Influence of ‘flat rate payment system’, which is a system where one pays certain amount and plays an online game, is becoming bigger in online gaming industries. Strength of games with flat rate payment system indicates that only contents with huge capital and production can survive in PC and online game markets.
According to Identity Mobile, 80% of people repaid to play ‘Final Fantasy 14’, which is MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) that was released in last August.
Final Fantasy 14 started its official service starting from the 1st of September with $17.24 (19,800 KRW) per month payment. Including users who had already paid for 90 days’ worth, 8 of 10 people that had played this game in last month paid to play in October again.
“Daily average of 150,000 people is currently playing this game. Including users who had played this game for free until they’ve reached level 20, 5,000 new users on daily basis are paying to play this game.” said a person from Identity Mobile.
Strength of flat rate payment system stands out especially in RPG (Role-Playing Game). According to game research site called Gametrics, RPGs based on flat rate payment system in top 20 ranking in last month were the following: Lineage (7th), Blade And Soul (9th), Final Fantasy 14 (12th), and World of Warcraft (14th). There were only 3 RPGs that had users pay only partially and they were Dungeon And Fighter (6th), Maple Story (15th), and Maple Story 2 (16th).
“Looking at the fact that RPGs based on flat rate payment system are dominating the top ranking, one can see that midsize RPGs that have users pay only partially are not popular anymore. A trend of increase in number of large-sized RPGs luring users from midsize PC and online RPGs is very clear.” said CEO Choi Ho Kyung of Game Insight.
“It is usual that large-sized RPGs with large capital and production abilities establish flat rate payment system from the start to collect the amount of investments back and for other reasons. This signals that PC and online RPG markets are reorganizing based on large-sized gaming businesses.” said CEO Choi.
Final Fantasy 14 is actually a content that was serviced globally by major Japanese gaming company called Square Enix and had finished its qualification. Nexon’s ‘Maple Story 2’, which is an only MMORPG with partial payment that was newly ranked in top 20 this year, is a game that Nexon had developed for years and invested large amount of capital.
MMORPGs such as ‘Lineage Eternal (NC Soft)’, ‘Lost Arc (Smile Gate)’, and others that are supposed to be released next year based on flat rate payment system are going to be focused by each company. It is coming to a point where midsize PC and online RPGs that have users pay only partially are going to have hard time to be popular.
“Even in the future, PC and online MMORPGs will only be made by businesses with strong funds such as NC Soft, Nexon, Smile Gate and others. Otherwise only contents based on popular IP such as ‘Civilization Online’ and RPGs with game system that was never created before will have high chance of becoming popular in markets.” said a person in a gaming business.
Staff Reporter Kim, Siso | siso@etnews.com