Adrian

To be explicit, this question arised right after the failure of my attempt to establish more or less exact numbers of active users in top Asian f2p-based projects. It is a simple procedure when we’re speaking about subscription model – the number of active subscribers is an open info usually – but the common number for f2p operators is the number of concurrent users (accu or pccu). Speaking of PW I couldn’t find the [any +/- proofable] number of active users even in the IPO statement of Beijing Perfect World. So I’m really happy that you were luckier than me and were so kind to publish that number in an open source. Thanks again!

Max

P.S. Keep up the good work, Adrian! It is always a pleasure to read you posts

In a general sense, all company provided numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, as generally no attempt is made to filter out free trial accounts, inactive accounts, etc. In some cases, such as Second Life, anyone who ever tried the game is considered a “resident”, whether they ever came back for a second session or not. I try to do some filtering, based on my experience, but who knows how accurate it is? I’m comfortable that the numbers I posted are Plus/Minus 10% of the actual numbers, but one or more might be off by more.

-Jess

I assume you’re directing your question to Jessica. Hopefully she can answer it.

Adrian

I retract my comment about your data being unattributed.

http://www.slideshare.net/jessmull/virtual-worlds-oct-2007.

Other numbers or assertions were based on experience or extrapolation of obvious trends. For example, the trend of browser-based social worlds growing and client/server stagnating: Browser-based Habbo Hotel, a browser-based social world, has 7.5 million active users, Webkinz has about 4 million and Club Penguin has 12 million, with 700k premium subscribers. Compared this to client/server worlds Second Life, which has 400k-500k, even though Linden claims 12 million people have tried it, and There.com, which has about the same. This shows an obvious trend of browser-based social spaces having greater take-up than client/server social spaces.

In the virtual world game space, however, client/server still rules, but there is a trend developing toward browser-based. Runescape, with 6 million active customers, is a good example. With its much easier accessibility for most people, we’re starting to see more browser-based MMOs going into development.

-Jess