PC gaming subscription revenue fell in 2010

Research conducted by IHS Screen Digest suggests subscription revenue generated by online PC games in the US and Europe dropped for “the first time” in 2010. Subscription revenue amounted to $1.58 billion last year, down five per cent from 2009, and is expected to fall annually to $1.33 billion in 2015. “The 2010 decline in subscription revenue - the first annual contraction experienced by the market since our coverage of this segment started in 2002 - represents an inflection point for the industry,” said Piers Harding-Rolls, senior analyst and head of games at IHS. “The focus of many PC game operators has clearly shifted to microtransaction-based models.” US and European microtransaction revenue leapt 24.2 per cent in 2010 and is expected to hit $1.8 billion in 2015. “This more than compensated for the decline in the subscription area and caused total Western MMOG/MOG market revenue - both subscriptions and microtransactions - to rise to $2.7 billion in 2010,” up 5.3 per cent from 2009, said Harding-Rolls The figure represents a 9.6 per cent share of the $31 billion spent in the West on all games content last year, according to IHS.

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