Posts Tagged ‘WoW’

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Free-to-play paying off big for Turbine

Monday, May 17th, 2010

This year’s annual survey of online gamers, as conducted by research firm the NPD Group, highlights some very interesting shifts in overall online gamer behavior. Recently acquired Turbine’s Dungeons and Dragons Online had overtaken long seated Guild Wars in the third place spot. As expected, Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft took the number one position, with Jagex’s RuneScape holding down second.

This past January, the NPD Group surveyed 19,000 online gamers and found that around 30 percent are regular WoW players, thus crowning the title king of online games (again). Around 10 percent of those surveyed indicated that they’re regular RuneScape players. According to Massively, both of these titles have held the top slots in this annual survey for quite some time now, with Guild Wars usually nabbing the number 3 spot.

Guild Wars’ percentage played has not changed this year (7 percent), and one would expect the results to remain the same. However, there’s been another player introduced to this highly competitive swimming pool, and it looks like this one’s a shark. Turbine’s Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited has obviously struck a chord with online gamers, as the title’s popularity has doubled over the past year, enough so that it’s officially overtaken NCsoft’s Guild Wars. Even though DDO’s percentage was not given, it must be above 7 percent, but less than 10 percent, so for arguments’ sake, let’s say 8.5 percent.

If this isn’t the turn around/comeback/holy smokes story of the year, than I’m not quite sure what is. If you’ll remember, Dungeons and Dragons, while moderately popular, was at the phase in a product’s lifecycle where it either a) receives a major renovation, in one form or another, and is quasi-re-released, or…b) the title quietly subsides into the darkness where video games go to sleep. In DDO’s case, for many months it was looking like the later. Until … one (probably more, but let’s heighten the drama), brave individual at Turbine had the idea of converting the game to a free-to-play, and monetizing it through in-game sales, as well as offering a subscription plan to those that are interested (a hybrid, if you will).

Fast forward a few months, and it looks like the decision to take DOO to the free-to-play model has/is paying off handsomely. Not only has Turbine been acquired by Warner Bros., but they’ve now got a bona-fide hit on their hands, and on that was slated for the dustbin at that. The NPD report backs this supposition, as their data indicates that subscriptions are starting to lose their attractiveness to online gamers, down from 130 percent in 2009 to now a paltry 18 percent.

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The 9 reports a 94% drop in revenues post WoW

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Shanghai, China based MMO operator and developer The 9, formerly holders of the Chinese license to operate World of Warcraft recently reported a whopping 94 percent drop in third quarter revenues YOY.

intro_03Third quarter revenues for the 9 came in at $3.7 million, a 91 percent drop from from second quarter revenues, $42.2 million. At the same time, only one year prior, The 9 was posting a revenue take of $59.8 million. If there’s any question not only about Activision/Blizzard’s dominance with World of Warcraft, but also how much revenue the Chinese market is generating, not only with WoW, but online gaming in general – this report from The 9 should put things into perspective.

Having lost out on the regional contract back in June to competitor NetEase, The 9 executives are still optimistic about future prospects, as their games catalogue contains a healthy mix of decent titles including FIFA Online 2, Soul of the Ultimate Nation, and Granado Espada. Since the loss of World of Warcraft, this catalogue has seen a 55 percent increase in activity in Q3 when compared to the numbers one year prior.

The 9 is quick to point out that these titles attracted around 3.4 million active users in Q3, up from 3.2 million active users in Q2. The leader in this increase has been Soul of the Ultimate Nation. This increase in activity was spurred on by a new content upgrade, as well as a theft-proof security system. FIFA Online 2 and Atlantica both saw increases in activity, as well as a web based card game Jiu Zhou Zhan Ji.

“Although our revenue loss cannot be recovered within a short period of time, we are glad to see that our research and development capabilities continue to strengthen as a result of our investments,” said The9′s CEO and chairman Jun Zhu. “Our proprietary games have shown substantive progress and a strong potential to be well received by Chinese game players.”

