The digital sales of games are booming. The top games in January 2016 are now League of Legends, WoW and Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Superdata Research creates various reports full of analyses. Data for this comes from developers, publishers, and payment service providers – the data from 47 million paying players worldwide, according to their own statements. The goal is to sell it to companies. However, a part is also presented publicly.
This time, it all revolves around their favorite topic, the digital game market. It continues to boom, increasing by 8% in January compared to the previous year. PC and console games are rising the most, as players are now not just buying DLCs or small items digitally, but the full games.
In the Free2Play games, we see 3 well-known names, 2 exotic ones
In the Free2Play MMOs, it looks like this. Superdata identifies games here that do not have a subscription function, nor an optional one:
- In first place is League of Legends
- In second place, the mostly popular shooter in Asia, Crossfire
- In third place is Dungeon Fighter Online, also a purely Asia title
- In fourth place World of Tanks
- And in fifth place, DOTA 2 from Valve
In this segment, little has changed for years. LoL and World of Tanks seem to be market leaders in their areas, their position is probably quite cemented. There’s a bold thesis: There is actually no MOBA genre, there is only LoL and others that try have a hard time. Even software giants like Blizzard or Valve may be successful with their MOBA titles, but are far from the dimensions that League of Legends achieves.
When you see images or videos of the two Asian games, you can’t help but rub your eyes in amazement as a Westerner. But well, LoL or Dota 2 aren’t exactly beauties whose fascination is evident at first glance.
And yes: Superdata defines the term “MMO” much broader than most do here. That MOBAs like LoL or DOTA 2 fall under it is normal for the analysis company. While here, people would debate heatedly whether World of Tanks even falls under the term.
TERA stronger than Star Wars: The Old Republic and Blade and Soul
In the MMOs that have a subscription option, the revenue rankings in January are as follows:
- In first place, still World of Warcraft
- In second place comes Lineage I, an oldie from Korea
- In third place is TERA
- In fourth place Star Wars: The Old Republic
- And in fifth place comes Blade and Soul
The definition of “Pay2Play” as “One can take out a subscription” is quite debatable and might seem arbitrary to some readers. But here, there is indeed an interesting mix of games. The top two are the respective giants and silverbacks in the West and East, which is not so exciting. But that TERA, SWTOR, and Blade and Soul particularly hold places 3-5 tells an interesting story.
Each of the games has its own strengths and weaknesses. TERA was long underdeveloped due to a lawsuit, SWTOR was almost written off after a difficult release, but EA just wouldn’t let it die, developing it further because of the great license, and B&S took ages to get a Western release. But despite all the differences, the games have one thing in common: success.
The franchise rules: Destiny and FIFA 16 also top in January
In console games, the digital revenue looks like this:
- In first place Call of Duty: Black Ops III
- In second place FIFA 16
- In third place Grand Theft Auto V
- In fourth place comes Destiny
- In fifth place Fallout 4
In consoles, there are no major surprises. Destiny is the only title that doesn’t signal through a numeral: “Hello, I am a big franchise”, although Destiny is explicitly aiming to become one. The numbers show why the console market, like Hollywood, is firmly in the grasp of “series, franchises, and sequels”: They simply make the most money.
Genuine surprises in this weight class are probably rare.
