Most Popular "MMO" Research

Most Popular MMORPG Research
Written By: Oninuva

Published At: Gamerz-Forum


The amount of people playing a single MMO has never been greater before and now is populated by many web-based browser games such as runescape and habbo hotel. In the following study done at gamerz-forum you will learn how each MMO is overall ranked.

World of Warcraft – Blizzard Entertainment – 8.5 Million Subscribers

A generally popular and well-known MMO, World of Warcraft has a total of 8.5 million subscribers as of 2008. One important fact is that only half the people are in the Western part of the world (North America, Europe). The other half are players from internet cafes located in china that pay not by month but by hours played (4 cents / hour).

Habbo Hotel – Sulake – 7.5 Million Subscribers

Habbo hotel is a chat-room genre MMO where, not similar to the classic “RPG” themed game. Some could say that this is not a game, rather just a avatar-based chat room with options to buy digital items, etc.

RuneScape – Jagex Ltd. – 5 Million Subscribers

Runescape is a web-based browser game developed in Java. Runescape which was released in 2001 is a popular game amongst children of younger ages. When the game was first released, it’s popularity spread like a bonfire through many schools throughout the united states. The game itself has 1 million paying customers (5$ / month) generating roughly a revenue of $5,000,000 per month.

Club Penguin – New Horizon Interactive – 4 Million Subscribers

Similar to Habbo Hotel, this MMO is more targeted to a younger age group of children. The game claims to be free but most features that make it a “game” require a membership. Things that do not are chats, logging in, etc.

Webkinz – GANZ – 3.8 Million Subscribers

This is now more similar to a game, they say you build your “stuffed animal” and it will come alive. You can name it, dress it, give it a house to live in, etc.

Gaia Online – Derek Liu – 2 Million Subscribers

Opened in 2003, the “social” game has grown to 2 million subscribers. While the game is more chat and social based featuring a few “gaming” features, much of the activity is on their community forums.

Guild Wars – NCSoft – 2 Million Subscribers

While guild wars is actually a MMORPG, the game is free to play! Unlike most MMORPGs such as WoW or Age of Conan, Guild Wars makes revenue from selling expansions and such. The game itself features “group-oriented” game play where players are encouraged to find parties and groups to explore the game.

Puzzle Pirates – Ubisoft – 1.5 Million Subscribers

Pirate Puzzle is more of a casual social game with a pirate theme. Since the sudden public interest in Pirates has risen, the game itself is doing quite well.

Lineage II – NCSoft – 1 Million Subscribers

More popular in Korea then in western countries, the game was once very popular.