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Is it possible to surpass World of Warcraft? That's the question most MMORPG makers are without a doubt asking themselves each and every day. Incidentally, that's the same question that analyst David Cole of DFC Intelligence is asking himself.
Cole has recently written an article where he breaks down the reasons for World of Warcraft's success. In it, he touches on topics such as the sheer number of people subscribing to the game (5 million Chinese players plus over two million Western subscribers), brand consciousness, and the game's controversial "instancing" practice.
All in all, Cole does a good job of identifying and scrutinizing the reasons why World of Warcraft is currently lording it over the others in the MMORPG arena. In his closing statement, he says that World of Warcraft's success will be extremely difficult to duplicate.
Cole, however, also states that "most success with MMOG comes with smaller, dedicated online game companies that use small amounts of investment money to great effect." In this matter he points towards Jagex's Runescape and others, pointing out that "Runescape has even crossed into mainstream territory with over 800,000 subscribers as a result of its less demanding computer requirements and low cost ($5 a month)."
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