14% of Households Have MMO Subscriptions

A study conducted by the NPD Group shows that 14% of American households have a monthly subscription to a MMO, more than ever before. This is happening just as more and more people are renouncing subscriptions to magazines and daily newspapers, showing that digital entertainment is replacing traditional media as the favored form of household entertainment.

American households are also spending more on getting content delivered to their homes, with the media reaching 115 dollars per capita, a seven percent increase over the same period last year. It seems that the increase is due to the fact that more people are getting access to things like broadband Internet services, satellite radio and fiber optic delivered television services.

The fact that both MMO subscriptions and amounts of dollars paid for home delivered content are rising during an economic recession shows that people tend to limit expenses made while going out and focus on entertainment that has a high value per dollar and can be enjoyed by the whole family.

In contrast, subscriptions to newspapers have declined by 2% to 29 percent of the population while magazines have fallen by the same amount to reach 41%. Russ Crupnick, who is an analyst of the entertainment industry for the NPD Group, said that “Despite concerns that the recession would cause consumers to reduce spending on entertainment subscription services, most forms of subscription entertainment are doing just fine.”

With World of Warcraft from Blizzard continuing to go and with BioWare getting ready to release The Old Republic, a MMO based on the very popular property of Star Wars, the number of households that have subscriptions to online games will probably continue to grow into 2010 and in about five years, we might see more American households playing MMOs monthly rather than picking up a magazine from their postal box.