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Blizzard moves one step closer to microtransactions

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Blizzard’s worldwide leader in the MMORPG genre, World of Warcraft took one step closer to microtransactions yesterday when they announced the availability of two unique pet companions. These two companions are available for real world money purchase exclusively at the Blizzard World of Warcraft Pet Store.

wow-pets

This new move however isn’t the first real money transaction service we’ve seen been made available by Blizzard. Prior to yesterday’s announcement, the franchise had offered paid realm (server) transfers, name changes, character re-customization, and the newly implemented race and faction change, as well as hinted at ‘some type’ of microtransactions. Add purchasable in-game pets to the roster, and we’re now one step closer to a fully fledged microtransaction revenue generating title. Note, not a free-to-play, microtransaction supported model, but one that utilizes microtransactions as an additional form of income.

As noted with the previous paid services available, and Blizzard’s increasing amount of awarded in-game pets (it seems as though every special holiday event has some type of awarded companion), this move to offering a special paid companion seems like a logical step – but how will the community react? Traditionally, World of Warcraft (WoW) has been the last bastion of the traditional subscription based form of online gaming.

Perhaps anticipating a backlash, and surely studying what others in the free-to-play field are doing and have learned, the official FAQ highlights that the pets will not offer any battle or gameplay benefits, as they are strictly cosmetic enhancements, therein combating the pay-to-pwn theory.

The new introduction is in part a piece from a much larger project Blizzard is working on – converting all accounts to a one singular account; one at battle.net. This conversion to a ‘one account management center’ can only be seen as a way for Blizzard to cross promote it’s products. The deadline for converting accounts is November 12th, and if players convert before this deadline, they receive a special companion pet – for free. Seeding this idea of various pets, again awarded from special holiday events and/or an account conversion has been a brilliant pre-release strategy, getting users into a cosmetic status mindset, and then releasing additional companions available only via a microtransaction purchase. With that said, players that do want to purchase these two new pets may do so only after their WoW account has been converted to a Battle.net account.

At $10 a piece, these exclusive pets may not be viewed as a “micro”transaction, but they do introduce RMT’s into a game that has long stayed away from anything outside server, name, and gender, race and looks options.

The two new pets available are the “Pandaren Monk”, a panda vaguely resembling a Kung Fu Panda character. All Monks purchased between now and years end will have half of the purchase price donated to the Make-a-Wish foundation.

The other (and in my opinion, the one that most players will opt for) is “Lil’ K.T., the Littlest Lich,” a miniature version of the Naxxramas dungeon boss Kel’Thuzad which Blizzard states “has a diabolical laugh” and shoots ice.

So while this move to purchasable in-game pets certainly doesn’t signal a move on Blizzard’s part to make their successful World of Warcraft a free-to-play game anytime soon, it does put them one step closer to incorporating more and more Real Money Transaction based purchases into a traditionally, pay for your play time and you’re done, style play.

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Combat Arms Europe counts 800k, RuneScape 105 million!

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Both Nexon and Jagex have recently released some impressive registered users numbers. Both free-to-play titles, Nexon’s Combat Arms is now counting approximately 800,000 registered users, while Jagex’s RuneScape has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s most popular free-to-play title, with over 105 million registered users over the title’s lifespan.

Combat Arms saw a December ’08 open beta and February ’09 official Europe release date, and has recently surpassed the 800,000 registered user mark. Nexon Europe reports that their average CCU (concurrent users) number hovers around 12,000 player mark, clearly indicating that Combat Arms is one of the fastest growing and most successful free-to-play first person shooter games in Europe.

“We are thrilled by the figures and results that we see with Combat Arms Europe” said Sung Jin Kim, Director of NEXON Europe. “We receive great feedbacks from our players who love the great mix of fast-paced FPS and socialization features within the game. We are dedicated to providing an interactive and exciting gaming experience to all players at every level, and look forward to bringing far more new action through the updates we have in queue, and, consequently, to continuing with Combat Arms Europe’s great success.”

As with all Nexon offerings, Combat Arms is free-to-play, and is supported via in-game microtransaction based purchases. Titled the “Black Market” users can exchange real-world money for Nexon credits to purchase additional gear, items, clothing, etc. in order to customize their gaming experience.

