Growth of Online Gaming
January 21 2004
By 2014, there will be 15m online gamers in the US, and the online gaming market as a whole will be sized at $9bn, according to data from the Themis Report on Online Gaming 2004, as distributed by DFC Intelligence.
As of December 2003 the leading players in the market, ranked by total gross revenue generated from online games, including subscriptions, advertising and sponsorships, are:
- NCSoft
- Sony Online Entertainment
- Electronic Arts
- Mythic Entertainment
- Microsoft Corporation
Sony and Microsoft, manufacturers of the two main consoles for online gaming, are each looking to dominate the online sports gaming segment, launching sports portals with universal logins, as are third-party providers EA and Sega. The short-term business model for all four offerings is free online play, while in the next console cycle, Themis predicts that season-based fees, subscriptions, and paid entry tournaments will dominate.
The market for online games in the Asia-Pacific region was $640m in 2003, and will grow to $720m in 2004. Online gaming has enjoyed runaway growth in Korea and is booming in Taiwan and China. Success in the Asia-Pacific markets does not equate to popularity in the US/European marketplace, and the global players need to tailor their offerings according to local culture and preferences. If further evidence of this were needed, the recent growth of new companies developing software with stories based on Chinese mythology is a good pointer.
Among other developments, game companies are striving to reach the mass market through a combination of third-generation 'casual' massively multiplayer games (MMGs) and mass-appeal licensed games such as Matrix, Lord of the Rings, and WarCraft; and are developing major new revenue streams including, for MMGs, premium services and virtual goods.
Themis' 2014 blue-sky analysis, conducted via Delphi survey, estimates that the 15m US gamers will be paying an average subscription fee of $23.50 per month, with fantasy RPGs, online sports games, and casual 'second life' games generating the lion's share of income.
Themis Group, Inc. provides support services to developers and publishers of online PC and console games, web sites, and others in the interactive entertainment industry. DFC also publish the 2003 DFC Intelligence Online Game report and the 2004 DFC Intelligence Online Game report (scheduled for June 2004 delivery). The companies' Web sites are at
www.dfcint.com and
www.themis-group.com
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.
