Report: Most MMO Players Are Interested in Free-to-Play Experiences

A new report called the MMO Games Market Report from analysis firm Newzoo is showing that most of the MMO players in the United States are playing browser based experiences while also spending money on client based experiences.

The report also shows that 47 percent of all MMO spending on the United States market, which is estimated to have reached a value of 1.2 billion dollars (888.5 million Euro), is linked to free-to-play titles, which is a significant increase over the 39% registered in 2010.

Experiences that do not ask for money upfront are even more popular in Europe, Asia and emergent countries, where more than 50 percent of gamers prefer them to traditional MMOs.

Newzoo says that United States gamers spend more than 26 million hours during every day and the extra time means that more money is spent on MMOs.

Peter Warman, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Newzoo, stated, “The MMO games market is rapidly turning global. It has become increasingly important for MMO developers and publishers to think carefully about which titles to publish in what territories and how to adapt the games according to local preferences, including monetization models that work best.”

He added, “Recent lay-offs and the sudden death of Lego Universe are serious warnings for the MMO games industry. Success will also strongly depend on how MMO companies extend their unique gameplay and IP across other game platforms, specifically mobile.”

iQu, an online game consulting firm, has said that Riot Games' League of Legends is the fastest growing game in North America, Wargaming’s World of Tanks holds the same title for Europe while Aeria Games' Shaiya is getting ready to dominate Latin America.

The free-to-play model has again been credence lately with the switch made by DC Universe Online, which led to 120,000 new players in about two days and such an increase in concurrent players that the company needed to expand the game infrastructure.