And while 800,000 users for a title that’s not yet one year out on the marketplace is quite impressive, on the other end of the scale, information surfaced yesterday regarding Jagex’s RuneScape registered users numbers. According to the Guinness World Records, RuneScape is the world’s largest free game with 105 million registered users.

runescape-no-5In fairness, these numbers account for Runescape’s entire product runtime, some 9+ years. However, even if we’re looking at 9 years, that’s still on average 11.6 million users per year signing up. If that ‘somewhere around 12 million’ number is jumping out at you, yes, that’s the current estimate of active WoW players globally. And again, while this number is cumulative, according to Jagex’s CEO Mark Gerhard, approximately 10 million of those registered users are regularly logging in.

When pressed on the numbers, and asked if RuneScape is making more money than the industry yardstick, World of Warcraft, Gerhard comments that Jagex isn’t really measuring success based on financial returns. “The company is very strong financially, and it is thanks to RuneScape, but for us it’s all about active players. It doesn’t matter to us really if they’re free or paying for the expansion – as long as it’s going North we really don’t care.”
Looking to capitalize on RuneScape’s success, Jagex isn’t resting on their laurels. Currently in development at the Cambridge, England studio is MechScape, and sci-fi browser based MMO.

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Runes of Magic brings in AAA tier illustrator and concept artist Eva Widermann

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

evaRemember last week when the news broke that Frogster’s free-to-play title Runes of Magic had recently surpassed the 1 million registered user mark?  How about that partnership with BitRaider for North American players to get them up and running within a matter of minutes?  Remember how I predicted that Frogster and Runes are running at 1000 miles per hour, and could very well give both Maple Story and WoW a run for their money?  Well, I’d love to think that Frogster was listening to me personally, as they’ve recently announced that they’ve secured the services of top illustrator and concept artist Eva Widermann.  She’s charged primarily with shaping the future of game elements.  Another way to read that is, ‘she’s been hired to make the game look wicked!’

One of the common complaints we still hear about F2P titles is their rather drab, if not copy cat graphics and color palettes of other highly successful MMORPG’s (can you say WoW?).  The folks at Frogster have obviously recognized this complaint and have decided to step up to the plate and nip it in the bud, as they further continue to refine the title for Western Markets.

If the name Eva Widermann doesn’t jump right out at you, chances are her artwork already has at some point in the past.  With an extensive resume, she’s worked with some of the biggest hitters in the industry, including NC Soft, EA Games, Wizards of the Coast (Dungeons & Dragons), and Peter Jackson Games.  She splits her time between Karlsruhe, Germany and Cork, Ireland, consistently working on concept art and illustration work.

“For a long while things have looked rather bleak for concept art in Germany and I belong to the majority of illustrators who have seized their opportunities mainly abroad. And so I’m all the more delighted about the cooperation with Frogster and the up-coming projects.” Says Eva
Her first concept piece is show below, and is already in the works via production house Runewalker.  This new art will soon be implemented into Taborea.

runesofmagic_evawidermann_concept_art

“We are continuing to work consistently to tailor Runes of Magic to western markets. Eva’s superb concepts help us in going a long way to bringing this precept into reality.” Said an evidently pleased Andreas Weidenhaupt, Chief Licensing Officer of Frogster Interactive Pictures AG and CEO of Frogster Online Gaming GmbH.

Again, if Frogster’s breakneck speed at reaching 1 million users wasn’t enough to make you sit up and take notice, perhaps bringing in a top level concept artist, as well as the companies unwavering commitment to reaching AAA tier status with a free-to-play title might just do the trick.

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Blizzard takes one step closer to casual gaming?

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

One of the most respected and well know names in casual gaming, Greg Canessa is calling it a day as Vice President of Video Game Platforms with PopCap.  Prior to his current position, Canessa was the man in charge who launched a thousand ships with the business model he rolled out for Microsoft’s XBLA service.  He left this position and joined PopCap in February of 2007, and is now moving on again – this time to the 800-pound gorilla in the room, aka Blizzard.

wow_bejeweledAt this point, I think we’re pretty justified in letting the wild speculation run free.  Granted, Blizzard has been showing more and more interest in casual gaming over the past few months, with not only PopCap’s Bejeweled showing up on gamers’ radar’s back in September, but just a few weeks ago, Blizzard also tossed PopCap’s Peggle into the World of Warcraft mini-games selection.  Three guesses, the first two don’t count on who was spearheading this project?

