Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
(Excluding WoW) did the overall MMORPG player population Increase since 2004?
MMOExposed
Member RarePosts: 7,400
(Excluding WoW) did the overall MMORPG player population Increase since 2004?
or has it gone down? (Remember this is excluding WoW's subs)
I seen many threads discussing topics that mention WoW as the killer of the MMORPG genre.
But how bad really is the genre? Is it truly dead, or need death?
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Comments
Are you serious? lol... there are like 100x more MMOs on the market now (Failing or not) than there were in 2004. SO yes it grew... how more obvious can you get? Before WOW was released there was probably less than 1million MMO Subscribers back then.
`Shark
ya it have grow a consider amount. There are just that many more MMORPG in the market now.
But how much of that can be contributed to WoW? If WoW never existed then the MMO genre would still be viewed as a no life nerd genre. Most of the MMOs that have come out since 2004 were because of the massive growth of WoW.
So I will say No .. The population of MMO gamers is most likely about the same excluding WoW.
EQ2 < 200,000 NA / EU ( probably being generous )
LoTRO < 200,000 NA / EU ( probably below 100,000 honestly )
DAoC < 30,000 NA / EU ( pretty much dead )
WAR < 50,000 NA / EU ( pretty much dead )
..ect.
That's true, but that wasn't the question he asked.
`Shark
I took a peak at the MMO chart. There'a alot of growth between 2002-2004. But after 2004, there isn't much growth.
So I dont' think it's actually growing all that much.
But I think it's actually growing. You can go to xfire etc and see there is alot of games out there. Each of them dont' have alot of players, but I'm sure alot of them have 50,000+ subscriber.
And if you leave in another side of the globe. There's alot more player than you think. I'm talking about games which have 1 million concurrent players. There are actually asian games in which there are 1 million concurrent players playing on line every day.
You're looking at the wrong games. It's the item shop games that now have an enormous amount of players. That's why you see more and more pay to play games switching to an item shop model.
I think WoW is responsible by getting new people interested in playing MMOs. Once they started to get bored of WoW, they probably started trying other MMOs.
Just a though.
Frank 'Spankybus' Mignone
www.spankybus.com
-3d Artist & Compositor
-Writer
-Professional Amature
Lol Guildwars and Lotro were very successful do not try and kid anyone.
It's a tough call.
.
EQ1 had about 500,000 subs before WoW launched.
.
SWG had what? 200,000?
.
Lineage I and II each had over a million subs.
.
I don't know but my guess is that WoW is responsible for most if not all the growth in the MMO market place.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
I think Warcraft has been a double edged sword for mmos . It got people interested but its also strangled the fantasy mmo genre.Its been good in that respect . I think its eventual legacy will something akin to what Chaplin is to silent movies . Once a Jazz Singer comes along its finnsihed .Given mass 3D gaming is proberbly only half a decade away perhaps it would be more apt to say once an Avatar comes along . I think the mmorpg world population would have increased without Warcraft but maybe not as quickly . If anything what its done is drive a lot of people away from the fantasy mmo genre because longer term player realised that nothing you achieve in an mmo means anything when theres a leveling system involved .
well...i started playing MMO's in 2005...so yes...it at least grew by 1 since '04...and I have never played WOW...and never will so I wont be helping their sub numbers
I AM like the wind!
Well, let's see. The most hardcore person can only play 3, maybe 4 mmos at once. And there are about a kajillion sustained mmo's out there. None of them come close to WoW in numbers, but they are about equal to each other or to mmo population before WoW. Divide kajillion by 4. Now divide that number by how many mmos existed before 2004. The resulting number is an average factor of growth. Mmorpg lists 390 games. Not all of them are successful. Let's say half of them are. About 200. How many mmos were successful before 2004? I don't have a time machine, but I'd wager around 10ish.
200 / 4 / 10 = 5
So the mmo population, excluding WoW, has grown about 5 times as large. Some wonky math, but I figure the pendulum swings in both directions enough to basically even out. Most players do not play 4 games at once
RE: overall MMORPG player population
Subscription? I'd say little to no growth if any, outside of WoW.
F2P or Box2Play... huge increases in population.
The issue is that "gamer" is being redefined. What was once a "Nerd Nightclub" is now more like "Family Entertainment". This also accounts for the struggle as to what sort of gamers devs should cater too.
Even looking at pay 2 play only there is huge growth. While diminished, many of those older games are STILL RUNNING. And still require a subscription. And there are so many more options to choose today - even subscription only.
But free to play definitely tips the scale. Things like club penguin and habbo are HUGE. Some of those alternative games are actually close to WoW in players, if we consider them as part of the same genre.
He who keeps his cool best wins.
We should see what kind of X-Fire numbers we can dig up to research this matter.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I'm brand new here, so perhaps this has been said many times before. But nearly all games are starting to incorperate the addicting portions of MMO's into their games.
While CODMW2 isn't a MMO, it's got leveling, unlocking equipment, achievements, etc. More and more the lines seem to be getting blurred as other games take strong MMO features and communities and blend them into other games.
Pretty soon everyone is going to be a MMOer. Hell, I don't know what Farmville is, but from what I'm told it's MMOish, and there are plenty of people playing that on FB.
Now, in terms of massive, large scale MMORPGS, I think this is going to, or has been dwlindling since you can get your MMO fix in so many other ways as of late.
I've been thinking Hobbes
On a weekend?
Well, it wasn't on purpose...
Compare the proliferation of home internet connections today with 2004, and you have your answer OP.
Yes, it did.
I would think the populations of other MMO's has grown simply because a lot of people WOW brought to the hobby have since moved on to other MMO's.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.