07-22-2004, 03:17 PM
Hi,
Couple of interesting things from that page. One, it doesn't look like expansion packs have much of an effect, at least not in the long term. Of course, they may not so much increase the number of subscribers as keep the existing subscribers by providing new content. Second, I'd say that there is no indication of market saturation yet. I do wish that he had included a cumulative curve so that we could more easily see the overall trend and the ratio of each game to that trend. But just looking at the few top games, the total seems to be continuing a rapid increase. While some games are flattening out (EverQuest and UO), the introduction of new games seems to be getting new customers rather than "stealing" them from other games (which would be indicated by a downturn in the number of subscribers to the older games).
I might just have to download his data and do some small analysis -- just as soon as I get the rest of my life together :)
--Pete
Couple of interesting things from that page. One, it doesn't look like expansion packs have much of an effect, at least not in the long term. Of course, they may not so much increase the number of subscribers as keep the existing subscribers by providing new content. Second, I'd say that there is no indication of market saturation yet. I do wish that he had included a cumulative curve so that we could more easily see the overall trend and the ratio of each game to that trend. But just looking at the few top games, the total seems to be continuing a rapid increase. While some games are flattening out (EverQuest and UO), the introduction of new games seems to be getting new customers rather than "stealing" them from other games (which would be indicated by a downturn in the number of subscribers to the older games).
I might just have to download his data and do some small analysis -- just as soon as I get the rest of my life together :)
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?