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Mmogchart.com Updated to 20.0
SirBruce writes "Mmogchart.com has been updated to Version 20.0! This is a major update, with updated numbers for many games, most notably World of Warcraft, Eve Online, RuneScape, and most of NCSoft's titles. I've also added three new MMOGs to the tracking data: Tibia, The Matrix Online, and Dungeons & Dragons Online. I've also removed the old subscriber data for Ragnarok Online in Japan, and unified the various total subscriptions charts. Also new to this update is preliminary market data for Asian MMOGs (including Ragnarok Online) that are commonly reported in terms of Peak Concurrent Users and Average Concurrent Users. Given the differences in pricing models, many of these games are not subscription-based, so a direct comparison with subscription MMOGs cannot be made. My thanks to everyone who helped with this update, and thanks to those of you who waited patiently for this update!"
It's pretty amazing that WOW has 50% of the total MMOG market share. Blizzard must be rolling in cash.
-gjr
It's like looking at a fantasy painting. A storybook illustration. All pretty and soft and pastel. Every other MMORPG screenshot I've seen is harsh and gritty and unappealing compared to the smooth pretty of WOW.
And it also got big enough that it has the social network effect. Wanna try one of these MMORPGs you keep hearing about? You probably want to play one your friends are on! They'll help you out and you can play with them.
egypt urnash minimal art.
I believe WoW fills that incredible void of coming home with nothing to do after a hard day of work and it does it better then the others. Besides, most WoW are former Evercrack addicts anyway. ;)
My guess is that it's one of the first MMOGs to not punish the player for doing ordinary things. I remember the horror stories from EQ were people would lose weeks of progress each time they died, and then would die a few more times trying to get their uberloot corpses back. The people I know who left WoW went to "harder" games, such as EQ2, since they couldn't fathom playing a game that didn't try to screw you over at every turn.
"Friends"? What the hell are "friends"? They seem like something I'd be interested in. Where can I get some of these "friends"? Are they available at the local drugstore?
Seriously though, the few friends that I have aren't interested in MMORPGs. I "meet" plenty of other players in-game though. Sure I don't "really" know them, and they don't "really" know me, but they recognize my character.
I hate this type of post because it's pointless. Of course many people consider WOW the worst because it's very popular. Every single person is unique and to make a game that appeals to everyone is impossible. What one person might find fun another might hate. What you find boring another finds interesting. There is nothing wrong with that and that is why there are so many genres of games.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
"Yes, I played it, yes, I was bored stiff after 3 months."
Ppff. That's not a problem with the game per say, it's a problem with the genre. One I share, in fact. I've played quite a number of MMO's, and I find that they ALL get extremely boring, it's just a matter of how soon. I've given up on ever finding a MMO that isn't a complete waste of time and money.
Quite frankly, I think that if we want to see the relization of the persistent virtual world, we desperatly need to grow beyond these immature fantasy romps.
So tell me why, in case you enjoy the game. I really wish to know what makes WoW interesting. What is better than in the "other" MMORPGs? What makes WoW to something that deserves a 50+% market share?
I like it because it's straightforward. There's not a lot of non-game activity required to play the game. The quests are straightforward, the game mechanics are straightforward, the class roles are straightforward. For the vast majority of the content, you either can do it on your own or can find a group within a few minutes by barking up the appropriate tree. I don't have to deal with idiotic guild politics and teen-aged angst, I don't have to deal with planning out my skill progression, I don't have to research where the best equipment is. I can do it all without all that junk.
On the other hand, the game does have those elements to it, but they're optional. For people who want to form guilds and take down huge monsters and collect phat loot, they can do that, and have a good time at it. I don't want to, and the game works well for me; other people want to, and the game works well for them.
Overall, I think that's what it has going for it. The game caters to basically all gaming styles.
The main draw that other people have mentioned is that with so many people playing, it's easier to get an impression of the game before you start playing. Also, odds are that if you're interesting in starting WoW, you know someone who's been playing for a while and might be willing to toss you a few gold and invite you to join their guild. The main reason I play WoW instead of a different MMORPG is because I had many friends and relatives that played WoW as opposed to the one person I knew who played Ragnarok Online.
;P):
Another draw of WoW is the lore. Say what you will about those "paladins from space" the Draenei, but on the whole what keeps me coming back is the continuation of the lore that began in the first Warcraft.
Note that these two factors have little or nothing to do with actual gameplay. WoW isn't an excellent game in itself (especially when compared to other MMORPGS), but through marketing and by fostering a sizable, devoted community Blizzard has ensured a steady and increasing subscriber base.
