2013's Top Free-to-Play Games

SuperData Research offers their accounting of the worldwide top 10 grossing free-to-play games for all of 2013 (thanks GameSpot). Perhaps surprisingly, the top earner on their list came pretty close to $1 billion in revenue. Here's what they report:

  1. Crossfire, $957 million
  2. League of Legends, $624 million
  3. Dungeon Fighter Online $426 million
  4. World of Tanks, $372 million
  5. Maplestory, $326 million
  6. Lineage I, $257 million
  7. World of Warcraft, $213 million
  8. Star Wars: The Old Republic, $139 million
  9. Team Fortress 2, $139 million
  10. Counter-Strike Online, $121 million
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66 Replies. 4 pages. Viewing page 1.
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66.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 23, 2014, 16:41
66.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 23, 2014, 16:41
Jan 23, 2014, 16:41
 
Suppa7 wrote on Jan 23, 2014, 08:55:
jdreyer wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 16:09:
Suppa7 wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 08:31:
Krovven wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 04:51:
I find it incredible how gamers are so quick and easy to judge others for games they like and how childish their insults are.

Uhm giving money for imaginary stuff in a game you never own and which can disappear at any time is stupid.

While I never spend money on microtransactions, I don't think it's any different than spending money on chips, chocolate, pot, beer, etc. You're spending a few dollars for a few minutes or hours of satisfaction either way.

No. Because they take away your ability to modify the game ,make skins, etc. It's totally authoritarian. Games are USED and products, F2P takes away peoples right to use the shit they paid for by constantly having to pay a tax to the fuedal lord (game company).

While I agree with you personally, there are lots of other people out there who don't care about that stuff. For them the pleasure they get from that expenditure is justified. Just like it is with other ephemeral non-permanent purchases like beer, chocolate, etc.
If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Slava Ukraini!
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65.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 23, 2014, 08:55
65.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 23, 2014, 08:55
Jan 23, 2014, 08:55
 
jdreyer wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 16:09:
Suppa7 wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 08:31:
Krovven wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 04:51:
I find it incredible how gamers are so quick and easy to judge others for games they like and how childish their insults are.

Uhm giving money for imaginary stuff in a game you never own and which can disappear at any time is stupid.

While I never spend money on microtransactions, I don't think it's any different than spending money on chips, chocolate, pot, beer, etc. You're spending a few dollars for a few minutes or hours of satisfaction either way.

No. Because they take away your ability to modify the game ,make skins, etc. It's totally authoritarian. Games are USED and products, F2P takes away peoples right to use the shit they paid for by constantly having to pay a tax to the fuedal lord (game company).
64.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 21, 2014, 16:09
64.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 21, 2014, 16:09
Jan 21, 2014, 16:09
 
Suppa7 wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 08:31:
Krovven wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 04:51:
I find it incredible how gamers are so quick and easy to judge others for games they like and how childish their insults are.

Uhm giving money for imaginary stuff in a game you never own and which can disappear at any time is stupid.

While I never spend money on microtransactions, I don't think it's any different than spending money on chips, chocolate, pot, beer, etc. You're spending a few dollars for a few minutes or hours of satisfaction either way.
If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Slava Ukraini!
Avatar 22024
63.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 21, 2014, 11:32
63.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 21, 2014, 11:32
Jan 21, 2014, 11:32
 
HorrorScope wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 11:00:
BitWraith wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 08:40:
They kept Star Wars Galaxies around for a long time. They still say it was the greatest MMO of all time.

MMO's get a lot better word of mouth wise once they have a expiration date put on them. MMO's get great once they are completely gone. I think all this works the same like artists who die young as well. We love mind fucking ourselves.

True. I played Star Wars Galaxies for quite a while. I remember it as a buggy mess of a game with no direction...

I really miss Tabula Rasa and thought it was great, so maybe my opinion isn't the best one LOL
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62.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 21, 2014, 11:00
62.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 21, 2014, 11:00
Jan 21, 2014, 11:00
 
BitWraith wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 08:40:
They kept Star Wars Galaxies around for a long time. They still say it was the greatest MMO of all time.

MMO's get a lot better word of mouth wise once they have a expiration date put on them. MMO's get great once they are completely gone. I think all this works the same like artists who die young as well. We love mind fucking ourselves.
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61.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 21, 2014, 09:21
Quboid
 
61.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 21, 2014, 09:21
Jan 21, 2014, 09:21
 Quboid
 
Suppa7 wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 08:31:
Krovven wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 04:51:
I find it incredible how gamers are so quick and easy to judge others for games they like and how childish their insults are.

