DEEP (digital media) THOUGHTS

i promise deep thinking. about digital media.

  • about me
  • simplypreposterous
  • twitter
  • facebook
  • linkedin
  • quora
  • hype machine
    • Edit
    • Delete
    • Tags
    • Autopost

    misconceptions about online game statistics

    i will be concise, and not even link out to various stories/blogposts that have quoted these stats, but i absolutely hate it when the media take anecdotal metrics literally and publish them to define business scale or business model viability. recently, several online game publishers have converted previously paid subscription games to free to play. these games then claim to see their "revenues double". that can mean many things, including:

    1) total revenue derived from the game post conversion = total revenue derived from game pre-conversion X 2 (impossible)
    2) total revenue on day after conversion = total revenue on day before conversion (substitute day with week, month, etc) X 2 (probable, but unlikely)
    3) total revenue by some other segmented analysis = total revenue by same segmented analysis before conversion X 2 (probable)

    Note how the media seems to always assume that #1 is the case, and that these games that have been operating as paid subscription services for months or even years, are suddenly crushing it as free to play games. not likely. i am a firm believer in the free to play model but success with that model is driven by content and game design quality combined with business model, not business model alone.

    second, a lot of people seem to think that WoW has 12 million subscribers worldwide each paying $15/month to play the game. this is also so far from the truth it is laughable every time i read this metric cited by reputable blogs and websites. WoW uses the subscription model in western markets, but in emerging markets like China and other parts of East Asia, they are published by 3rd parties or via JVs (Netease in China, JVs or subsidiaries in Korea and Taiwan), and none of them use a paid monthly subscription model, and more than 50% of their users come from these regions.

    please do some homework already when you quote these insanely inaccurate "facts" and "metrics"!
    Tags » online games
    • 17 November 2010
    • Views
    • Permalink
    • Tweet
    • 0 responses
    • Like
    • Comment

  • jason's Space

    Contributed by jason yeh

    • Contributors
    • jason yeh

  • About jason

    Hello. My name is Jason, and here you will find some thoughts on the all things digital media, but with a focus on a couple of things i love: movies, music and games. I used to be a VC at FirstMark Capital in NYC, and now lead the International Publishing efforts at online game publisher/developer Riot Games in LA. It goes without saying, but all opinions found on this site are not representative of opinions of either FirstMark Capital or Riot Games. They are my own personal random rants.

  • Subscribe via RSS

    Archive

    2011 (1)
    January (1)
    2010 (15)
    November (1)
    September (1)
    August (2)
    June (8)
    May (3)

  • Follow Me

      TwitterFacebookFlickrTumblrmetaweblog

Theme created for Posterous by Obox