DDO Claims Third-Largest MMO Audience in US
Market research company NPD Group released its "online gamer survey" for 2009, indicating that Dungeons and Dragons Online is the country's third-largest MMO
In 2008, market research company NPD Group released its first-ever report of online gaming subscriptions, gleaned from its 2007 to 2008 survey of MMO players. The report offered a rare insight into the closely-guarded proprietary statistics that most MMO publishers will never release, as Gamasutra reported in May 2008. Back then, NPD Group estimated that the top five PC MMO subscriptions ranked as follows, in order of market share: World of Warcraft, RuneScape, Lord of the Rings Online, Final Fantasy XI and City of Heroes.
Last week NPD Group released its latest report of online gaming subscriptions, based on its January 2010 survey of 19,000 gamers of all ages, according to an analysis at Massively.com. It should come as no surprise to MMO fans that World of Warcraft is still the most-popular title in terms of both subscribership and play time, and Jagex's RuneScape is still holding onto second place. What's interesting, though, is that Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online knocked out the ever-popular Guild Wars for third place this year, making it the third-most popular MMO in the United States, according to NPD Group's survey results. The survey also asked participants a variety of questions about their playing habits, indicating that a substantial amount of former WoW players left the MMO for the free-to-play DDO (and that the industry's free-to-play revenue model is gaining popularity over subscription-based MMOs). Check out the full analysis at Massively; it's an interesting read for any MMO fan.