Selling One of the leading research firms in the country,...

One of the leading research firms in the country, NPD Group has finished it’s very first internet game subscription report, tracking online subscriptions beginning October of 2007 through March of 2008. The research includes the following gaming systems: MMO’s; console and casual titles; all in total these gaming programs were over $1 billion dollars in that years U.S. collective gaming industry. NPD Group used the following method to calculate these results. They established a monthly average by taking the last quarter total from 2007 and the first quarter of 2008. 2007 fourth quarter total was $93.4 million and the first quarter total for 2008 was $80.1 million. By combining the two amounts to achieve a monthly average it was multiplied by 12 to arrive at the over $1 billion annual dollars. This figure is likely conservative as the popularity of MMO’s has continued to steadily grow, despite the slumping economy. Should accurate totals of 2008 first and second quarters be averaged, it is likely the annual average would be quite a bit higher. In interviewing Ms. Anita Frazier of the NPD Group, she responded to the value of the subscription market of MMO’s. “Now that NPD can estimate the value of the subscription market, it’s clear that there is a sizable chunk of the revenue being generated by PC gaming beyond what is reflected in retail sales.” During the conduction of the research process other findings reported that over 11 million North American gamers pay a monthly subscription fee to an online gaming company. This was a 9% increase from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008. In listing the top 5 rankings for MMO’s and gaming subscription services, which are largely casual websites, during the last quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of the 2008 year. In order of largest amounts of revenue generated being first, here are a list of the top five game sites: MMO/PC Game Subscribers: 1. World of Warcraft 2. RuneScape 3. Lord of the Rings Online 4. Final Fantasy XI 5. City of Heroes