The Raptr numbers for August are out and depict a picture of trends in the MMOs and MOBAs. Above all, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, and Final Fantasy XIV have been able to gain ground compared to previous months.
The Raptr numbers reflect how many hours those players spent in the individual games that log this via the Ratpr software. This is also – like any other number in the MMO area – not an absolutely valid measure to say: Which game is “successful” or not? But trends can be read when comparing the Ratpr values from the individual months.
World of Warcraft: And it is moving after all
The Raptr numbers measure played hours. Thus, intensive time-eaters like MOBAs and MMORPGs have the advantage. And this time, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, and Dota 2 dominate the table again. World of Warcraft managed to advance to rank 2. August was a strange month for WoW: Although nothing happened in the game, there were worldwide promo actions to bring players back to the island, back to Azeroth. Especially the discount of Mists of Pandaria, according to raptr, attracted some players. Compared to July, World of Warcraft was played nearly 20% longer.
And of course, Blizzard’s PR machine is now in full swing: The expansion Warlords of Draenor is set to be released on November 13. The numbers should remain about the same in September, pick up slightly in October, and then explode in November.
Smite instead of Diablo: MOBA is making waves
The MOBA Smite is on the rise and overtook Diablo 3 in August. With some promo actions and new content, this action-oriented MOBA can grow by 170%. Whether the trend will last is hard to estimate. Especially with MOBAs, which are the new “hot shit”, the market is in motion. Everyone wants a piece of the LoL cake, but the others are also gearing up.
Heroes of the Storm, the Blizzard MOBA, is still at the starting blocks, there is Strife, EA is planning something big, a MOBA from the Borderlands creators has been announced and who knows what else will soon enter the genre: Hard to estimate whether Smite can hold its ground up here in the long run.
August was excellent in any case.
Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2, and World of Tanks with upward trend
As a core gamer, one sometimes wonders what all the fuss is about all these special discounts and giveaways. Does it really matter to anyone whether a gem package costs half price one weekend or tank shots yield double rewards for the 80th anniversary of a battle? Yes, it does! According to Ratpr, this actually has a significant influence on playtime and the gaming behavior of players.
For the second birthday of Guild Wars 2, there were some discount actions, which significantly boosted playtime. Normally, not much happens in Guild Wars 2 in the second half of August, as players await the feature patch in September. Nevertheless, Guild Wars 2 is one of the big winners of August, improving by five places to rank 12.
A nearly identical story can be told for Final Fantasy, as they also used August for various events and special actions. There are now free trials, recruit a friend actions and various other incentives to check out the game. This is having an effect. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn had already risen in July, has managed to maintain this position and improve slightly. In August, it is rated 10th among Raptr users.
And the last in the king of discounts is World of Tanks. Here, the stronger presence on Twitch is also becoming noticeable. Weekend promotions and eSports events added to this. Wargaming’s flagship tank climbs from rank 19 to 13.
Beautiful story: Star Wars: The Old Republic is making a comeback
From the bottom of the table comes a nice success story for all MMORPG fans. The often-doomed Star Wars: The Old Republic barely made it into the top 20 in July, with two and a half toes and help from the Force, while in August it ranks at 14th place among closely packed lower ranks. The reason for this is said to be the early access to the Galactic Strongholds expansion.
The two MMORPGs launched this year, The Elder Scrolls Online and WildStar, have fallen out of the top 20. A comeback seems questionable. For those wanting to compare this with last month: These were the Raptr numbers in July.
