We have written frequently about the effect that the economy has had on the purchase and playing of video games and MMORPGs frequently. There was really more MMORPG playing during a recession and less purchases.
Despite that the United States alone spent a staggering $3.8 Billion on MMORPG games in 2009 alone (whether through subscriptions, virtual currency, download costs, or microtransactions). The number of gamers playing massively multiplayer online role playing games has increased to fourty six million with the average player spending $15.10 a month on MMOs.
Top earners include………………………………………..
I am a huge fan of the BattleStar Galactica series that ran on the Sci Fi channel (that’s right I refuse to call it the SyFy channel). So I am very exceited that at GDC 2010 a BattleStar Galactica massively multiplayer online role playing game was announced. Bigpoint which is owned by NBC Universal will be releasing the game by the end of the year (hopefully). The game will most likely be cross platform and browser based and have integration with PC as well as iPhone play. Bigpoint specializes in free to play games although it is not clear if BattleStar Galactica will fall into this category.
It would of course been much smarter to release such a game while BattleStar Galactica was still on the air. I just hope they do not make the same mistakes as………………………….
It doesn’t seem possible but already a year has passed for the Runes of Magic massively multiplayer online role playing game. Runewaker and Frogster Entertainment has a lot to celebrate given the huge success and awards the Runes of Magic free MMORPG has earned.
There will be several in-game events, contests, and special promotions. For the entire week double XP and TP will be available. Birthday wings of devil, holy, and silver will be handed out.
Runes of Magic has reached about 3 million players and has announced a partnership with Vivox to provide in-game chat. The voice will be in high definition quality…………………….
It is no secret that AION Online has brought NCsoft record profits. With that in mind they have been working hard on the upcoming Aion patch update. The 1.9 expansion has some really great features. We have listed the top 10 features of it below.
Also check out the new high definition gameplay video below…………………..
It was February 8, 2010 when Free Realms had reached 8 million players. The announcement came today that Free Realms has now reached 9 million registered players. This is explosive growth in just 1 month.
Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley said: “We believe the persistent exercise of capturing in-game research inside Free Realms has been a huge contributing factor as to why we’ve attracted over nine million players in less than a year. It truly helps us give our players a game where they can do and be whatever they want.”
In fact the site is so popular that their web site is currently down!
Free Realms continues to introduce new features such as the recent new mounts of a Dragon and T-Rex with horses coming out soon. New pets of an owl and groundhog are also coming up soon.
Free Realms is a free to play massively multiplayer online role playing game targeted to kids age 10 and above.
Check out the below high definition gameplay video. The video is about 4 minutes long. Check it out below…………………….
Just a few months after their release date, the Alganon massively multiplayer online role playing game has announced that they will be switching to a subscription free model and eliminating the subscription. There will of course still be a cover price to purchase the game. This change will be made immediately. I wonder how long it will be until Alganon becomes entirely free-to-play? The Alganon MMORPG will use an item shop to sell items and advancement.
A new patch will release on March 11, 2010 and an additional patch will release on April 8, 2010. We will see how Quest Online fairs with these changes.
The below video shows some Alganon players dancing for joy at the news. Check it out below. The video is 30 seconds long……………………
We wrote recently that Cryptic had cut the prices for Star Trek Online and offered 90 days free play. This was a much better deal that the original price and 30 days free.
This offer outraged lifetime and early subscribers of the Star Trek Online massively multiplayer online role playing game who thought that they had been cheated.
In response to the outrage Cryptic Studios initially responded by shutting down forum threads and posts (always a bad idea) and with the statement:
“We understand that some of you are upset about the current sale on Atari.com. There are a number of threads on the forums about this, which is making it very difficult to find information about anything else on these forums. Due to this, we are closing all other threads regarding this matter. We do value your feedback on this, matter however, and would appreciate it if you would post your feedback regarding this matter here, in this thread. All other threads regarding this will be closed.”
Now Cryptic has changed their mind and cancelled the initial offer. The game will still be $10 cheaper but will have only the standard 30 day free trial. Cryptic will still honor the deal for those who acted quickly and purchased this deal.
Cryptic has certainly shot themselves in the foot on this one…………………………….
We have written frequently about Dugeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited. In fact the DDO Eberron Unlimited MMORPG even ranks as number 4 on our list of top 10 free MMORPGs.
On our recommendation many new players have gone over to this free-to-play game and there are now over 1 million new players since September 2009. In addition the paying subscriber base has doubled with very high transaction levels and an increase in revenue of 500%.
Check out the below high definition gameplay video. The video is about 9 minutes long. Below that is a video review of the latest update to the game…………..
Cryptic Studios has announced that they have reduced the price of the Star Trek Online massively multiplayer online role playing game by $10 and are offering an additional 60 days of free play time.
This is much better than the $49.99 and 30 days of free play time that early purchasers and beta testers had. The new $39.99 and 90 days of free play time has offended many of the current players…………..
The Final Fantasy XI MMORPG has announces the offical merger of servers. The total number will be reduced to twenty four. All character data will be transferred into the new world. Below is a list of the servers that will be merging and their destination.
Everyone new this was coming from the day that the Final Fantasy XIV massively multiplayer online role playing game was announced. And it is only a matter of time until FFXI (which has run for 8 years) is shut down entirely…………..
