| Rank | Prev Week | Game | Score | Hours Played | +/- % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | World of Warcraft | 43.1 | 8,116 | +25.3 |
| 2 | 2 | Guild Wars 2 | 13.5 | 2,538 | +23.9 |
| 3 | 3 | Star Wars: The Old Republic | 8.6 | 1,620 | +18.2 |
| 4 | 4 | Final Fantasy XIV | 6.6 | 1,234 | +15.9 |
| 5 | 5 | Wildstar | 5.7 | 1,071 | +2.7 |
| 6 | 6 | EVE Online | 4.2 | 795 | -5.1 |
| 7 | 7 | Tera | 4.2 | 791 | +18.6 |
| 8 | 8 | Aion | 4.1 | 781 | +24.2 |
| 9 | 10 | Runescape | 3.5 | 657 | +58.7 |
| 10 | 12 | Lord of the Rings Online | 2.7 | 512 | +73.0 |
| 11 | -- | RIFT | 2.1 | 387 | +98.5 |
| 12 | 9 | Elder Scrolls Online | 1.7 | 324 | -25.9 |
Total Digital Dozen Hours: 18,826
Sunday saw the Xfire community return to playing its favorite MMORPGs following the end of the World Cup. The 20.7% increase in the time spent logged into these games was lead by World of Warcraft (+1641 hours) while only two games, Elder Scrolls Online (-113 hours) and EVE Online (-43 hours) saw a decline in interest. Neverwinter fell off the list, replaced by RIFT.
The World Cup Effect - I've made a lot out of the decline of the decline in the Xfire numbers this year, but now that the World Cup is over, did the numbers bounce back? The answer is a resounding yes. Sunday witnessed Xfire members spending 20.7% more time playing MMORPGs than the weekend before. Comparing Sunday with 8 June, the last Sunday before the beginning of the World Cup, also finds a favorable comparison. From that date, the amount of time the Xfire community spent logged into its favorite MMORPGs only declined by 1%. Compared to the huge declines earlier this year, that is a victory.
But What Happened In WoW? - A big question I was unable to answer concerns the king of MMORPGs, World of Warcraft. I was unable to find a reason for the 25.3% increase in playtime. The increase appears driven by the amount of time playing WoW. Players spent 5.8 hours logged in. Did players watch so much World Cup that they were catching up on lost time?
Are ESO Players Steamed? - Despite having a reported 772,374 subscribers in June, Elder Scrolls Online is at the bottom of the Digital Dozen this week. Is this just another sign of the weakness of Xfire? On Thursday, Zenimax made ESO available for sale on Steam. I always figured the numbers would drop once ESO was released for console, but I never considered that Bethesda would release the game on Steam. I guess that many players who play their games through Steam wouldn't bother to put on another tracking source like Xfire or Raptr.
I can explain WoW: they are having a "come back to WoW" drive, they send out mails offering 7-day free play and a buff that helps you get legendary cloak.
ReplyDeleteI was aware they had the legendary cloak buff on last week (source: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/14689648/the-gaze-of-the-black-prince-returns-7-14-2014), but I hadn't heard of a seven-day free play offer recently, though I was subscribed so I certainly wouldn't have gotten an email about it.
DeleteI think the bigger question is what happened to Rift, up 98.5% over last week? They have been talking about an expansion and more benefits for patrons (subscribers), but other than that...
ReplyDeleteWarlords of Draenor beta is also out, so that could be the uptick in WoW numbers.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Wildstar dipped below FFXIV on both Xfire and Raptr this week (FFXIV is #13 on Raptr @ 238,856 hours, Wildstar is #15 @ 200,863).
I notice that 10 of the 12 were up, and Eve was one of the ones down. I also note that there are less than 30 K online presently, which even if it is middle of the work day for North America, seems rather low for a massive, exciting, the best thing since Scarlett Johansson took her clothes off kind of release.
ReplyDeleteYeah, these are really positive indicators for Eve.
regards
Dinsdale
There was a massive giveaway of Warlords of Draenor beta keys, and raid bosses testing started on beta, hence the increase of time played in WoW.
ReplyDeletere: TESO. Subscribers and active players are different things, something that EVE is going through as well. I am (until my subscription runs out) a TESO subscriber, but I haven't played in more than two weeks.
ReplyDelete