Top 10 money-making MMOs of 2008
by Shawn Schuster 
Feb 2nd 2009 at 1:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Economy, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, Academic
What makes this list frustrating is the complete lack of details involved. While WoW is reported to have earned $500 million+ in 2008, the next four on the list are reporting $150-$500 million, and the final five are reporting anything in the $50-$150 million range. To the company's credit, this isn't the final analysis. Their detailed February 16th report promises to give more information on each of the top 10 games. We certainly look forward to that.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SgtBaker said on 2:08PM 2-02-2009
No EVE? Also, I seem to remember Habbo Hotel reporting figures much higher than some of the other games on that list..
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JP said on 2:23PM 2-02-2009
Probably b/c they had no box sales or paid expansions. The report is straight revenue. Not just revenue from subs.
ethereal.wolf said on 5:23PM 2-02-2009
page 6 of the CCP Games investor's newsletter at
http://ccp.vo.llnwd.net/o2/www/ccpgames/pdf/Summary_CCP_08_0728.pdf
"Total revenues in 2007 amounted to USD 37,155,107, compared with USD 26,308,826 for the previous year. This reflects the substantial increase in active subscribers during the period."
There aren't any more recent newsletters to pull data from. EVE is a sci-fi MMO with adults as its target demographic, it doesn't surprise me that its revenue numbers are lower than the other major MMOs. I do think its a higher quality product than the other AAA titles.
SgtBaker said on 12:47AM 2-03-2009
Ah, thanks ethereal.wolf - and I very much agree with both of your comments, lack of box sales and free expansions probably push them down the ladder.
I suppose it might change in March with box sales (but I do hope they still keep releasing free expansion content!)
At the end of the day, yes, being sci-fi and aimed for more mature audiences probably forces EVE to the niché spot.
torak said on 4:40PM 2-02-2009
LoL
"no EVE"
They wish....
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Sean said on 11:33PM 2-02-2009
The real story here is how quietly successful these RMT based games have been. At least in the West, Blizzard is portrayed as the untouchable juggernaut of the MMO market, the only example of a wildly successful MMO to date. If Runescape though can pull 100-500million in annual revenue, well, I'll be interested to see how the new crop of RMT based MMOs (Free Realms, Runes of Mana, The Agency, etc) will do.
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