something like 300k toons created already (and there's a limit of 4 per account, which means there are at least 75k subscribers and maybe 150k).
/shrug
Will it be the runaway success that EQ1 is?
It's only the second week after launch. Most reviews and word-of-mouth are positive. So far it's been a pretty clean launch with only minor cosmetic bugs found in the game. The beta testers seem to have done a good job, at least with the starting content. They're on a daily patch cycle during the first few weeks, but I haven't seen anything major changed.
Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
I can't create data points out of thin air! I can only graph data points as companies release them or I get them secretly from a reliable source. I'd love to have precise figures on a monthly basis for every MMO out there, but you'll have to convince the companies who make them to do that. I'm just doing the best I can to report the information that is out there.
Bruce