DFC Intelligence  

The Themis Report on Online Gaming 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Released January 2004

Copyright 2003,2004 THE THEMIS GROUP

Lead Author:        Nova Barlow
Editor:                    Alex Macris

Contributors:       
Kris Alexander, Richard Bartle, Edward Castronova, Greg Costikyan, Jon Hayter, Thomas Kurz, Daniel Manachi, Jason Smith

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword....................................................................................................................2

I Introduction..............................................................................................................3

II. Consumer Profiles...................................................................................................4

            2.1 The Pyramid of Gamers....................................................................................4

            2.2 Consumer Trends...........................................................................................7

III. Business Models....................................................................................................9

            3.1 Historical Models..........................................................................................9

            3.2 Contemporary Models....................................................................................11

            3.3 Emerging Models...........................................................................................21

IV. Online Game Companies.........................................................................................27

            4.1 NCSoft Corporation........................................................................................27

            4.2 Sony Online Entertainment, Inc..................................................................................................28

            4.3 Electronic Arts, Inc.......................................................................................................................29

            4.4 Mythic Entertainment, Inc...........................................................................................................31

            4.5 Microsoft Corporation.....................................................................................32

            4.6 Turbine Entertainment Software Corp........................................................................................33

            4.7 UbiSoft Entertainment, Inc...........................................................................................................34

            4.8 Funcom Gmbh................................................................................................35

            4.9 Vivendi Universal Games..................................................................................36

            4.10 Blizzard Entertainment....................................................................................37

            4.11 Atari Inc. (Formerly Infogrames).......................................................................38

            4.12 GameSpy Industries, Inc..................................................................................39

V. Selected Topics in Online Games.................................................................................41

            5.1 The Asia-Pacific Market for Online Games.............................................................41

            5.2 Sports Wars...................................................................................................48

            5.3 Finding New Life Online....................................................................................53

            5.4 Monetizing the MMG.......................................................................................56

            5.5 Fast Forward 2014............................................................................................61

VI. The Future of Online Games......................................................................................67

            6.1 Subscriptions..................................................................................................68

            6.2 Other Business Models.....................................................................................69

            6.3 Trends............................................................................................................69

VII. Appendices.............................................................................................................71

            7.1 Glossary of Online GameTerms............................................................................71

            7.2 History of Online Games.....................................................................................86

            7.3 List of Online Games..........................................................................................104

Contributors..................................................................................................................119

 

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