MMOG Subscription Growth, Version 9.0

Malkavian · August 2004

Wow The Sims Online is going down. Lost almost 50,000 subscribers in a under a year leaving 58,000! And here it was one of the most sold out titles worldwide.

- Malkavian

"When you find youself sinking into Madness, dive" - Malkavian Proverb

- MMORPG.COM Staff -
Forum Stalker
Malkavian@mmorpg.com

TaskyZZ · August 2004

So, how does the guy who compiles this list come by the information?

I can't believe these companies are giving it to him freely?!?!

Umbrood · August 2004

Click the "source" link and read trough that, he describes his method pretty well..

TaskyZZ · August 2004

Thanks... Didn't even notice the source link

BigPeeler · August 2004

wow Lineage 2 is kickin ass o_0... NC must just be rolling in it... dev of the 2 biggest MMORPG's ever = teh winners...

you can see where L1 took the hit from L2... but its a suprisingly small hit actually... Lineage 2 hit 1.5million while L1 didnt even lose the 1million... i would think that means it attracted a whole new audience but more likely all those crazy koreans just bought accounts for both games

[edit] just noticed though... Lineage 2 is growing in subscriber counts quite a bit faster then Lineage 1 did... does this mean that Lineage 2 could soon overthrow Lineage 1 as the worlds biggest MMORPG?... man all those Lineage 2 haters would be pretty pissed to hear that

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Games Played - Lineage, Lineage 2, Helbreath, RuneScape, EVE Online, Rubies of Eventide, Priston Tale, Tibia, RYL, Dark Eden, Savage Eden, Astonia III, Ashen Empires, El Kardian, Fung Wan Online, Project Entropia, Ultima Online, Ragnarok Online, Redmoon, Star Wars Galaxies, Thesa, Conquer Online, Deloria, Fairyland, MU Online, Legends...

Zarlan · August 2004

Interesting. I never had any idea so many people play Lineage/Lineage 2. Are they really just that great or what else explains it? I expect Most of these will drop signifcantly with the release of WoW and EQ2, but we will see. EQ2 and WoW will probably bring more subscribers to the genre more than anything, so it might stay the same. Thanks for the info, it is quite interesting.

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"There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who do not."

jimothypetro · August 2004

Originally posted by Zarlan
Interesting. I never had any idea so many people play Lineage/Lineage 2. Are they really just that great or what else explains it? I expect Most of these will drop signifcantly with the release of WoW and EQ2, but we will see. EQ2 and WoW will probably bring more subscribers to the genre more than anything, so it might stay the same. Thanks for the info, it is quite interesting.-------------------------------
"There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who do not."

DAMN!! I wrote out a whole message and forgot to ctrl+c and it didn't post. ::::26::

Well, anyway, a shorter version of what I typed...

Lineage/L2 do have that many players, but for Lineage 2, all but 70k are asian players. That leaves 1,430,000 for asia. EQ2 and WoW will likely be unpopular in Asia, so I doubt it will affect those numbers much at all. While many NA players will be playing them, Asians won't.

Asians have many, many more people playing MMOs than NA/Euro does. And they also have a very different playstyle. They are much more "hardcore," and they seem to like games with long, boring, and tedious grinds with PvP.. for whatever reason that is. ::::12::

P.S. - Please fix these forums. ::::26::

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-- Ken Olson, chairman of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977

Zarlan · August 2004

Interesting. I did some research and apparently gang wars would break out over lineage 1 in asia. That's insane!

My question is why don't companies make more MMOs in asia, then. They obviously sell alot more, and from what I can tell, Lineage 2 is the only fully 3d-rendered MMO on the market there (my definition doesn't include games like Priston Tale why you don't have a controllable z-axis). Is it just harder to develop MMOs there or something?

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"There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who do not."

Annekynn · August 2004

Thanks for the update Milenax!

Horizons seems to be in big trouble. And all those asians need to get a life, those lineage numbers are insane.

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Played: AC1, DAoC, E&B, SWG
Tested: AC1, AC2, DAoC, Eve, Planetside, Rubies, Lineage 2, MU Online

airplane50 · August 2004

....just give you guys a quick fact, the PS2(yeah the playstation 2 made by sony) just lunched china in 2004! (hmm.... we had it 4 years ago). that's y many people in asia play games such as lineage and L2, caz they don't play console(or can't afford?). that's y L1 and L2 got so many people.

========================
Question:Why three monks stands there with a empty barrel.
Answer:they are waiting for jay and silent bob.
What For? Please check out next Jay and Silent Bob movie.

Farseen · August 2004

That is one dedicated man. Thats all i have to say.

-Farseen-
______________________________
Tested: Knight Online, Wish Beta, Ryzom Beta, Planeshift Alpha

Played: UO, EQ, AO, SWG, FFXI, Shadowbane, EVE, Horizons, AC2, DAoC, L][

Current Testing/Playing: CoH, RYL, Everquest 2 (soon)

Xzaro · August 2004

Why L1 is so popular you ask?

