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MMO Games Gross $2.3bn in US This Year

 
MMO Games Gross $2.3bn in US This Year
Growing variety in business models and games drive 30% growth
 
 
San Francisco, CA - 16 November 2010 – Data from the Newzoo MMO Games Market Report 2010 shows that 47.5 million Americans play Massively-Multiplayer-Online (MMO) games. Almost 90% plays free-to-play MMOs. 12.5 million people pay up front to play MMOs. The overlap is larger when comparing browser and client MMOs: 71% play both browser and client MMOs, that require you to download the game. Contrary to most European countries, more money is spent in total on pay-to-play MMOs than on free-to-play MMOs, due to a significantly higher monthly budget spend per person. Total spending on MMO games is up 30% compared to 2009.
 
MMO games versus Console games
Console games are by far still the most popular, attracting almost 120M players. The difference is smaller when zooming in on the young male demographic. 53% of males between 16 and 25 play MMO games versus 81% for consoles. Overlap with consoles is significant: 57% of Xbox 360 players also play MMOs, 61% for the PlayStation®3. More than half of these people also spend money on MMOs, confirming the appeal to the “core” gaming audience.
 
 
Demographics of players and payers
Of all MMO players aged 10 year and up, 66% are male. This share goes up to over 70% for the players who spend money. The majority (52%) of MMO gamers are older than 25. The paying MMO gamer is slightly older on average with 60% being above the age of 25. In Europe, where the free-to-play model is hugely popular, paying MMO gamers are significantly younger. The differences between payers and players can be found on various characteristics. An example being that the Blackberry is significantly more popular amongst paying free-to-play MMO players than with people playing the same games but not paying.
 
Heiko Hubertz, CEO and founder of Bigpoint believes F2P is poised to become the primary monetization model for the videogame industry. “Once limited to relatively simple Flash-based games, the entire online category is on the verge of achieving a level of quality previously dominated by console and PC-installed games. Regardless, these titles still cost much less to build than retail games; we’re able to drive strong ROI by implementing flexible F2P models and aggressively optimizing them.”
 
The Newzoo MMO Games Market Report 2010
The Newzoo MMO Games Market Report is based on an in-depth analysis and industry benchmark of data from the International Gamers Survey 2010 performed in the US, UK, Gemany, France, Netherlands and Belgium using independent national representative panels of over 10,000 respondents. The report will comprise key data to be used for market-sizing as well as marketing towards MMO playing consumers. The report will be available Monday, November 22, 2010 and can be acquired online for €990 euro ($1,399) via Newzoo.com.
 
About Newzoo
Newzoo is an international market research firm completely focused on the games industry. Newzoo aims to provide the best independent consumer market data across all game platforms and business models with a specific focus on online and mobile. Newzoo also operates the global B2B portal Gamesindustry.com and publishes the bi-annual Games Industry Black Book.
For more information please visit www.newzoo.com.
 
 
Contacts
US Press: David Bruno, davidbruno@att.net
Data and reports: Peter Warman, Managing Director Newzoo, peter@newzoo.com
T: +31 (0)20 6635816
 
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