Free Realms destroys the 1 million account speed record

by Krystalle Voecks May 15th 2009 at 11:15AM

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles, News items, Casual, Free Realms

We've known it was going to be a strong contender since the first time we laid eyes on Free Realms. Once we stepped into the world last month and started playing the game, we knew it was going to be even bigger than we'd previously thought. Sure enough, we were right. News has come out this morning, courtesy of John Smedley on Twitter, that Free Realms crossed the 1 million account mark in just eighteen days since launch. Considering we got the news that Runes of Magic crossed the 1 million mark yesterday in just a little under two months, 18 days is an insanely fast time-frame for a recent free-to-play game release to break that mark! Of course, considering how fiendishly addictive and fun Free Realms is, we're not too surprised. We're sure the TV commercials probably didn't hurt, either.

We here at Massively would like to send out our congratulations to the Free Realms team on their exciting landmark achievement! We'll let you know more when we have some further details from SOE. In the meantime, if you'll pardon us, we're going to go play Demolition Derby to celebrate.

Want to know more about Free Realms? SOE's new whimsical free-to-play MMO is already being called a refreshing change of pace for kids and adults alike, and we have just the coverage you need!

Tags: 1-million, 1-million-accounts, breaking, browser-based, casual, free-realms, free-to-play, fun, soe, sony-online-entertainment

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

dantevengence said on 11:28AM 5-15-2009

This is a really good game and deserves this! Great job FreeRealms! =)

THAC0 said on 11:43AM 5-15-2009

Thats what happens when you release a highly polished product for free and back it up with advertising. Why wouldn't people try it even if they never log in again they loose nothing and after they register its still an account that Sony has. Win/Win.

trob0 said on 11:46AM 5-15-2009

I suspect that quite a few people, like myself, checked the game out and decided not to play. The barrier of entry is almost nonexistent with the in-browser downloading and such, which I'm sure attracted many curious gamers, but it doesn't make the game itself any more appealing.

Let us know when they pass the 1 million PAID subscription mark -- that'll be news.

In the meantime, perhaps you could be a little more critical of this game, because it really looks like you are getting paid to advertise for Sony.

THAC0 said on 12:10PM 5-15-2009

I agree 100% But now the FR fanbois/paid posters are going to come make it sound like your a troll for not giving it glowing praise and saying that your in love with it.

Thud said on 4:09PM 5-15-2009

No THAC0, the only thing that needs a flaming against is people assuming that positive press around a new game that they personally don't enjoy is automatically "paid posting." Honestly, you've posted on nearly every Free Realms thread with something negative. Just skip the articles, scroll down and read the next one. Clearly, there is public interest in this game...1 million registered accounts in 18 days sure sound like it to me. The large amount of press is warranted.

...but I digress, I wanted to reply to trob0's post:

I too agree 100%. Yes it's a speed record, but it's also a BIG name with a BIG budget and lots of polish. I wouldn't expect anything less. Show me 1 million people who actually stick with the game after the new romance grace period is over and I'll applaud them.

THAC0 said on 4:35PM 5-15-2009

@ Thud

I said nothing negative in this thread about free realms, in fact if you look at my first post I think that would be called praise.

Jason said on 11:53AM 5-15-2009

I hate to be a naysayer.... nay, I actually quite like it sometimes... but anyway, as has been said, they could have eleventy billion accounts and still be a failure if not enough people pay. It is similar to the numbers that Second Life likes to throw out about their residents.

Good for them. 1 million people creating an account is great, but I'd like to wait and see it tempered with a metric that matters more, either subscriptions and station cash sales, or "regular players" where you have to throw out the people who only log in once or who haven't logged in in a while and are not paying.

Amana said on 12:17PM 5-15-2009

Goodness :-o
Erm so.. where exactly are Sony proclaiming 'success'?
And how would you know what on earth Sony's definition of it is?

All they're saying is 'we got 1m registered'.

Over-react and jump to conclusion much?

trob0 said on 12:34PM 5-15-2009

1) Jason never said Sony was proclaiming success (not sure why you put that in quotation marks)

2) Jason was not responding to Sony's announcement, he was commenting on this post at Massively. They aren't JUST saying "we got 1m registered," they are saying that it is an "exciting landmark achievement!"

3) I don't think he's overreacting or jumping to conclusions, he just stated a pretty valid opinion and a neutral manner.

Jason said on 3:34PM 5-15-2009

Thanks, trob0.

