Strategy Analytics has released a report called The World of MMORPG: a Tale of Two Regions saying that the MMORPG market reached $5 billion in 2009 and is expected to increase to $8 billion in 2014. The study also noted that while Blizzard dominates in the growing U.S. and European markets, Shanda, Netease, Nexon and NCsoft are really pushing growth in Asia.
“Faced with fierce competition from social games and console video games, MMORPG in the Western market has already shown signs of a slowdown,” remarked Martin Olausson, Director, Strategy Analytics Digital Media. “The traditional subscription model that most Western MMORPGs adopt has lost traction and growth momentum.”
“Contrary to the flattening Western market, the Asian MMORPG market has grown immensely since 2007, due to the successful virtual items-based revenue model,” added Jia Wu, Analyst in the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies (DMS) service. “As more Asian online game companies target U.S. and European markets, they will become a formidable force in the global gaming industry.”
