|
CDC Games might be going with the pay-for-time charging model for its upcoming licensed MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online.
It is interesting that CDC might opt for subscription model
for Lord of the Rings Online because 80% of Chinese online game revenue comes
from the free-to-play model. The decision to employ the subscription model is typically
founded on the online operator's belief that the game will ascend to the Top 3
or 4 MMORPG titles. In the case of Shanda's AION, the game has some issues with
bots that have reduced its popularity, but Shanda opted for the subscription
model in spite of the fact that all other Shanda games are F2P. Perhaps LOTRO
will ascend to the Top 3? But the game has been a long time coming, so we will
have to see.
|
|
Piracy has been an issue in China and many other countries
for years. The WTO ruling will do nothing to change the culture in that regard.
But piracy is not the fault of Chinese consumers, who willingly pay market
price for digital and other software products. Changes to the regulatory
approval system for content and business models will be the answers to China's
piracy problems.
|
Niko is not an economic analysis firm, and we do not track
FDI in China. However the report that foreign direct investment has fallen 10
months in a row is important.  China does not need foreign investment to grow at
its blistering pace, but without it Chinese industrial sectors will have a
harder time maturing to compete at the global level. This is particularly true
for the video game industry, where even the top Chinese online game operators
and developers that are publicly traded on foreign exchanges still cannot be
considered "world class" game companies such as Electronic Arts. While they are
building expertise and leading the world in areas such as online games services
for F2P games, Chinese game companies could benefit from more FDI from foreign
game companies so that they may all exchange ideas and learn from each other.
Foreign game companies would benefit too, in that they would learn more about
online game operations, a critical component of the future game market
worldwide. |