All of this said, I do have a couple of gripes with WoW (no WoW post is complete without gripes, right?
-Crafting needs to be overhauled to allow customization; not only should blacksmiths and such be able to change the appearance of their creations to a degree but they should also be able to affect the bonuses an item gives. The higher the crafter's skill, the more bonuses can be stacked on the item. Jewelcrafting and socketed items are nice, but not good enough.
-Corpse runs. I realize there needs to be a token penalty for dying, and not dinging the player's experience is a good idea, but just rezzing after a few minutes would be better than manually having to guide your ghost back to your corpse.
Besides, most WoW are former Evercrack addicts anyway.
Let's look closely at that chart for a moment. Everquest's subscription numbers from July 2001 till July 2004 is a nice, straight line hovering at just under 500k subscribers, with a slight bump right before WoW was released. WoW, by contrast, started at zero during September 2004, and has basically taken a straight line path up to 6.5 million today.
I would say that that indicates that WoW subscribers are coming from somewhere other than Everquest. In my time in WoW, I've only met one person who said he had played EQ before; most everyone else either played something else (myself, FFXI and Puzzle Pirates before WoW) or had not played MMOs at all before WoW.
I agree that WoW fills the after work void better than other games do. Not counting endgame content, you can log in to WoW, play for a half hour, and log off, and feel that you've done something useful with your time. You don't have to commit an entire evening, you don't have to spam "LFG" for hours and hours because there are other things to do, and you don't have to spend an hour waiting for a boat to arrive at a port so you can get from one island to another. *cough*Vanguard*cough*
Perhaps WoW is not "hardcore" or "immersive," but if you really wanted the true immersive, realistic experience that has been mentioned by those who long for hard grinds and wait times, you could walk (don't drive) to the nearest forest, wait for a squirrel or rabbit to run by, whack it with a shovel, and then walk back to your house. That's as immersive as immersive gets.
Why are you people so desperate for attention? It's not enough to be the enlightened minority, your insecurity has you constantly challenging the majority to defend their "inferior" taste. God, the anti-WoW baiters are worse than the Digg whiners.
But do you really want to know why it works? Aside from the detailed backstory, extensible user interface, well-defined gameplay mechanics, and superior art and music - it's because you can jump. It has the feel of a first-person shooter with the controls of an RTS.
Guild Wars is just freakin' Diablo with a rotatable view, and you're still glued to the ground. Eve Online is nothing but a crappy space flight simulator for accountants.
It's because they're free. From the FAQ -
1. Why isn't listed?
There are four main reasons why a particular game isn't listed in the charts:
a) The game in question isn't really a MMOG, at least by my reckoning. Games like Diablo II and Phantasy Star Online fall into this category. Guild Wars developers say in their own FAQ that they do not consider their game a MMOG; in addition, it doesn't charge a monthly fee (see below). Please don't email me trying to insist otherwise; I'm not likely to be convinced.
b) The game in question is free and/or doesn't charge a regular monthly fee. Games like Furcadia, Magic: the Gathering Online, and Project Entropia are good examples; these games are normally free to play, but some players can also pay a variable amount to access additional content in the game. This makes it almost impossible to come up with a number comparable to monthly subscribers in other games.
c) The game in question is too small to chart. This would include games like A Tale in the Desert, Blade Mistress, Gemstone IV, and Meridian 59. In the past, I've been reluctant to chart games below about 10,000 subscribers, mainly because they made the charts very crowded, and it was not my goal to list every game that came along. Still, I have made exceptions for some smaller games that are making an impact, and it is possible that in the future more of the smaller MMOGs will be represented - but only if I get data for them.
d) I don't currently have good data for the game in question. This is the most likely reason why a MMOG you are looking for is not listed. This includes many foreign MMOGs that don't provide subscriber data, as well as newer games like Auto Assault. These games are certainly popular, but I simply do not have access to monthly subscription figures at this time. If you have any data on these or other games not listed, feel free to drop me a line!
The chart looked about as I expected: World of Warcraft towers above the rest while several other MMOs lose ground. But what I didn't expect to see is that WoW's gains are significantly higher than its competitors' losses. World of Warcraft is doing more than dominating the market--it's increasing the size of the market.
I'm interested to see whether those gamers will move to other MMO games after World of Warcraft or if they're only in it for WoW.
One very important thing to note is that the last data point for a ton of the games on his list is June 2005 -- one example being Everquest 2.