Simple. Asians are smart, they don't look at graphics, they look at the gameplay, contents, and how long the mmorpg will last them ::::31::

And it also came out way earlier than any of those 3d mmos.

_______________________________________________

You could play as an indian or human

numatic · August 2004

lol look at horizons. That game is goin to crap fast. Only 20K subscribers and dropping fast. They will cancel soon enough.

Xira · August 2004

Horizons seems to be in big trouble. And all those asians need to get a life, those lineage numbers are insane.

Horizons is curretly in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, expected to go chap 7 withen a month...(Complete liquidation of assets).

hercules · August 2004

For all those that claim to have bought planetside and found an empty world.There is proff there are a whole lot of people on it-50,000 .

You hardly find a mule(WTF would you want one for in PS) or powerlevel bot(same reason ) in PS too so that shows a lot of actual players.

HebrewBomb · August 2004

Here is my theory why Lineage is so popular over there.

1. Bandwidth is so cheap there. In Korea, Japan, Taiwan alone, broadband internet access (cable modem/ISDN) is like only 15-20 US$ whereas in US or Canada, the cost of access is almost triple 45-50 US$. Here in Canada, the cost is outrageous 50 Canadian $. ~~~ 50 freaking Canadian Dollards !!!!!!! which is then added to 80+ dollard Cable TV subscription cost plus 20+ dollards for cell phones subscription for each household members. Now add to that another 15+ $ for a video games that some may or may not play at all????? Give me break!

My family is paying like 80$/cable TV + 50$/cable modem + 20$/my cell phone + 20$/my dad's cell phone + 20$/my sister's cell phone + 20$/my brother's cell phone + ........

= Freaking 210plus $ expenses for freaking cheap suck-azzz service !!!!

Got the idea?

2. Most Asian Lineage players take the game very seriously and any MMORPGs and strategy games in general. MMORPG/RTSG/RPG is mainstream there. It seems they don't have the sort of inhibition that we, north americans have concerning gaming as one social activity. It's as if though we are playing more than them but denies that we are hardcore. Playing games is like Taboo here, a geeky activity only for asocialite with no life. At least that's how it's perceived here in NA.

But the hard fact is there is as much geeks and hardcore game-addicts right here in NA if not more but then again everyone deny that they are hardcore.

It's all matter of perception.

3. NA is taken hostage by console bulges, more specifically we have more japholic pokemon, sailor-moon loving kids in this country than HL2, Doom3, CS, True Crime loving college drop-outs.

No wonder why MMORPG is not taking off in this country.

4. Games like L1, L2 is all about people and the politic with cluster of those people.

Those games are like 80% people, 15% Gameplay, 5% Graphics. So a lot of the contents are user created.

It's like this: Consider circular logic.

More people take game seriously ----> More people seeks user-created contents/events (not quests/PvE endless continuum of dish serving) ----> More politics ----> More people ganging off -----> More people spectating ----> More people subscribing ----> More Madness ----> More people take game seriously -----> ......

Cyris · August 2004

Originally posted by HebrewBomb

Here is my theory why Lineage is so popular over there.
1. Bandwidth is so cheap there. In Korea, Japan, Taiwan alone, broadband internet access (cable modem/ISDN) is like only 15-20 US$ whereas in US or Canada, the cost of access is almost triple 45-50 US$. Here in Canada, the cost is outrageous 50 Canadian $. ~~~ 50 freaking Canadian Dollards !!!!!!! which is then added to 80+ dollard Cable TV subscription cost plus 20+ dollards for cell phones subscription for each household members. Now add to that another 15+ $ for a video games that some may or may not play at all????? Give me break!
My family is paying like 80$/cable TV + 50$/cable modem + 20$/my cell phone + 20$/my dad's cell phone + 20$/my sister's cell phone + 20$/my brother's cell phone + ........

WTF city do you live in?? I recommend you go search out some other company to do business with cuz you are seriously being scammed I am in western Canada and pay 40 for cable and 40 for full access cable.. we are thinking of cutting the cable down 25 bucks though cuz most of the channels are total crap and we don't watch it all.

hercules · August 2004

Well clearly the Asian market is the way to go for mmorpg- top 3 are lineage,lineage2 and FFXI

I hope though that this does not see an influx of NA/europe companies making games for that gear towards that market.

No offense but this listed games are totally not my style.They play very differently and look different from what i like.

I guess this is where culture sets in.A korean player would probably log into DAoC for instance and say god the graphics is awful and the gameplay is so bad.And he would be right as far as he is concerned since its totally out of what he likes.

I tried to like FFXI(really i did) and to some extent hoped L2 would be for me,but i realise it sure as hack is not.

