Asia generates half of the World wide online game revenues, with Europe representing 20 per cent Online gaming offers start also to take off in Europe, with interesting business models
Released on: March 19, 2008, 2:00 am
Press Release Author: Aileen Brucal
Industry: Telecommunications
Press Release Summary: According to InfoCom's latest report FTTX - EXPERIENCES AND STRATEGIES - Filling the pipe of the NGN, In 2007, the global online games revenues - estimated between 3.5 to 4.5 Euro billion - are made 90% by PC games.
Press Release Body: In 2007, the global online games revenues - estimated between 3.5 to 4.5 Euro billion - are made 90% by PC games. 50% of revenues are generated in Asia, while North America accounts for about 30% and Europe 20%. This results from InfoCom's report FTTX - EXPERIENCES AND STRATEGIES - Filling the pipe of the NGN, which contains an entire chapter dedicated to games applications.
South Korea represents indeed a large gaming community with around 17 mn of 48 mn total inhabitants playing regularly online games. Most of the online games are free to play, but require purchases to get to more advanced stages according to a so-called "free-to-play backed-by-item-sale" model. Online gaming providers generate revenues mainly by micro-transactions, i.e. sale of "items" like avatar customisation. The South Korean PC online games market in 2006 was estimated at EUR 800-850 mn, around 25% of the total online gaming revenues worldwide (and over 40% of the revenues generated in Asia), of which over 40% represented by Massive Multi-Player Online games (MMO). The study illustrates NCsoft's and Webzen's business models with fee structure for massive multi-player games, with detailed figures on single games, by country and number of users.
As of Japan, opinion poll among online gamers in 2006 revealed that the most popular equipment for game access was the PC (35%), followed by the mobile phone ( 14%), the game console (