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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

The Digital Dozen: 15 July 2014

The rankings of the top twelve MMORPGs as determined by the players of the Xfire community from play on Sunday, 13 July 2014.  For more details about the methodology, click here.  Historical data can be found here.


RankPrev WeekGameScoreHours Played+/- %
11World of Warcraft41.56,475-6.0
22Guild Wars 213.12,049+0.8
33Star Wars: The Old Republic8.81,371-25.5
45Final Fantasy XIV6.81,065+2.6
54Wildstar6.71,043-26.1
66EVE Online5.4838+0.5
78Tera4.3667+20.6
87Aion4.0629-14.4
911Elder Scrolls Online2.8437+41.0
109Runescape2.7414-5.9
1112Neverwinter2.0316+24.9
12--Lord of the Rings Online1.9296+24.9
 
Total Digital Dozen Hours: 15,600

The final match of the World Cup saw the Xfire community turn to their television screens one last time until 2018.  On Sunday, its members spent 6.4% fewer hours playing MMORPGs than the week before.  Star Wars: The Old Republic witnessed the biggest decline (-469 hours) while Elder Scrolls Online witnessed a resurgence, leading all games with increased playtime with 127 hours.  Vindictus ended its two-week run in the Digital Dozen, replaced by Lord of the Rings Online.

TOR Is Not Dying - Despite leading all games on the list with a 469 hour drop in time played by Xfire members, a 25.5% decline is not a sign that Star Wars: The Old Republic fans are finally turning away from the game.  A decline like Sunday's is natural following a double XP event like the one Bioware held from 1-7 July.  The next expansion, Galactic Strongholds, is expected to launch this October, with subscriber early access beginning on 19 August.

Wildstar Is Not Dying - Despite the number of hours Xfire members spend playing Wildstar declining every week since launch, Wildstar is not dying.  Other sites like Raptr are not showing this behavior.  However, the decline is another example that MMORPGs have difficulty maintaining their initial audience.  The question now remains whether Carbine's planned monthly content patches will eventually stop the decline while the game is still on the list.

ESO Is Not Dying - Despite the huge percentage gain this week, the raw number of hour increase in the Xfire community's play time (+127 hours) wasn't that big this week.  But an increase in time 3 months after launch with no obvious cause is possibly a good sign.  Has Elder Scrolls Online finally reached its base number of players?