Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games have been around since the 70s when the first graphical mud games were released. It was an epic ride and since then MMO games have become the dominant force in the gaming industry.
Global revenue figures for PC / MMO games are huge, and in 2017 they are estimated at $ 30.7 billion.
There are two types of games: free to play (F2P) and pay-to-play (P2P). While they are free to play, F2P games can generate more revenue than P2P games as users spend money on in-app purchases and other upgrades. For example, players in the Asia-Pacific region spent $ 11.2 billion in 2016.
In the virtual world of MMO and its subgenre MMORPG games, players and communities come and go. Here are five old MMO and MMORPG games that are still popular today despite being on the market for quite some time.
Fortnite
Epic games developed and released its Fortnite hit in 2017. Fortnite: Save the World, a coop zombie shooter survival game where four players can team up to fight zombies and build fortified defenses, was the first of three game modes to be released. The second is one of the most popular MMO games in history, Fortnite: Battle Royale (FBR), the last worthwhile F2P game in which up to 100 players can fight to the death, followed by Fortnite: Creative. Fortnite had around 250 million players in March 2019.
RuneScape
RuneScape is an expansive, free to play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game or MMORPG set in the medieval fantasy world of Gilinor, a kingdom divided into different regions, cities, and kingdoms. Developed and published by Jagex, it was first released as a browser game in 2001, but saw a C ++ encoded client update in 2016. With over 9.5 million free active user accounts and 500,000 paid member accounts, RuneScape is voted by the Guinness Book of World Records as "the world's largest and most constantly updated MMORPG." It is also the most popular F2P and the second most popular MMORPG in the world.
World of warcraft
World of Warcraft (WoW) is a record-breaking MMORPG developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 2004. The game takes place in Azeroth four years after the disastrous events of the previous Blizzard hit Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. In 2009, WoW became the most played MMORPG in the world, with over 10 million active players. The game boasted over 100 million registered accounts in 2014, and through eight major expansion packs, grossed over $ 9.23 billion in revenue three years later, making WoW one of the highest grossing video game franchises of all time.
League of legends
League of Legends (LoL) is a Massively Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) developed and published by Riot Games in 2009. The game was inspired by the DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) mod from Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. LoL follows a “freemium account model” where buying microtransactions to make a character stronger is the norm. The game has grown exponentially in popularity since its release, and by 2012, LoL had become the most played computer game in Europe and North America. Riot Games estimates. LoL had over 100 million active players every month in 2016. League of Legends is still strong today, with over 8 million peak users daily in 2019.
Clash of clans
Clash of Clans (CoC) is a free mobile strategy game developed and published by the Finnish development team Supercell. Players take on the role of a village chief, gathering resources, building troops and buildings to attack other players. CoC is one of the most popular mobile games for iOS and Android, with over 3 million monthly active players and 36 million active players annually. Since its release on iOS in 2012, CoC has been the 4th most downloaded game in the App Store and has reached over 500 million downloads on Google Play.