The other thing to note is tabulating subscribers. In some of the Asian markets (can't tell you which ones in specific as I just looked this up myself) the Internet Game Rooms are very popular. You go in and buy an account that you then add points to on an hourly basis. Anyone who logs into one of those is counted for seven full days afterward by Blizzard as a paying subscriber. I'm sure there's lots of people who don't spend $15 American monthly on World of Warcraft but are counted as equal subscribers among their monthly-account-paying European and American brethren. Just as a reference it's about $3.73 to buy an account that you can spend points on and it costs a nickel an hour after that for gametime in WoW China, as per a Blizzard press release and Google's money translation calculator.
It's interesting to see what the Asian market means in terms of body count, but it makes me wonder what the relative revenue situations are like.
##warning this post is from a Eve-online fanboy##
WoW sucked up a ton of my time the last couple of years. I know enough about the game, I think, to give you a basic idea of why some people claim it's so awesome, and others (including me) think it's not that great.
Here are 4 points that WoW has going for it. Then, in italics, purely opinion on my part.
1. First of all, the game is dang easy to learn. The first ten levels of the game are nice and slow, in a protected environment, giving you plenty of time to learn your character. It does a great job of giving you a purpose, a little story, and just enough reward to hook you on the "I need more phat lewtz" idea. In other words "instant gratification".
This is the biggest reason that WoW got so popular. Anyone can sit down and play it. It was a nice change for the genre being able to start having fun without needing to "work for it". Many older MMO nerds will tell you, however, that having to work for something makes your accomplishment that much sweeter. This will be a unending battle between WoW fanbois and the rest of us. That said, this one huge attribute of WoW made Blizzard rich(er)
2. You can get something accomplished in a small amount of time. The trip to level cap is great fun. You can always log in, do something meaningful, and be done in 45 minutes if you like. Caters to the casual gamer.
This works great until the endgame. see point 4
3. No harsh death penalties You lose nothing if you die. No XP debt, no money, no items. Only a little time and a blow to your pride. In this way you are always making progress. It's a very friendly game to everyone, at least in theory. I point to the battlegrounds as a reference. Absolutely no way to lose anything by joining a battleground. If you lose, you still make progress.
People who have only played WoW will tell you how much of a turnoff death penalties would be to them, if they were to think about another game. I think this is unfortunate. Having something to loose when seeking to gain makes nearly everything that you do a lot more interesting. I'm not going to go on about it (you can find many reasons why many people like death penalties from any whiner in a developing game's forums) but I want to point out that people can just as easily ruin your fun. But in WoW, there's hardly anything you can do about it. blah blah death penalties actually reduce ganking blah blah.
4. Raiding Endgame Getting together with 40 people in the game and taking down bosses for items is the tried and true MMORPG way of keeping people subscribed. Frankly, it can be fun.
You almost HAVE to raid once you hit 60 in WoW. First of all, it's nearly all of the content that gets added. Second, WoW is so item-centric that you can't even have fun in the battlegrounds against people who raid. This is a complete turnaround from the 1-60 trip. You join a big guild, do the same raids week after week, each requiring a substancial time commitment. We're talking 4-7 hours here. It's not the same game.
Because of this, people end up rerolling (starting a new character) and/or not really even talking to people outside their guild. It's wierd. The same "hardcore" people that complain that WoW sucks, are the same people that the game caters to at the end. It's addicting though, I admit to that.
The first big slide for SWG players on that chart is Aug-Sept 2004, which predates the release of the CU by seven or eight months. The second dive (after the short level period) is pretty close to the time the CU got released. The downward slope doesn't really change much after that, so it could be said the NGE had no effect on subscriber numbers, either positively or negatively. The game was already into its death spiral.
...believing this guys numbers. yeah, some of them may be accurate. Blizzard has been tooting their horn with their subscription numbers. But, I've been playing Star Wars Galaxies since the beginning back in 2003 and there is no way they currently have just under 200,000 subscribers. The number of subscribers has the be half or even 3/4 of what it was in it's peak. So, I know that number to be just wrong. What other numbers are just wrong? EverQuest still has 400,000 subscribers???
I'm not surprised. WoW outbeats all MMOGs in the 'market' simply because it is well written, well designed, very scriptable and fun for players of all sorts. Also the amount of support sites for WoW is staggering. And yes, with 6.5 million subscribers Blizzard is generating a lot of cash. With the paraphernalia and the planned movie it will only increase it's marketshare.
-- Neminem laede, immo omnes, quantum potes, iuva.