The market value for massively multiplayer online games in the West hit $1bn for the first time in 2006, according to a new report from Screen Digest.
Screen Digest says that the North American subscription market was worth $576m, while Europe was worth $299m.
Subscription services dominate in the West, accounting for 87% of the market, although virtual item sales and in-game advertising have also made inroads during the year.
Screen Digest adds that the growing impact of these new business models is symptomatic of the increasing influence of traditional MMOGs on other online platforms and games sectors, such as social networking sites and casual online games, with both of these sectors now broadly adopting MMOG-like strategies.
The market research firm forecasts that by 2011 over 10 million subscription accounts will generate $1.5bn in consumer spending on this growing sector of the online games market, adding that over the forecast period Europe will enjoy the strongest growth between the two Western regions.
Piers Harding-Rolls, author of the report, said: “During the past few years the Western landscape for massively multiplayer online games has become increasingly fragmented following the introduction of new genres of games including social networking, virtual pet rearing and virtual world building titles.
“These new games and platforms have brought with them many new gamers and also new business models that are generating revenue that is largely incremental to the incumbent subscription business.”
Over the five year period, Germany is predicted to remain the largest subscription market in Europe, followed by the UK.
France will see the most significant value growth of over 16% CAGR over the term, whilst Spain and Italy will both experience subscription value CAGR of more than 15%.
A report from Nielsen//NetRatings towards the end of last year said that British children and teenagers contributed to the online games audience growing over 16% (see Youngsters Fuel Growth Of Online Game Sector).
Universal McCann also noted the growing importance of online games, with its TrendMarker, Parallel Worlds report saying that marketers should look to massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) if they are trying to target 18-34 year old males (see Marketers Should Look To Online Games).
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