So what’s really the dilly Blizz?  While Kotaku broke the news, Joystiq raises some very interesting points, and questions whether or not Canessa has nabbed one of the open positions Blizzard is currently advertising in the “Unannounced” section, or perhaps the elusive “Next-Gen MMO” category?  According to Joystiq’s inside source, Canessa will be working on an “unannounced project in the online space”.

wow_peggleAnother point to keep in mind here is that Blizzard’s COO Paul Sams has repeatedly made statements about the company’s interest in starting up an entirely new franchise.  Could Canessa’s appointment be the first signal in Blizzard’s interest in starting up a casual gaming platform?  Maybe browser based gaming?  Maybe social networking based play?  iPhone/mobile gaming?  Again, the speculation doors have been flung wide open by Blizzard’s highest profile move in this direction to date.

If Blizzard has in fact brought in Canessa for the purpose of fleshing out a casual games division, does this mean that they’re also interested in having a look at microtransactions?  While the producer of the #1 game worldwide certainly doesn’t need any more money, they might be foolish to not at least visit and review the concept.  With relative newcomer (in relation to Blizzard) casual game publisher Zynga reportedly pulling down nine figure revenues from microtransactions, just have a think for a moment what Blizzard and their mighty army of employees could tackle?

I’m quite certain Canessa’s departure is a blow for PopCap, but that’s not to say they don’t have a thriving business going as it is, and I’ll be interested to see where they take things from here.  On the flipside, PopCap now has a former high-level executive inside the mighty Blizzard citadel.  More PopCap casual titles to be implemented within WoW?  Plants vs. Orcs?  Zombies vs. Night Elves?  Let’s hold fire and wait and see.

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Free-to-play Maple Story ranks among top moneymaking MMO’s of 2008.

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

DFC Intelligence is gearing up to publish a comprehensive study of MMO worlds next month, according to GigaOm.  Wagner James Au got a special preview of the report and shares some initial estimates.

DFC’s David Cole says that the 2008 numbers are on the “very conservative” side, indicating that the 2008 numbers are still being crunched, and more exact numbers will be reflected in the February 16th reports.  “We indicate ranges because these numbers are estimates for 2008 based on where we think these products will end up,” said Cole.  And while the numbers are still being tallied, Cole estimates that the rankings should stay more or less the same, with “maybe a slot here or there” changing.

And while it shouldn’t come as a shock that the Blizzard powerhouse World of Warcraft takes the number one spot, Cole believes that if viewed from a pure profit margin, WoW wouldn’t be taking home the gold.  Asian MMO’s, which are traditionally developed at far lower budgets, have a much higher profit margin.  “Profit margin on Asian games is incredibly high,” says Cole, noting that Asian MMOs charge on or around 5-6 cents per hour with prepaid usage cards, a business model that has yet to proliferate the western gaming market.

What’s interesting to note in this projected report is the high ranking of Nexon’s free-to-play Maple Story (supported by microtransactions, prepaid cards, and international licensing), and the catalogue of Shanda’s games (Virtual item sales, prepaid cards, and freemium subscriptions).

1. World of Warcraft, launched 2004
Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG; client install with 3D graphics
Revenue sources: Monthly subscription, retails sales, prepaid cards (in Asia)
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $500 million-plus

2. Fantasy Westward Journey, launched 2004
Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG, client install with 2.5D graphics
Revenue sources: Prepaid cards
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

3. Maple Story, launched 2003
Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG for kids, client install with 2D graphics
Revenue sources: Microtransactions, prepaid cards, international licensing
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

4. Shanda (company, includes Legend of Mir and World of Legend series), launched 2003
Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG, client install with 2.5 graphics
Revenue sources: Prepaid cards, virtual item sales, freemium subscriptions
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

5. Lineage I and Lineage II , launched 1998 and 2003
Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG, client install with 2.5 graphics (Lineage) and 3D graphics (Lineage II)
Revenue sources: Subscription, prepaid cards
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

6. Runescape
Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG for kids, web-based with 2.5D graphics
Revenue sources: Premium subscription, prepaid cards, real-world advertising
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

7. Club Penguin, launched 2006
Genre/Platform: Virtual world for kids, web-based 2.5D graphics
Revenue sources: Premium subscriptions, prepaid game cards
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

8. Lord of the Ring Online
Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG, client install with 3D graphics
Revenue sources: Subscription, retail sales
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

