Asian MMORPG market is worth $1.09 billion

ANALYST FIRM IDC has released the results of a study into online videogaming in Asia. The report said that the market for MMORPG's generated $1.09 billion in subscription revenue in 2004, growing by approximately 30% over 2003.

"The online gaming market has been on a dramatic growth path, gaining the numbers in terms of gamers and blazing trails in the development of new business models, content, and usage patterns,” said Jun-Fwu Chin, Senior Analyst, Software Research, IDC Malaysia.

"Much like any other evolving market, this growth has been obtained through experimentation and evolution, often at the expense of some not-so-successful attempts that, ultimately, provided valuable lessons learned and used throughout the industry." µ

Korea's online gaming subscription market grew 24.8% and remains the biggest online gaming industry in the region with a total of US$533.4 million in subscription revenue in 2004. This is followed by China, which recorded US$298 million in online gaming subscription in 2004. Taiwan is in third place generating US$190.9 million. Thailand is the new emerging market in the region, where subscription revenues tripled in 2004, reaching US$22.9 million. IDC expects the region's subscription revenue to increase throughout the forecast period, and the total proportion of this revenue source will rely more on purchased virtual game items and downloadable games revenue. Also, IDC anticipates growth in casual online gaming services with lower monthly fees than traditional MMORPG's in conjunction with lower growth in pricier MMORPG's will serve to slightly dampen subscription revenue growth. According to the IDC the Asia/Pacific online gaming market has grown incredibly diverse and interesting over the past several years. They estimate that it will continue to be an attractive playing field for existing, hardcore, and serious online gamers and, at the same time, appeal to a new demographic of individuals who will never consider themselves as gamers, but have adopted casual content with enthusiasm. With a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2005 to 2009 of 19.7%, the market will be more than double its existing market size by 2009. …presuming, of course, national governments don't crack down on it too hard [http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25146].