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General: MMOGChart.com Update

StraddenStradden Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
in News & Features Discussion

MMOGChart.com has released a new update. The site offers independent industry estimates of subscription numbers for MMORPGs. In the most recent release, for example, they place the relatively new Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach at roughly 90,000.

 

Version 20.0 is now available! This is a major update, with updated numbers for many games, most notably World of Warcraft, Eve Online, RuneScape, and most of NCSoft’s titles. I’ve also added three new MMOGs to the tracking data: Tibia, The Matrix Online, and Dungeons & Dragons Online. I’ve also removed the old subscriber data for Ragnarok Online in Japan, and unified the various total subscriptions charts. Also new to this update is preliminary market data for Asian MMOGs (including Ragnarok Online) that are commonly reported in terms of Peak Concurrent Users and Average Concurrent Users. Given the differences in pricing models, many of these games are not subscription-based, so a direct comparison with subscription MMOGs cannot be made. There are literally dozens more Asian MMOGs that are not included; I’ve tried to chart the ones that are the most well known and for which I could get multiple data points. In the future, I hope to get more data on these games directly from the companies involved, so my data can be updated on a more frequent basis. My thanks to everyone who helped with this update, and thanks to those of you who waited patiently for this update!

Go check it out!

Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com

Comments

  • DarwaDarwa Member UncommonPosts: 2,181

    MMOChart.com

    I'm convinced that guy is on drugs.

  • StraddenStradden Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696

    Actually it's MMOGChart, that was MY mistake.

    Cheers,

    Jon "Stradden" Wood

    Cheers,
    Jon Wood
    Managing Editor
    MMORPG.com

  • ValentinaValentina Member RarePosts: 2,108
    LOL! you are? I don't really understand the chart? Can someone tell me how many subscribers are on EQ2 and WoW XD

  • darktravestydarktravesty Member Posts: 199

    I have lost all faith in the gaming community....seriously, WoW that peice of shit has 50% market share? Wtf.... you can all go to hell, seriously....


  • ValentinaValentina Member RarePosts: 2,108
    O.o? Okayyy....

  • jrgambitjrgambit Member Posts: 157
    I highly doubt SWG has 200000 subs, there is no way thats possible.  He must be factoring in the station pass thing which allows $OE to pad thier numbers for each game.

    --------------------
    SWG - Killed by $OE
    WOW - Retired
    Playing WAR

  • JelloB2000JelloB2000 Member CommonPosts: 1,848

    Originally posted by jrgambit
    I highly doubt SWG has 200000 subs, there is no way thats possible. He must be factoring in the station pass thing which allows $OE to pad thier numbers for each game.
    mentioned in http://www.mmogchart.com/Analysis.html (from 2003) where he explains how he included the SOE-station pass (yes he cannot know which games a player with station-pass plays), BUT check out the crashes of subscribers each time SWG goes thruu a big change, just ouch. Only confirms that the current license holders for a SWG-mmorpg have no clue what to do.

    Also its mentioned that games with a free "option" cannot be counted exacly just because there is no "end date" to the subscription (imho thats the reason to why Runescape & Dofus has such crazy amount of increase in subscribers but this doesnt rub off on Anarchy Online(?)).

    Bottom line there is no doubt World of Warcraft is a monster in terms of subscriptions.

  • blackmooreblackmoore Member Posts: 26

    Originally posted by darktravesty

    I have lost all faith in the gaming community....seriously, WoW that peice of shit has 50% market share? Wtf.... you can all go to hell, seriously....

    this is stupid, I challenge anyone to find a game that is more user-friendly, intuitive, painless and polished than wow. Like many peoples here, I put freedom of action, diversity of gameplay and inovative concepts above that but like 95% of the peoples browsing mmorpg.com, Wow was not my first mmo.

    anyone that does not admit that wow is the ultimate game as a first mmorpg is a liar. Just give all these peoples the time to discover what mmos are...you're like rocket scientists blaming kids because they build paper airplanes::::12::

    (were all just a bunch of UO/EQ nostalic whiners anyway ::::39::)

  • tigris67tigris67 Member UncommonPosts: 1,762
    (were all just a bunch of UO/EQ nostalic whiners anyway ::::39::)


    I'll second that statement hehe...But seriously, WoW is one huge arse juggernaught.

    Edit: everquest two is sad compared to Blizzard's success.





    Hi! My name is paper. Nerf scissors, rock is fine.
    MMORPG = Mostly Men Online Roleplaying Girls
    http://www.MichaelLuckhardt.com

  • Jd1680aJd1680a Member Posts: 398

    what i find funny is how lineage and lineage 2 use to be the top dogs of mmo world.  now they seem pretty insignicant compared to WoW.  amazing 6.5 million subscribers.

    looking at this graphic, you could see the mmo market is growing very quickly.  more games are increasing then decreasing.  i know ddo brought a couple of thousands new players.  of course WoW brought in millions.

    Have played: CoH, DDO EQ2, FFXI, L2, HZ, SoR, and WW2 online

  • AndemonAndemon Member UncommonPosts: 29
    Based on those charts, Runescape seems to be the second-fastest growing MMOG at the moment.
    ...
    Sheesh. 



  • AmatheAmathe Member LegendaryPosts: 7,630

    This is an interesting resource and hats off to the guy who invests so much time providing it. I happen to agree with many of his conclusions and his game reviews can be a breath of fresh air. However, a few things give me pause.

    The author gives many disclaimers, etc. and that is understandable given how tight lipped and misleading many game companies are about the real numbers. But note that he goes to great lengths to make sure that games like Everquest and Star Wars Galaxies reflect more than merely what SOE claims to the public. So far so good. But then, when he gets to WoW, he makes no such effort.