9. Warhammer Online
Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG, client install with 3D graphics
Revenue sources: Subscription, retail sales
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

10. Age of Conan
Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG, client install with 3D graphics
Revenue sources: Subscription, retail sales
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

Wagner continues his conversation with Cole around the most popular, in terms of active players, MMO of 2008.  To answer this question, we’ve got to go even a bit further out on the speculation branch, but Cole points out that Fantasy Westward Journey registered 2-3 million concurrent players back in August.  And although Warcraft likes to beat it’s own drum regarding their estimated 11 million+ players, “You’re lucky to get 5-10 percent [of them] playing at the same time,” says Cole.  Minho Kim, developer of Maple Story said in December that the title has 87+ million registrations, but wouldn’t comment on how many of these registered users were/are active monthly users.  Joost van Dreunen from DFC’ estimates the number to be more in the 13 – 17.4 million regular Maple Story players, roughly 15-20 percent of Kim’s estimation.

Cole admits that this year’s list looks remarkably similar to the 2007 list with Conan and Warhammer being released in 2008.  And while only 2 of the top 10 contain some type of microtransaction support, I’d estimate that this list might look very different one year from now with a number of highly anticipated (think Free Realms and Battlefield Heroes) free-to-plays coming online in ’09.

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Free to Play World of Kung Fu partners with MMOsite for Giveaways

Monday, November 17th, 2008

VestGame Entertainment, publisher of free-to-play martial arts MMORPG ‘World of Kung Fu’, has recently announced a partnership with MMOsite to host a giveaway of valuable items from the WoKF item mall.

Coincidentally riding on the heels of Nexon’s 7-Eleven announcement (bad timing?), VestGame Entertaintainment is partnering up with popular gaming portal MMOsite.com and will be giving away a ton of new in-game items (read: WotLK just came out – where did everyone go?).

World of Kung Fu has approximately 250,000 registered users that adventure and explore the 3D virtual world of ancient China.  The game takes place in a fantasy land steeped in ancient Kung Fu morals of justice and heroism.  Both hard core and casual gamers are enveloped in Chinese Kung Fu philosophy, grasshopper, with graphics inspired by landscapes and open countryside settings portrayed in traditional Chinese artwork.

Players visiting MMOsite.com can take advantage of these free, in-game promos by visiting the contest section of MMOsite.  Items to be given away include:

  1. Gallant Steed – Fast moving white horse. Lasts 7 days.
  2. Novice Tai Yi Pill – Ancient medicine that restores 50,000 Hit Points.
  3. Wooden Waist Pendant – Nice accoutrement. HP +20.
  4. Small Experience Charm (5) – Gain 120% experience for 1 hour.
  5. Deepfried Steamed Bun (5) – Restores 150 HP over 15 seconds.
  6. Novice Lion Toy (5) – Enables player to revive at current location.

“We are happy to see so many new players in World of Kung Fu, and would like to take this opportunity to show our appreciation for their support”, says Zhenghua Zhuang, Head of North American Operations at VestGame.

“MMOsite was chosen to host this event because of their long standing support of World of Kung Fu as well as for their credibility in the MMORPG community”, he added.

I gave World of Kung Fu a whirl over the weekend, and while my comments above regarding Lich King is out – where did everyone go? are meant as a slight jab to the MMO community in general for all of a sudden grinding back to life, I found WoKF quite enjoyable.  Granted, there wasn’t the massive server population as experienced in WoW, which actually made the game quiet nice.  The scenery and graphics are well executed, and the storyline is pretty interesting.  Would I make this my main go-to M-F?  Probably not – but at a free-to-play price, and now including free goodie bags, it might be enough to get me started on an alternate project while I’m waiting 45+ minutes to log onto a WoW server just to see what all the excitement is about.

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Sony’s free-to-play Free Realms now open for Beta signups

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

The great promise of free-to-plays making their way to a console near you is about to be delivered.  The long awaited project signals a new branch for Sony.  While not quite as high profile as The Agency, this AAA title is aimed at teen fantasy MMO players, while incorporating the whole free-to-play, microtransaction based economy.

