A new report from Today’s Gamers International Survey, which collects information about gamers’ online spending, reveals the spending in MMOs in the US and in some of the European countries. According to the report, Americans spent £2.5 billion (appr. $3.8 billion USD) on MMOGs in 2009.

The same report puts British spending to £195 million, well ahead of France and Germany, each with £145 million and £165 million respective.

“Free to play” versus “Pay to play”

The majority of the British MMO players ..read the full article

Free to Play MMORPG Aika Online will be entering Open Beta next week, according to publishers Gala-Net. We have previously held closed beta key giveaways here at The MMO Gamer, but starting March 16th, anybody can play the game.

New and returning Aika fans will be able to access a regular lineup of the exciting PvP events introduced during CB. Invading nations continuously attempt to steal valuable relics from their rivals in 1000 vs. 1000 battles, while weekly Castle Sieges ..read the full article

The rise and fall of Allods Online can be broken down into two categories, before the item shop and after.  The game kicked off to to stellar reviews, fanfare, and lots of positive feedback.  Really everything a developer could ever want.  gPotato added the item shop shortly after the game went live, and all of that positive movement was gone.  *poof*

Players frothed at the mouth over incredibly high prices for items such as an additional six bag slots for $20.  ..read the full article

According to Turbine, the now free to play MMORPG Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited has now surpassed 1 million new players since the game changed its business model to free to play. The game was released in early 2006 and was turned into a free to play game in 2009.

“The launch of DDO Unlimited has been a huge success and has really taken the game to a new level,” said Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer of DDO Unlimited. “As ..read the full article

Tesh dug up this guest article from Penny Arcade and I thought it was worth relinking. It’s written by Daniel James (aka Captain Cleaver), CEO and designer for Three Rings Design (Puzzle Pirates).

The paraphrasing quote hits home like a hammer:

“Money can’t buy you love, but love can bring you money. In software the only sustainable way to earn money is by first creating love, and then hoping that some folks want to demonstrate that love with their dollars.”

Free to Play ..read the full article

The free-to-play browser based game Crown of Byzantus went live today!

So perhaps my post last week about the open beta ended on a bit of a dire note.  If you missed the tiny crack in the open beta window I left open, have no fear, you can now play the game for real.

The game features NO gladiatorial combat or farming.  Seriously, their press page makes the point of saying:

Byzantus is based loosely on the late 14th century Byzantine Empire spiced ..read the full article

No, not WoW-type tanks.  Real tanks.  Armored fighting vehicles.

Well, virtual armored fighting vehicles.  Darren has the trailer posted over at his site.

I am talking about a free-to-play online game which is all about tanks called World of Tanks.

All tanks and nothing but tanks, or so it seems.

And WWII tanks no less. Everybody’s favorite!

From the site:

World of Tanks is a team-based massively multiplayer online action game dedicated to armored warfare. Throw yourself into the epic tank battles of World War II ..read the full article

Gala-Net announced yesterday that their upcoming free-to-play MMORPG Allods Online has entered open beta, inviting people to go and try the game.

Allods Online is a revolutionary sci-fi fantasy MMORPG developed by Astrum Nival, creators of Heroes of Might & Magic V, with a budget of $12 million and four years in development.  Astrum Nival is owned by Mail.Ru, the leading online gaming publisher in Russia.  Two warring factions, League and Empire, vie for control of allods—islands floating in Astral space.  ..read the full article

I received a note the other day from a Finnish company called Casual Continent.

And when I say “the other day” I mean about a month ago when I was in Hawaii.  Furthermore, the email fell into my spam folder and I only fished it out after it sat in there for two additional weeks.

So it seems like just the other day to me.

Anyway, the email came with the subject line:

Casual Continent takes on the German Giants!

As far as subject lines ..read the full article

Jeffrey has taken a look at Sparkplay’s browser-based MMORPG Earth Eternal. The game is currently in beta and aimed at a younger audience. Hit jump to find out what Jeffrey thought of the game.

Here we go, like Alice down the rabbit hole, venturing into a fantastic world of wonder and awe.

I apologize for the grandiose introduction, but something about a land filled exclusively with anthropomorphic animals does bring to mind certain images.

I refer of course to Earth Eternal, the initial ..read the full article

The developers of free-2-play MMOG Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, Turbine, announced today that on February 3rd they will update the game with its third major content update and introduce the games nighttime mode.

For more information about the game visit the official website.

SweetRobot, the casual MMO publishing arm of Funcom, has released a gameplay trailer of its first upcoming MMO Pets Vs. Monsters. The Free 2 Play game is aimed at children aged 8 to 12.

To view the high definition version of the trailer, click here.

Funcom announced today that they have established a subsidiary specifically focused on publishing casual MMOs. The company, named SweetRobot, already has its first project ready; Pets vs Monsters. This free to play title is aimed at children aged 8 to 12 and has been worked on by a team of 15 people for the past 2 years.

“Our passion and dedication for high-end online games remains the same, and `Age of Conan’ and `The Secret World’ are still our primary focus”, ..read the full article

Last Friday when I posted about Battlefield Heroes and their cash shop controversy, I was just writing out one of those “what does it really mean?” sort of posts that has an interminable lead-in then ends (if you lasted that long) on the actual question that came to my mind.

Much to my surprise, the post had more reach than I expected, getting noted over at Massively, on Tobold’s blog, and, after a short delay, partially explained by a Packer’s loss ..read the full article

Proponents of the free-to-play, cash shop, and micropayments financed philosophy of online games like to point out what they see as a key flaw with the subscription model:  Subscriptions set a cap on how much money your customers will give you.

You’re stuck.  You only asked for $15 a month, so that is all you got.

Now the conservative accounting guy in me can see the benefits of a steady revenue stream.

Subscriptions x $15 = monthly gross revenue.

That is nice and predictable.  ..read the full article

Welcome to another episode of the Working As Intended podcast! It’s number seven in the order and starting with this episode, the podcast is going weekly! This week’s guest is Warrior Epic producer Keren Kang from publishers True Games Interactive. Tune in to listen to the interview as well as catch up on the latest news and discussions with host Jeffrey Phillip and co-host Steven Crews.

Topics

Guest: Keren Kang 4Story Newbie Package Giveaway Global Agenda Announces Pricing Model Tim Cain/Carbine Studios Interview The Agency Interview Star ..read the full article

Today we received some new screenshots of the recently released Dungeons & Dragons Online:  Eberron Unlimited, which is now free to play.

DDO Unlimited delivers the best combat of any MMO and the most heart-pounding action this side of a keyboard, plus a lot more!

DDO Unlimited’s New Content & Features – DDO Unlimited delivers a new class, increases the level cap to 96 ranks, introduces new adventure packs including a new 12-player raid, and features major combat improvements. The Fiercest Combat of ..read the full article

Turbine Inc has set Dungeons & Dragons free with their new updated to the game. The game is now free to download and play and makes use of a microtransactions. Our own Jason Weaver played the game, hit jump to read his impressions.

Turbine’s other and oft forgotten MMO, Dungeons and Dragons Online is set to make a major change from subscription based to free2play while still keeping the option to pay the 14.99 subscription fee. What this means is, ..read the full article