    WoW is the largest mmorpg, to be sure, and it does have eye popping numbers. But there is also a lot of padding in that number, especially in countries where internet cafes, shared accounts, accounts payed for in hourly units, etc. are commonplace. I don't see the author making any real effort to deal with that the way he did with other games. Maybe he thought it doesn't matter because whatever the number is, it's HUGE. Still, when I am reading something that is supposedly numerically quantified I like to see some consistency in the analysis.

    EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests

  • CopelandCopeland Member Posts: 1,955

    WoW has 6.5 million subscription in its history not 6.5 million active subscribers. Even Blizzard admits it counts cancelled and or trial accounts in that number. I'd imagine they have around 1 million active accounts not 6.5 million.

  • MinscMinsc Member UncommonPosts: 1,353
    Man I can't wait to see how much EVE jumps when they open the china server. I'm sure they'll hit 500,000 subs pretty quick when factoring in the china. 

  • JelloB2000JelloB2000 Member CommonPosts: 1,848

    Originally posted by Copeland
    WoW has 6.5 million subscription in its history not 6.5 million active subscribers. Even Blizzard admits it counts cancelled and or trial accounts in that number. I'd imagine they have around 1 million active accounts not 6.5 million.
    Is there any source to the Blizzard statement? Because that would mean this chart is incorrect: http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html which says 6.500.000 active subscriptions.

    Yes the mmorpg:s with a free unlimited time option of the game do have a ton of growth because the accounts never expire or cost any money.

  • thepatriotthepatriot Member UncommonPosts: 284

    Originally posted by Copeland

    WoW has 6.5 million subscription in its history not 6.5 million active subscribers. Even Blizzard admits it counts cancelled and or trial accounts in that number. I'd imagine they have around 1 million active accounts not 6.5 million.


    Actually, Blizzard states very clearly that they only count active paying subscriptions and not canceled ones.  If one is paid for but not used it counts.  If the subscription has expired or been cancelled it does not count.  Therefore they do have 6.5 million active subscriptions (subscriptions not players).  They do not count free trials but they do count those on their first 30 days since the customer did pay the retail fee to get those 30 days.

  • thepatriotthepatriot Member UncommonPosts: 284

    Originally posted by Amathe

    WoW is the largest mmorpg, to be sure, and it does have eye popping numbers. But there is also a lot of padding in that number, especially in countries where internet cafes, shared accounts, accounts payed for in hourly units, etc. are commonplace. I don't see the author making any real effort to deal with that the way he did with other games. Maybe he thought it doesn't matter because whatever the number is, it's HUGE. Still, when I am reading something that is supposedly numerically quantified I like to see some consistency in the analysis.
    The author only deals with subscription numbers, not player numbers and there is no padding in the WoW numbers.  Blizzard only counts active paying subscriptions.  He does seperate out the subscriptions for WoW by continent in his explanation.  The numbers come from Blizzard and they are very clear what they count.  He has no reason to doubt Blizzard as of yet while other companies have given reason for doubts.
  • TyrgrisTyrgris Member Posts: 321

    Originally posted by Copeland

    WoW has 6.5 million subscription in its history not 6.5 million active subscribers. Even Blizzard admits it counts cancelled and or trial accounts in that number. I'd imagine they have around 1 million active accounts not 6.5 million.


    1 million active accounts. LMAO, dude you sound like a resentful jealous guy that is a WoW hater.

    there are more than 1 million CURRENT subscribers just from the West coast of USA let alone the rest of the country or even the rest of the world.

    I don't think they would keep opening up more and more servers on a bi-monthly bases if they were losing subs.

  • CopelandCopeland Member Posts: 1,955

    Originally posted by thepatriot

    Originally posted by Copeland
    WoW has 6.5 million subscription in its history not 6.5 million active subscribers. Even Blizzard admits it counts cancelled and or trial accounts in that number. I'd imagine they have around 1 million active accounts not 6.5 million. Actually, Blizzard states very clearly that they only count active paying subscriptions and not canceled ones.  If one is paid for but not used it counts.  If the subscription has expired or been cancelled it does not count.  Therefore they do have 6.5 million active subscriptions (subscriptions not players).  They do not count free trials but they do count those on their first 30 days since the customer did pay the retail fee to get those 30 days.

    Actually they state pretty clearly that they count all subscriptions even cancelled and trial period subscriptions in there 6.5 million total.

  • AmatheAmathe Member LegendaryPosts: 7,630

    Ok, let's look at a December 19, 2005 press release from Blizzard. At that time they stated they had 5 million customers - customers, not subscribers. (Yes I know it has gone up since December, 2005).

    Customers and subscribers are not necessarily the same thing, as they disclose elsewhere in the press release:

    "World of Warcraft’s Customer Definition
    World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players that have accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules."

    Some of those factors make a big difference, particularly the part about internet cafe usage, the preferred way of online gaming in some countries, such as South Korea.

    As I said, whatever the number is it's gargantuan, but it just strikes me as odd that this website goes to great lengths to assess whether some companies numbers may be off by as as much as 40,000, but the number attributed to Blizzard may be off by a million or more and it's all good.

    EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests

  • FlatfingersFlatfingers Member Posts: 114

    I also noticed Runescape's fairly meteoric rise. Not bad for a free-for-basic-play Java game....

    But the chart that most caught my attention was the one pointing out that 92.6% of all subscribers to MMOGs are playing a "Fantasy RPG"-genre game.

    92.6%. And apparently that's not even counting Asian MMOGs, which are also heavy on fantasy RPGs.

    In other words, at least nine out of every ten gamers is playing a fantasy RPG.

    But I'm sure there's room in that market for another 10-20 more fantasy RPGs like the ones shown at E3....

    --Flatfingers

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