14 DAY TRIAL // A new survey from market research firm Newzoo has found that no less than 47.5 million Americans are playing persistent online games but, although the number is impressive, it is dwarfed by the 120 million players who are engaged in console gaming.
From the total number 12.5 million are engaged in MMOs which have traditional payment models, with the most important of them being the subscription based World of Warcraft from Blizzard.
There's also an segment of about 4.5 million gamers that are both paying subscription for one experience but are also linked to a free to play game.
The large majority are not interested in pay to play titles and are engaged in free to play titles without paying for any virtual items while they are engaged with the games.
Revenue from persistent online games in the United States has reached 2.28 billion dollars, which is 30 percent more than 2009.
In the United Kingdom there are 8.8 million online gamers who have created revenue of 220 million Pounds.
The German market is estimated at 435 million Euro with 10.6 million gamers engaged while in France the sum is 244 million Euro with 8.5 persistent gamers.
When compared to those who game on consoles is not in the advantage of the persistent MMO market but Newzoo says, “Fifty-seven percent of Microsoft Xbox 360 players also play MMOs, 61 percent for the PlayStation 3. More than half of these people also spend money on MMOs, confirming the appeal to the 'core' gaming audience.”
They added, “In Europe, where the free-to-play model is hugely popular, paying MMO gamers are significantly younger.”
The video game industry estimates than more and more gamers will be interested in free to pay experiences, potentially hosted on popular sites like Facebook, in the near future, taking some revenue away from the subscription based market.