The Free Realms website received a huge update a few days ago, and new includes videos screenshots and write-ups about what to expect, and what developers hopes for the game are.  Beta keys are being given away to hopeful participants at the site directly.  SOE is predicting an extended beta period (with my guess being a public release on or before the first of the 2009 year), culminating in a ‘service-style’ launch, one you’d see more in a traditional ‘boxed-game’ environment, rather than a digitally delivered free-to-play title.  A wise move on SOE’s part, as even the release must be a psychological factor in gamers overall opinion of the title (think WoW’s midnight store opening release parties scheduled around the world).

While Free Realms is technically an MMORPG, SOE hopes to attract users and differentiate itself by adding more social and casual gaming elements to the title.  Again, another wise move here, as introducing a ‘traditional’ RPG in a free-to-play format on a console might be a bit of a hard sell.  Conversely, those that are already familiar with casual games (think facebook) are already predisposed to the concept, and can now extend that form of play to their console experience.  Toss in a buck here and there via microtransactions, and it looks like Free Realms could just be the surprise hit of the year.  Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch, but they’ve certainly done their research, and are targeting a market segment that is already familiar with the concept.

Regarding content and gameplay, directly from Chief John Smedley via the stationblog:

You can pick from a lot of different kinds of activities to engage in… including combat, raising pets, playing all kinds of mini-games such as racing, Destruction Derby, soccer, and many more. It’s pretty cool to be able to put your racecar driver outfit on and take your car for a spin on the track, or walk up to a soccer field and just start playing with your friends.

We’ve really built a game that is aimed at bringing in an entirely new audience into MMO’s… and best of all you can play for free if you want to.  We have put significant effort into making a lot of the content in the game completely free.

Free Realms is ground breaking for a number of reasons, least of which is traditional gaming firm Sony Online Entertainment branching out into what is rapidly becoming a very valid business model even for the big boys now.

For screenshots, videos, more information and beta registration, visit Free Realms as: www.freerealms.com.

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Microtransactions enter center stage at E for All

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

The E for All expo wraps up today in Los Angeles, but not before microtransaction based games got their fair share of attention.

Top tier titles such as EverQuest, WoW, and EVE Online all have their own ingame economies, but the E for All expo gave free-to-play, microtransaction based titles a chance to shine.  Nexon American’s marketing manager Meghan Myskowski wouldn’t exactly release usage patterns since 2005 for their groundbreaking title Maple Story, but she did say that the game spearheaded the microtransaction movement in the US.

“Now, people are used to paying for virtual items,” said Myskowski. “Virtual life has changed substantially.”

Another spotlighted game is Mindark’s Entropia Universe.  Originally launched in 2004 as Project Entropia, they now have a registered user count clocking in around the 800,000 mark, with only about 40 percent of users registered in the US.  MindArk says that since it’s inception, approximately $400 million worth of transactions have occurred.  Entropia’s in game currency, the PED has an exchange rate of 1:10 – $:PED.  However, in game items do not see a real wold conversion factor, in so much as a special coat may cost $1700 (and at that real world price, it had better have a Gucci label attached to it).

MindArk is already making preparations to raise their profile by implementing the new CryEngine 2 , which promises even more photorealistic game play.  The CryEngine update is expected to release in early 2009.

President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, Joseph Olin says, “Most people playing in these persistent world environments are building their character. In E.V.E., third party brokers trade currencies in virtual worlds. Nexon has shown across all of their games that if you have the right balance of in-game economies and real world value, consumers are happy to spend some money there.”

Olin’s position on the business model as a whole is slightly biased towards producers and not players.  “Interactive entertainment companies are looking for ways to monetize their investment. The changing nature of PC entertainment software distribution, and the advent of console entertainment systems, has changed what software entertainment companies can do. You can’t sell boxed entertainment anymore. And people who are playing games aren’t always playing them on PCs anymore.”

Not just relying on microtransactions in MMO’s, Olin quickly turns his attention to the rise of music based games, specifically the microtransaction  model in Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  “Downloadable content and microtransactions for console based games are on the rise–look at Guitar Hero and Rock Band, where people anticipate downloadable Tuesdays, and you see huge numbers, half-a-million people downloading a song.”

Summing up the industry Olin adds, “consumers have so many different paths and choices to make, that the traditional business model of the consumer buying from a store, those walls are crumbling because everything is in real-time, and everything is connected.”

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