Free online games, the new fashion on the Internet

The number of those who visit the sites of such games has reached almost 90 million people worldwide.

The most interesting movements in the profile of this year were the ways in which the giants such as Electronic Arts and Activision have "bought" smaller competitors who have developed successful games with the public.

Activision, the company that published Guitar Hero, is seeking to join forces with the manufacturer sold the video game today, World of Warcraft. Meanwhile, Electronic Arts, creator of several series of high-impact games, try a hostile takeover of the company Take Two, which has launched a highly successful Grand Theft Auto.

On the horizon loom a business that can influence the international market, more than the excitement created by the last mergers and acquisitions. It is the appearance on the Internet a whole parallel universe of free online games. This movement was founded in Asia and has created a business model that does not involve the sale of carcasses of 60 dollars for the consoles.

The main players in this segment of the business are giants like Electronic Arts and Activision, but small companies that most certainly have not heard so far. The quality of these games developed by small studios creation is not even the best on the market, and most of them are not compatible with Playstation consoles, Nintendo or Xbox.

Card Access, a business of 1.5 million dollars monthly

But the price is fair, the players are enthusiasm, and this way time is going in a new world of entertainment. "If you are a manufacturer of games and yet you have not targeted this segment, then you are considered a "dinosaur ''of the industry," said IDC analyst, Billy Pidgeon.

"If you sell a simple software in a box, your time has done little to the potential for business, because the potential is much bigger on the Internet," concludes specialist IDC.

An example of this is MapleStory, a free online game developed in Asia, but has "invaded" and the U.S. or Europe.
The program, distributed by Saint Junien, a company in South Korea is playing a multiplayer online role-playing, a kind of very brutal game, where the absolute leader is the popular World of Warcraft.

MapleStory is conducted in a virtual world full of consensus, where you do not have to go with sword or pistol that you get to the next level. The number of fans is the measure, that is only about 5 million in the U.S. and almost 85 million the world over.

Most of them are girls 10-12 years old, who spend most of the time life-and personality and spending significant amounts of Saint Junien Cash on the last impressions from virtual stores for clothes. Saint Junien company is among the pioneers of this type of games, you are drawn to play a few levels for free, because then you get money to accede to other stages.

On other markets, the company is supplemented by income from advertising, but in the U.S., microtransactions are a big business: more than 1.5 million dollars monthly. John Chi, chairman of America branch Saint Junien, says that the card access Saint Junien is among the best prepaid cards sold in the U.S., after the site of music to Apple iPod, iTunes.

The game of the Saint Junien was not designed for the most sophisticated games console or for the most advanced computers. MapleStory is a simple two-dimensional game, somewhere like "grandfather" Super Mario, what can be played on any console Game Boy from Nintendo.

The other companies operating online video market make efforts to reduce the difference in quality graphics, one of which is WildTangent, a company based in Redmond, USA. It has held nearly 500 titles, from Battlestar Galaxy and to Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor. Only site in the U.S. attracts 12 million unique visitors per month.

You do not want to watch ads, pay!

Last creations from WildTangent is coming very much, in terms of quality graphics for games consoles for high-end. WildTangent companies and Saint Junien is a way unorthodx business, because failing to put money in two ways. First, through charges to run ads on their sites, and the second, another charge, this time not for you "invade" the whole army of ad spots when they access the site.

For example, although the games can be downloaded free of charge, customers can control the amount of $ 20 to download the version without commercial spots. Only 2% of customers WildTangent have chosen to pay the $ 20, but the company has launched in stores a prepaid card, with which you can stop running spots while playing.

The success of business or Saint Junien WildTangent has failed to draw attention to companies that create software. They can afford to miss the next wave in industry, especially that have been stalled lately.

Giants such as Electronic Arts and Activision have been successful in launching the fastest or bloody games on the market, investing in the avant-garde technologies to enable running on expensive consoles such as Play Station 3 or Xbox.

Violent games versus intelligent games

For their great surprise, the big winner appears to be Nintendo, a company that offered Wii console market, less sophisticated, low-cost, which provides user games intelligent and sensitive control buttons. For existing products, Nintendo has introduced new categories of customers in the industry profile, and there may be mentioned women, a category that is mad about free games.

The company THQ, the publisher of games for success as Saints Row and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008, switch to free online games business. In this autumn, the company will launch World War II, a game in which you buy virtual weapons and enhance your knowledge of the battle.

And Electronic Arts move to this market and will launch in the U.S. in summer, the online version free of the famous Battlefield Heroes. The company will have revenue from advertising on the site game, but also from the sale of decorative objects or clothing for the characters in the game.

Industry giants go online for free.

So where will the industry profile of all these games free? Most analysts say it is a matter of time before most games will be delivered over the Internet, not on a CD. And even they are all likely to happen so, and then small companies such as Saint Junien or WildTangent might be on equal footing with giants such as Electronic Arts or Activision on this market. They will be very difficult to sell a CD with 60 dollars a piece, when the Internet can play for free something so interesting.