MMO Games Growing, Consoles Shrinking Study Says

Everyone knows the MMO market is increasing significantly. Today we’re going to go over a study by GlobalCollect that tells us some very interesting information.

MMO Games are 21% of Global Revenues

Due to the sheer size and accessibility of MMO platforms they have become a massive chunk of the industry. This is part due to subscription models but quite a bit of the recent profitability is due to the new micro-transaction model. Developers can make more money than ever before on this model.

The Asian Pacific Region is the Largest Game Market

Of no surprise to anyone the part of the world that has Korea and Japan generates about 36% of global game revenues and 64% of MMO revenues. This makes them a huge market for developers of any size.

Consoles are Still Very Important

Consoles are still on top for now but will shrink by about -1% this year. This is partially due to the MMO growth and partially due to the growth of the mobile market. As both of these continue to expand we could see further decreases.

Where Should Developers Look? North Africa and Central America

These markets are emerging as hubs for video game fraud. Not surprisingly they are also places where gaming and computers are seeing an upswing. As these places move closer towards being fully developed we are seeing an emerging market.

What to Learn About Our Industry

So what do we learn about our industry from all this? Several things. Developers need to look towards mobile games and MMO sectors to make more money. They likely will do as we have seen Sony do: get into ventures in both areas. Those who believe in big risk and big reward may want to develop for North Africa and Central America.

Regardless of what happens it appears that the industry is going to change further in some huge ways within the next few years.