Uhm giving money for imaginary stuff in a game you never own and which can disappear at any time is stupid.

The game its self isn't owned by you and can disappear at any time, is buying it stupid? Most games could be dismissed just as easily. They're just a bunch of 1s and 0s and anyway you don't own them - so you must be really stupid to buy games on Steam...
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60.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 21, 2014, 08:40
60.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 21, 2014, 08:40
Jan 21, 2014, 08:40
 
OldTimber wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 03:11:
139mil for ToR? god dam star wars fans are a bunch of noload idiots keeping that thing around. Ahh who am I kidding they have wedding ceremonies dressed up in gear so they really are stupid without a grasp on reality.

They kept Star Wars Galaxies around for a long time. They still say it was the greatest MMO of all time.

SWG was a piece of $%^&. I think ToR is a more competent product than SWG was.
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59.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 21, 2014, 08:31
59.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 21, 2014, 08:31
Jan 21, 2014, 08:31
 
Krovven wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 04:51:
I find it incredible how gamers are so quick and easy to judge others for games they like and how childish their insults are.

Uhm giving money for imaginary stuff in a game you never own and which can disappear at any time is stupid.
58.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 21, 2014, 04:51
58.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 21, 2014, 04:51
Jan 21, 2014, 04:51
 
OldTimber wrote on Jan 21, 2014, 03:11:
139mil for ToR? god dam star wars fans are a bunch of noload idiots keeping that thing around. Ahh who am I kidding they have wedding ceremonies dressed up in gear so they really are stupid without a grasp on reality.

And what things do you like? Just want to know so we can make fun of it and you for no reason other than to be a douchebag like you.

I find it incredible how gamers are so quick and easy to judge others for games they like and how childish their insults are.

57.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 21, 2014, 03:11
57.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 21, 2014, 03:11
Jan 21, 2014, 03:11
 
139mil for ToR? god dam star wars fans are a bunch of noload idiots keeping that thing around. Ahh who am I kidding they have wedding ceremonies dressed up in gear so they really are stupid without a grasp on reality.
56.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 21, 2014, 00:29
Dev
56.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 21, 2014, 00:29
Jan 21, 2014, 00:29
Dev
 
Tencent (owns both #1 and #2, namely LoL and Crossfire) is public. Not a secret what they make:
http://www.tencent.com/en-us/content/ir/rp/2012/attachments/201202.pdf

2012 fiscal:
$7,255,893,790 revenue
$4,246,107,938 gross profit

So feel free to ignore the numbers from the data research company if you wish, and take the numbers directly from the financials.
55.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 20, 2014, 23:54
55.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 20, 2014, 23:54
Jan 20, 2014, 23:54
 
Mashiki Amiketo wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 22:56:
Axis wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 16:42:
Apparently desktops don't exist anymore and Crossfire is the only game that plays worth a shit on laptops?

Or... it's South Korea.
Asking a few friends that I game with over in S.Korea(they're born, raised and live west side--and all that) on it, it seems that it's more of a thing with netcafe kids, and highschoolers than anyone else. Though there is a following among the salerymen(30-45) group as well. I guess someone found a market, exploited it, and made an assload of money.

It has to have a larger audience than that if these numbers are accurate. LoL is incredibly popular worldwide and Crossfire apparently makes 50% more money.
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54.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 20, 2014, 22:56
54.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 20, 2014, 22:56
Jan 20, 2014, 22:56
 
Axis wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 16:42:
Apparently desktops don't exist anymore and Crossfire is the only game that plays worth a shit on laptops?

Or... it's South Korea.
Asking a few friends that I game with over in S.Korea(they're born, raised and live west side--and all that) on it, it seems that it's more of a thing with netcafe kids, and highschoolers than anyone else. Though there is a following among the salerymen(30-45) group as well. I guess someone found a market, exploited it, and made an assload of money.
--
"For every human problem,
there is a neat, simple solution;
and it is always wrong."
--H.L. Mencken
53.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 20, 2014, 19:04
53.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 20, 2014, 19:04
Jan 20, 2014, 19:04
 
Panickd wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 14:19:
Getting info from public companies is pretty easy

Many even hide the details we may want to know.
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52.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 20, 2014, 18:57
52.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 20, 2014, 18:57
Jan 20, 2014, 18:57
 
Suppa7 wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 10:09:
God damn people are stupid. All the tech illiterate kids world wide feeding.
Truth. Dumb people/rich kids are going to be the death of this industry since they're easier to wrangle money from.

