WoW and SL not all there is to MMOs

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Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business models, Economy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Second Life, Free-to-play, Casual

GigaOM has posted up a fascinating feature by Wagner James Au which claims that World of Warcraft and Second Life, the two best known of the MMO major players, are not the be all and end all of virtual worlds. Far from it. The post was Inspired by the release of a report by Engage Digital which claims investors 'poured $237 million into virtual world-related start ups and payment systems last quarter'. That's quite a large number and not actually that surprising given the number of new MMOs and virtual worlds which have been popping up on the interview.

The post goes on to explain that an MMO's success does not depend entirely on vast subscriber numbers or players. Rather, it's more to do with the platforms. Au cites examples of MMO and virtual worlds only available on specific platforms or social networks including Facebook and MySpace which are just as popular as either WoW or SL, they just might not be as well known. Regardless, the post is quite a surprising read and definitely worth a peek if you need reminding that Azeroth and Second Life are not the only virtual worlds out there in cyberspace.WoW and SL not all there is to MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.




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