London - The market for massively multiplayer online games in the West reached $1 billion for the first time in 2006, with North American subscriptions totaling $576 million and European subscriptions $299 million, according to a report from market research firm Screen Digest.

The data includes subscription sales for massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPG), like "World of Warcraft," in addition to virtual item sales and in-game advertising.

Screen Digest expects the Western market to grow to $1.5 billion by 2011.

"During the past few years the Western landscape for massively multiplayer online games has become increasingly fragmented following the introduction of new genres of games including social networking, virtual pet rearing and virtual world building titles," said Screen Digest's Piers Harding-Rolls.

"These new games and platforms have brought with them many new gamers and also new business models that are generating revenue that is largely incremental to the incumbent subscription business."

Related Links:
http://www.screendigest.com/reports/07westworldmmog/readmore/view.html