InBlack wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 10:15:
Yeah I guess I was under the same rock, never heard of No1. Suprised that TF2 is that low on the list, but then again its been around for ages...
On the contrary. I'm surprised TF2 is that high in the list. If you're paying for TF2, you're doing it wrong.
51.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 20, 2014, 18:52
51.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 20, 2014, 18:52
Jan 20, 2014, 18:52
 
HorrorScope wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 13:47:
Jerykk wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 12:28:
You don't have to pay for new characters. You can buy them using the in-game currency which you get every time you play a match. And if you play LoL on a regular basis, you'll always have enough in-game currency to buy new characters.

The only part of LoL that could qualify as P2W are the XP boosters. Your runes, masteries and summoner spells are all locked behind levels so a level 1 player has an inherent disadvantage against a level 30 player (though the matchmaking would never put them in the same match). You also have to pay for more rune pages, which is stupid.

Right most FTP's PTW or not have ways to get items through playing but obviously a lot of people are buying a lot of things, including things you could earn from free. See my 22 year old, at least a couple years back, put many hundreds getting the new toons as they came out. Looking for an edge anywhere.

That actually doesn't work because when you play a completely new champion, you will be shit for the first dozen games or so. Quite a few newly released champions were actually considered underpowered, until people managed to figure out how to use them.

Having a large champion pool can be advantageous, but that is only significant in the highest of ranked ladder matches. For everyone else who don't play LoL 10 hours a day, you'll do much better focusing on playing a small handful of champions, which is easily unlocked without spending any real money. Playing a few decent characters well produces much better results than spending a ton of money chasing whatever champion is popular the current patch.

Also, even the XP boosters Jerykk mentioned don't give you any real advantages. They make you gain levels faster, but then you'll end up matched against higher level and better opponents.
50.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 20, 2014, 18:33
50.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 20, 2014, 18:33
Jan 20, 2014, 18:33
 
jdreyer wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 17:58:
I wonder why, with that kind of cash, they haven't tried to break into the North American market.

I wonder what kind of dialogue there is between players in Asia compared to, say, North America where you can't go long before someone is screaming that they had sex with your mother.

It'd be funny if they purposely keep it locked down to the Asian market if they see the rest of the world as a plague on multiplayer.
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49.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 20, 2014, 17:58
49.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 20, 2014, 17:58
Jan 20, 2014, 17:58
 
Fantaz wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 16:47:
Axis wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 16:42:
[...]

My bet is people play it on their smartwatch vpn'd to their tablet remotely connected to their linux laptop running the game via wine where the blow up doll sits wearing google glass and has a live twitchtv feed that plays 24/7...

uhhm, my bet is 99% of the ppl playing this have no idea on how to set up the remote play how you described.

and also most of the ppl playing haven't even heard of Counter-Strike. apparently already 2 years ago this was considered the "World's Largest First-Person Online Shooter Game" with 4.2 million concurrent users (probably a lot more now), which just shows how disconnected North American gamers are to the international markets to not know about this game.

I wonder why, with that kind of cash, they haven't tried to break into the North American market.
If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Slava Ukraini!
Avatar 22024
48.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 20, 2014, 17:08
48.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 20, 2014, 17:08
Jan 20, 2014, 17:08
 
Kosumo wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 15:22:
Star Citizen bets then all thought. $35+ million and its gameplay is just walking around a hangar. With peoples buying internet ships for hundreds of dollars just to have in their hangar. Totally the future of gaming!

The difference is star citizen is a game in a genre AAA publishers abandoned and that gamers miss. It's calculated risk, i.e. people are buying things to fund a game in a genre that wouldn't otherwise exist. They knew the risks going in so whatever SC turns out like, they'll have to own their decisions.
47.
 
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games
Jan 20, 2014, 16:47
47.
Re: 2013's Top Free-to-Play Games Jan 20, 2014, 16:47
Jan 20, 2014, 16:47
 
Axis wrote on Jan 20, 2014, 16:42:
[...]

My bet is people play it on their smartwatch vpn'd to their tablet remotely connected to their linux laptop running the game via wine where the blow up doll sits wearing google glass and has a live twitchtv feed that plays 24/7...

uhhm, my bet is 99% of the ppl playing this have no idea on how to set up the remote play how you described.

and also most of the ppl playing haven't even heard of Counter-Strike. apparently already 2 years ago this was considered the "World's Largest First-Person Online Shooter Game" with 4.2 million concurrent users (probably a lot more now), which just shows how disconnected North American gamers are to the international markets to not know about this game.
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