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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Digital Dozen: 23 July 2013

The rankings of the top twelve MMORPGs as determined by the players of the Xfire community from play on Sunday, 21 July 2013.  For more details about the methodology, click here.  Historical data can be found here.

Rank Prev Week Game ScoreHours Played +/- %
11World of Warcraft 41.2 15,257-6.1
22Guild Wars 218.46,807-9.6
33Star Wars: The Old Republic9.43,483-11.8
44EVE Online5.82,150-11.0
56Aion5.01,846+17.9
65Neverwinter3.81,406-18.0
78Tera3.61,351-5.4
89RIFT3.51,286-4.0
9--The Secret World2.5913+83.0
1011Lord of the Rings Online2.3857-11.8
11--APB: Reloaded2.3848+32.9
12--Metin 22.2821+9.8
 
Total Digital Dozen Hours: 37,025

Summer continues to take its toll on the amount of time the Xfire community plays MMORPGs.  Sunday's 8.7% decline in the amount of time playing the most popular games was led in percentage terms by Planetside 2 (-46.6%), Firefall (-28.8%) and Neverwinter (-18%).  Games bucking the negative trend included The Secret World (+83%), APB: Reloaded (+32.9%) and Aion (+17.9%).

Steam Powered? - I'm not sure, but I think the Steam Summer Sale helped power The Secret World into The Digital Dozen for the first time since the first Sunday of 2013.  The Funcom game made Issue #7 available to all players on 12 July but didn't see an increase in playtime on the 14th.  The only reason I'm unsure is that I think I saw the game on sale but don't remember with 100% certainty.

Pay To Win? - For only the second time since the game launched on 20 November has Planetside 2 failed to make the list, seeing a massive 46.6% decline in play time.  But unlike 23 December, Sunday's decline was most likely a result of plans to introduce what many players consider pay-to-win items in the cash shop.  After much player outrage, SOE chose to not implement implants with the upcoming Game Update 13.  The implants would have granted players in-game buffs for real world cash, a concept that went against SOE's promises of cosmetic-only items for sale in the cash shop.  I have the feeling that a lot of players were still upset, even after SOE President John Smedley announced the items would not launch with GU13.

3 comments:

  1. Massively confirm your hunch for The Secret World.

    http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/07/16/the-secret-world-at-half-price-on-steam/

    So, steam powered :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, Firefall certainly didn't last long, even with Planetside trying to help it out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Firefall is still in beta, so I expect it to bounce in and out of the list for awhile. Of course, I could be wrong.

      Delete