Smelly_Armor · August 2004

Nice post Milenax and a good read. There are several mmogs with declining subscribers. Wonder how long some of them will be able to stay afloat especially with the new mmorpgs and mmogs due to be released soon this fall and early next year.

dirtymex · August 2004

I can't speak on behalf of lineage 1, but lineage 2 is CRAP!

I'm pretty sure whatever draws people to mmo's over there is purely a social thing rather than gameplay.

Though looking at these figures, the Korean/AZN market might be a much better place for MMO's than NA or Europe... but still, games like Everquest and DAoC have succeeded with it.

hercules · August 2004

Best source i ever found for mmorpg numbers.

The website been down for a few days though.

Unknown · August 2004

Originally posted by Milenax

MMOG Subscription Growth, Version 9.0 is here.
This time the chart is separated into three tiers.

MMOGs with 150,000+ subcriptions

MMOGs with 100,000 - 500,000 subcriptions

MMOGs with 0 - 120,000 subcriptions

Source

EverQuest 1999-2004
Milenax - Druid, Baker & Brewer
Ultima Online 1998-2004
Milena - Mage, Alchemist & Assassin

I have not been able to look at any of the links because all of them keep showing the message that the page is unavailable and/or down.

Sir Bruce's site and information is still better. And more widely used. Sir Bruce not only lists information about all major MMORPOGs. He also goes excrutiating detail about how he gets his information about each and every game. And about how reliable information on each game is.

=========================
======= SIGNATURE =========

MMORPG games I've played:
---------------------------------------
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor

Star Wars Galaxies:
http://community.webshots.com/user/capt_xplororor

More games:
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor_archives01

EVE Online !!!
http://community.webshots.com/user/sica_xol_archives01

DAoC (coming soon)
---------------------------

ghoul31 · August 2004

Originally posted by xplororor

Originally posted by Milenax

MMOG Subscription Growth, Version 9.0 is here.
This time the chart is separated into three tiers.

MMOGs with 150,000+ subcriptions

MMOGs with 100,000 - 500,000 subcriptions

MMOGs with 0 - 120,000 subcriptions

Source

EverQuest 1999-2004
Milenax - Druid, Baker & Brewer
Ultima Online 1998-2004
Milena - Mage, Alchemist & Assassin

I have not been able to look at any of the links because all of them keep showing the message that the page is unavailable and/or down.

Sir Bruce's site and information is still better. And more widely used. Sir Bruce not only lists information about all major MMORPOGs. He also goes excrutiating detail about how he gets his information about each and every game. And about how reliable information on each game is.

=========================
======= SIGNATURE =========

MMORPG games I've played:
---------------------------------------
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor

Star Wars Galaxies:
http://community.webshots.com/user/capt_xplororor

More games:
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor_archives01

EVE Online !!!
http://community.webshots.com/user/sica_xol_archives01

DAoC (coming soon)
---------------------------

this is Sir Bruce's site

Duh'

Munki · August 2004

well one thing to note, about the PS2 comming out soon
Video game consuls have been Illegal in Korea for the longest time, thus the heavy computer usuage, but I guess they are lifting that law now.. pretty cool.

Xzaro · August 2004

Originally posted by Munki
well one thing to note, about the PS2 comming out soon
Video game consuls have been Illegal in Korea for the longest time, thus the heavy computer usuage, but I guess they are lifting that law now.. pretty cool.

Game consoles are illegal in Korea!??!?!!? ::::06::

_______________________________________________

You could play as an indian or human

Unknown · August 2004

Originally posted by ghoul31

Originally posted by xplororor

Originally posted by Milenax

MMOG Subscription Growth, Version 9.0 is here.
This time the chart is separated into three tiers.

MMOGs with 150,000+ subcriptions

MMOGs with 100,000 - 500,000 subcriptions

MMOGs with 0 - 120,000 subcriptions

Source

EverQuest 1999-2004
Milenax - Druid, Baker & Brewer
Ultima Online 1998-2004
Milena - Mage, Alchemist & Assassin

I have not been able to look at any of the links because all of them keep showing the message that the page is unavailable and/or down.

Sir Bruce's site and information is still better. And more widely used. Sir Bruce not only lists information about all major MMORPOGs. He also goes excrutiating detail about how he gets his information about each and every game. And about how reliable information on each game is.

this is Sir Bruce's site

Duh'

Ghoul 31,

Thanks! I stand corrected . The page kept saying it was down before so no way I could tell.

=========================
======= SIGNATURE =========

MMORPG games I've played:
---------------------------------------
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor

Star Wars Galaxies:
http://community.webshots.com/user/capt_xplororor

More games:
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor_archives01

EVE Online !!!
http://community.webshots.com/user/sica_xol_archives01

DAoC (coming soon)
---------------------------

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MMOG Subscription Growth, Version 9.0

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