Plano, Texas based KingsIsle, developers of family friendly MMO Wizard 101 recently celebrated their one-year anniversary, and announced that they’ve have five million registered users pass through their doors in this very short amount of time. Players have registered from around the globe, and as a result the company has planned a number of in-game goodies including several decorations, and a yet-to-be-announced special surprise for all players.

Originally launched with a subscription model, KingsIsle switched to a “free-to-play, subscribe if your want, buy things in the store via microtransactions” business model late last year. Based on a family-friendly premise, Wizard 101 is a spell-casting adventure card-based style game. The game contains no blood, and characters do not die if defeated in a duel of spells – they are simply returned to a safe area to regain health. The game combines the social interaction of online multi-player games with a parental control system that allows adults to restrict communications options for younger players, while allowing more freedom to older players. These safeguards, combined with the no-cost, downloadable distribution model have resonated with consumers looking for new ways to have fun on a budget.

“Quality family entertainment doesn’t have to be expensive,” said J. Todd Coleman, creative director of Wizard101. “The success of Wizard101 clearly shows that it is possible to produce a fun and challenging game that is both wallet-friendly and appropriate for all ages – and that it’s something people are looking for in these tough economic times.”

Perhaps adding to Wizard 101’s accelerating growth, is the easy of access to in-game currency. Available via pre-paid cards (i.e. non-credit card holders method of choice), users can purchase “Crowns”, Wizard 101’s in-game currency, at a number of national retailers including 7-Eleven, Blockbuster Video, Best Buy, Rite Air, Wal-Mart, and Toys R Us.

While KingsIsle seems to have struck a chord in the highly sought after (and lucrative) kid/tweens market, it’s important to remember that they face stiff competition. SOE’s Free Realms is in the same genre as Wizard 101, and has seen skyrocketing growth, as well as (debatably) the one that started it all: Nexon’s worldwide hit Maplestory. However, KingsIsle is the only developer on the market that is pitching their title as family entertainment, perhaps adding the needed draw to the parental units.

As with any decent MMO, Wizard 101 is a constantly evolving game with new content being introduced on a regular basis. If the 2008/2009 year brought in five million players, it’ll be a challenge to see if KingsIsle can maintain this growth rate.

Tags: free to play, J. Todd Coleman, KingsIsle, microtransactions, Nexon, pre paid cards, soe, subscription, wizard 101

This entry was posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 12:54 pm and is filed under industry news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.