Section 2 of 5
Where the Money Moved
Revenue filings, analyst market-sizing, and the business-model shift from subscriptions to battle passes, cosmetic stores and mobile.
Section 2 of 5
Revenue filings, analyst market-sizing, and the business-model shift from subscriptions to battle passes, cosmetic stores and mobile.
The shelf — attributed and dated
7 pieces in this section
Lineage M launches in South Korea; breaks App Store and Google Play single-day revenue records in the country
In: Lineage M Has Out-Earned Most of the Games the Western Market Talks About. The Filings Show It.
NCSoft full-year filing names Lineage M as largest single revenue contributor to group
In: Lineage M Has Out-Earned Most of the Games the Western Market Talks About. The Filings Show It.
Lineage 2M launches; joins Lineage M as top-five Korean mobile grosser per Sensor Tower market reports
In: Lineage M Has Out-Earned Most of the Games the Western Market Talks About. The Filings Show It.
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Uses NCSoft's quarterly financial filings and Sensor Tower mobile revenue estimates to document Lineage M's cumulative earnings against comparable western MMO revenues, with every figure attributed and dated. The piece argues by arithmetic alone.
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The arithmetic the western narrative keeps leaving out sits in an annual report.
Photo: Lineage 2 Essence / Steam
Synthesises public financial filings from NCSoft, Nexon and Netmarble — with Krafton and Kakao Games noted — to show where mobile MMO revenue is concentrated compared to the western subscription market.
Compares subscription, battle-pass and cosmetic-store revenue models across named games with attributed revenue figures, explaining why WoW and FFXIV remain the only major western holdouts on monthly fees.
Explains how the WoW Token and FFXIV's Mog Station Chronoscroll function as sanctioned real-money-to-in-game-currency mechanisms, covering their documented mechanics and the regulatory and terms-of-service context they sit inside.
Examines how Newzoo and Sensor Tower publish free-tier estimates that circulate widely while selling enterprise access to methodology and full datasets, and what that means for the reliability of figures that appear in trade coverage.
A chronological record of publicly announced layoffs at named MMO and live-service studios since January 2023, citing the company announcement or press coverage for each, with headcounts where disclosed.
Compiles named MMO and live-service game shutdown announcements — Paragon, WildStar, City of Heroes, Crucible, and others — with their announced dates and stated reasons where public.