A recent study done by market research firm Parks Associates revealed that the growth of the MMORPG industry may lie in free-to-play MMORPGs. How come? Because more gamers find themselves interested in the prospect of a free game. Learn more after the jump!

Slipping back to our business suits, we've gotten word that U.S. market research firm Parks Associates has discovered that online gaming still outweighs video streaming or social networking over the Internet. The report entitled "Casual Gaming Market Update" claimed that at least 34% of adult Internet users play online games on a weekly basis. Games they play include casual games, confirming the rise in popularity of the casual gaming sector.

 

In contrast, 29% of those surveyed watch short online videos, and a smaller 19% visit social networking sites at least once a week. Additionally, online gaming is also experiencing a major surge in the North American region. Parks Associates observed a 79% year-on-year rise in online gamers, compared to the 46% climb of social networking users.

Still, video streaming users are ascending at a steep 123%, and the online gaming sector would do well to challenge that rate in the following years. The online gaming sector is becoming a ripe source of income, and Parks Associates still recommends the tried-and-tested Western business models for the region.

In the Eastern front, the online gaming sector is becoming a blossoming playground for the Asian gaming industry, as Taiwan, Korea, and China have experienced phenomenally market booms in the previous year. Market predictions are also off-the-roof for the Far East, and it may have already grown leaps and bounds in the first half of 2007.

Because people WoW and click Flash more than they Facebook or Youtube, we'll be monitoring for more developments as they come clicking by.

The amount of money companies put into game advertising is expected to grow from US$ 370 million in 2006 to more than US$ 2 billion by 2012. This data comes from Parks Associates report called Electronic Gaming in the Digital Home: Game Advertising.

While this may not seem important to most people, you have to realize that this growth rate surpasses that of other major advertising media, including TV, radio, print, and the Internet.

If the trend continues we may be looking at a barrage of in-game adverts from multiple fronts, not a good sign indeed. However, the director of broadband and gaming from Parks Associates Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai sees it in a different light:

Advertising in electronic games had an average monthly household expenditure of less than 50 cents in 2006, while broadcast TV was at $37, meaning advertisers are not using the gaming medium to its full potential. If executed correctly, game advertising can provide a win-win solution for advertisers, developers and publishers, console manufacturers, game portals, and gamers.

In-game advertising will be experiencing this growth among the various categories of game advertising methods such as dynamic in-game advertising (DIGA) in PC, console, mobile. It's also expected that casual games will grow from 27% of the in-game advertising market in 2006 to an absurd 84% in 2012.

Gamers, be aware. Is this the direction we want the developers to take? Well, to be honest, if the advertisements subsidize the cost and make it cheaper for us to play, it would really be appreciated. Provided of course that the advertising isn't intrusive like what we're seeing in some online games with the horrible pop-ups.

More analysts want to plug their two cents on console sales discrepancies. This time it's Parks Associates' Michael Cai on the PS3, who is not as sanguine as Pachter is, as he talks to BetaNews. On the other hand, from reading his (unsolicited) advice for future PS3 sales, he's not exactly counting the Sony console out, either.

For Cai, the gap between NDP's reported PS3 sales and Sony's reported PS3 shipments are a product of four factors: (a) Its price, especially for the market beyond the core adopters. (b) Limited supplies at launch, and while Sony shipped more supplies post-launch, they didn't communicate that well, Cai claimed. (3) Competition from the Wii. (4) Competition from the PS2 - by emphasizing that it was sold for US$ 100, bundled with five games, Cai was implying that Sony might have inadvertently drew attention away from the PS3.

And Cai's (unsolicited) advice? (a) Sony needs to communicate to the market that the console is available. (b) Sony shouldn't cut the price immediately - it might send the wrong signal to customers. Instead, they should buff up the product value of the PS3 by bundling it with games and movies. (c) Sony should target the yuppie crowd - those in their 20's and early 30's - they have their own jobs and thus can actually buy the machine themselves (rather than have to ask mommy or daddy for it, as it was during the Christmas season).

Interesting that Cai didn't mention anything about one criticism of the NDP report, which was that it tended to underreport sales because its report only included 60% of retailers.

Knowing your market and knowing how to tap into them can very well make or break an industry. This seems to be the lesson that Parks Associates wants to impart to the game developers and marketers as they released the results on their US game market survey.

According to the results, the gaming community is not merely defined by black and white anymore. Whereas before, there only seems to be two types of videogame players: hardcore gamers and casual players, now, the gamer community has diversified to include six distinct groups, and most importantly, a new middle market has emerged, with all different motivations, gaming behaviors, and spending patterns.


More survey results after the jump.

Evergreen Events has just proudly announced the inaugural 2007 Online Game Development Conference (OGDC), a conference dedicated to those in the online gaming industry, which includes MMO gaming, in-game item exchange, web-based online gaming services, game advertising, online console gaming, and digital distribution.

According to Michael Cai, Director of Broadband & Gaming for Parks Associates, the online gaming market is "going to quadruple in size in the North American market, from $1.1 billion in 2005 to $4.4 billion by 2010."

However, Peter Freese, Conference Chairperson for the Online Game Development Conference states that online game creators "haven't had a forum where they can exchange real, hardcore ideas that are most important to what they do within our industry."

This is the hole that the OGDC aims to fill. With the maxim "Connect Your Brain," the OGDC will let developers connect with each other and find solutions to the many challenges and opportunities facing online game developers.

The OGDC will be held on May 10-11, 2007 at the Fairmont Olympic in downtown Seattle. Stay tuned to QJ.net for more updates on the OGDC as they are released. To check out the OGDC website, click on the 'read' link below.