The market value for massively multiplayer online games in the West has hit $1 billion for the first time during 2006 according to figures just released by Screen Digest. The US subscription market was worth $576 million, with Europe making up $299 million.
While subscription services continue to dominate in the West, accounting for 87% of the market, virtual item sales and in-game advertising have also made their mark during the year.
Author of the report Piers Harding-Rolls said “During the past few years the Western landscape for massively multiplayer online games has become increasingly fragmented following the introduction of new genres of games including social networking, virtual pet rearing and virtual world building titles. These new games and platforms have brought with them many new gamers and also new business models that are generating revenue that is largely incremental to the incumbent subscription business.”
Screen Digest forecasts that by 2011 over 10 million subscription accounts will generate $1.5 billion in consumer spending on this sector of the online games market. Over the forecast period Europe will enjoy the strongest growth between the two Western regions.
Over this period Germany will remain the largest subscription market in Europe, followed by the UK and France will see the most significant value growth of over 16% CAGR over the term. Spain and Italy will both experience subscription value CAGR of more than 15%.
World of Warcraft is by far the most popular subscription game, accounting for 54% of the subscription market in 2006, generating revenue of $471 million. Its next nearest competitor was Runescape from UK developer Jagex.