Sorry for being a realist, Amana, but its my nature. At the moment, SOE has spent a ton of money developing this game, and advertising this game, and I wish them all the best. I really do. (To be snarky, a casual free-ish game like this will help make the MMOs I prefer better by not having to cater to the people who prefer FreeRealms.) But 1 million accounts, while a milestone, is not "money in the bank". Right now, all they can really claim is that in 18 days over 1 million people gave them a try, and that is awesome. But like Second Life, if 90% of those people never drop a single dollar into their bucket. Remember, Age of Conan sold, what, 700k boxes? How many are still playing? Warhammer did something similar.

I'm still (eagerly) awaiting a better metric. How many of that 1 million liked enough of what they saw to drop $5 on a month of subscription?

Venekor said on 12:10PM 5-15-2009

It deserves it because from what I played it's a great kids mmorpg that parents can leave their kids to play alone. SOE has always been really good when it comes to protecting kids in mmorpgs and I guess that's because Smedley has a family of his own.

Buckeye said on 12:55PM 5-15-2009

Just wait until Smedley releases the NGE for Free Realms, then lets see how many subscribers they have left...

Halldorr said on 12:32PM 5-15-2009

Love the guys that come in and say Massively are being paid by Sony or whatever, they are reporting news which they do for all MMOs. Good for Free Realms, a very fun game and very well done.

Jack said on 12:43PM 5-15-2009

WHAT THE HELL!!?? Really is this what mmorps will be like this days?? This for me plays like a crappy WII game its all mini games you can not do anything without play a mini game!

I am sorry but I really not can stand this type of game play when I first started I was wowed by the fast download of the game. I was in no time making my toon and later when I go in world I was wowed by the graphics and sexy female voice over.... Later after some short farm work I got to the point where some lady had trouble with her bday party some damn trolls where crashing it! She give me two options to help out "Cooking??!!" or kick there ass! Yep I did go with kick there butts and run to the trainer hoping I was going to get my wapen. Things from there did go to the worst I was not able to freestyle it. A loading screen did pop up and I end in some kind of mini game with WoW like controls any way after beat it I needed to click a door that showed up out of no where and again loading screen. Anyway long story short later I go to the main arena hoping that the full game not was in this way... well it was I played the pet mini game and carting mini game and when I try the cooking mini game I GOT ONE OF THIS crappy match games (I HATE THAT KIND OF GAMES). Anyway I got sick and tired of this game in like 7 hours...

This game is now number 2 on my list of worst mmorps nr 1 is 2nd life one of the worst games like its not even a game but a chatbox with some crappy 3d world!

THAC0 said on 3:05PM 5-15-2009

THIS!

Dblade said on 8:09PM 5-15-2009

Ok, some of that was sig-worthy.

MCRaider said on 5:28PM 5-15-2009

FreeRealms is a great game, I am amazed by the amount of polish that the game has. The controls feel very natural and the mini-games are great plus who does not love having a TCG game?

The game is not for everyone but coming from the same old style of MMO WoW,WAR, LOTRO this game is a real breathe of fresh air. I love mini-games and have always been a big fan of Mario Party and Warioware so this game is a lot of fun for me. Plus being all free really helps and honestly the F2P will have much higher numbers then monthly subs.

Maple Story has what 80 million accounts/characters now? But why should we count only those that pay for the premium membership? If I play to enjoy the game then thats great but getting over the 1 million landmark is impressive.

Most console games sell that in a few months and most games take a while to get over 1 million in sales. It is like 1 million trials using Gamefly.

Also for whoever said AoC sold 700K boxes. Yes they "sold" that many as in to the retailer not actual sales of the game to customers.

Jack said on 12:37AM 5-16-2009

Out of your comments I take it you are a Wii Owner? Noting wrong with that its the number 1 sold product of the last 2 years. Do you not think this morp will make a great product on the WII? They use change the name to Mii Realms and use that mii's for people to run around the world and play there favorite mini games online (something that Nintendo really can use more off).

Krystalle Voecks said on 12:52AM 5-16-2009

@Jack: There's just one tiny problem with your suggestion of putting it on the Wii... SOE is a sub-division of SCEA. Sony makes this console called the PlayStation 3, which they've already said Free Realms is coming out for. While it might print money on the Wii, they're not going to pass on a hot exclusive game for their own console.

If you want a social 'world' with Miis, you should look into Animal Crossing: City Folk. It's perhaps the closest thing you'll find currently on that platform.