Monday, June 14, 2010
Oliver Chiang is a contributor in the Silicon Valley bureau of Forbes.
In the Forbes article "The Next FarmVille" on Thursday, we take a look at the biggest online games worldwide among massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) like "World of Warcraft," virtual worlds and social games, ranking them by total revenue in 2009.
The figures we arrived at were based on estimates by video game research firm DFC Intelligence, and public information from companies' filings.
Unsurprisingly, Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft" continued its unmatched success, raking in more than $1 billion in revenue last year. But what is interesting is who dominated the rest of the list -- virtually all titles from China and Korea.
Games like NetEase's "Fantasy Westward Journey" and Perfect World's "Perfect World" raked in hundreds of millions of dollars last year. Even more impressive -- online games from China and Korea are free-to-play, and make money primarily through sales of virtual goods, rather than subscription fees like "Warcraft." With revenues like the Chinese and Korean game companies are seeing, it's no wonder Western game companies have been taking notes.
For instance, publisher Turbine made the flagging and subscription-based "Dungeons & Dragons Online" into a free-to-play game last September, and reported in Februrary that its revenues had increased by 500% as a result.
And where was that hit crops-and-cows Facebook game on the list? "FarmVille" from Zynga came in just after the top 10 with its $50 million in 2009 revenue. That's actually pretty impressive, considering that it was launched midway through 2009 in June. And if rumored growth figures are to be believed, Zynga itself isn't doing too badly, with a revenue run-rate this year of around $600 million, according to Business Insider.
Here is the top 10 by 2009 revenue. For the entire list, see "The Biggest Hits In Online Gaming":
1. "World Of Warcraft" by Blizzard Entertainment (U.S.): $1 billion
2. "Fantasy Westward Journey" by NetEase (China): $400 million
3. "Perfect World" by Perfect World (China): $300 million
4. "Lineage I" and "II" by NCsoft (South Korea): $270 million
5. "Tian Long Ba Bu" by Changyou (China): $250 million
6. "Aion" by NCsoft (South Korea): $230 million
7. "MapleStory" by Nexon Corporation (South Korea): $200 million
8. "ZT Online" by Giant Interactive (China): $190 million
9. "The World Of Legend" / "Legends Of Mir" by Shanda Interactive Entertainment (China): $150 million
10. "Final Fantasy XI" by Square Enix (Japan): $117 million
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