DC Universe revenue up 700% post free-to-play

By Fred Dutton Published 21 November, 2011

Player numbers growing 6% every day.

Daily revenue from superhero MMO DC Universe Online is up 700 per cent since it adopted the free-to-play model on 1st November, according to Sony Online Entertainment boss John Smedley.

Smedley Tweeted the figure earlier today, along with a number of other stats.

Apparently, revenue is split 47 per cent from the PC version and 53 per cent from the PlayStation 3 version.

The game's userbase is growing by six per cent a day, while 85 per cent of daily log-ins are returning players.

The most popular in-game purchases are additional character slots and the Vanguard of the Heavens character skins.

Earlier this month, SOE announced that the game has attracted a million new users since the shift to free-to-play.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 6 months ago

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  • killemoff #1 6 months ago

    Does it still lag like mad in Metropolis? :o

  • captain_Carl #2 6 months ago

    Great stats for PS3 version. MMOs can work on consoles afterall?

  • Yeoung #3 6 months ago

    I love it when F2P models work out, I hope most if not all large MMO's adopt such a model. It's especially beneficial to the PS3, which doesn't exactly have a wealth of mmo's to choose from.

    I participated in the Beta, and while it was fun in its own right, it wasn't monthy-subscription-money fun. To be fair I'm not the subscription-type gamer to begin with, but I'd like to think that some day an mmo will come along that will tickle my fancy just enough to make me consider it.

    Some kind of WoW/Vindictus/MartialHeroes hybrid would make me do just that, but as far as F2P mmo's on the PS3 go, I'd say DC Universe is arguably the best one out there.
    Edited by Yeoung at 21/11/11 @ 19:40

  • metallicorphan #4 6 months ago

    MMOs can work on consoles afterall?

    I spent 2 years on Final Fantasy 11 for the 360,and loved it,made some great friends



    as for DCU,last time i was on about a week or two ago,there was a massive amount of lag,and people arguing in the chatbox blaming the 'freebies' for it

    Unfortunately Skyrim has come along and taken up my time,but its good to see its doing well,i certainly plan on getting the Green Lantern DLC someday and Flash DLC when its released

  • agent55 #5 6 months ago

    This is great news, particularly for PS3 owners. I'm looking forward to putting more time in and spending a bit of $ on it eventually too.

  • TheRealBadabing #6 6 months ago

    Would be interested how the FTPMMORPGs (acronyms FTW) do long term.

    All seem to shout about how much their revenue increases after a month or so but is that sustained? For example LoTRO has been FTP for a while now; any up to date stats for that one?

  • overcorpse #7 6 months ago

    Desperately needs more content.

  • Jay-ITFC #8 6 months ago

    Christ! Surely not micro transactions FTW!?

  • agent55 #9 6 months ago

    @overcorpse Well they really have no excuse for that now do they?

  • darkmorgado #10 6 months ago

    I just want Marvel Universe to be resurrected as a proper MMO and not the bizarre kid-focussed, trading card thing that it's been taken into by the current dev team.

    Marvel > DC.

    I'll take relatable heroes over alien demigods any day, thanks.

  • metallicorphan #11 6 months ago

    @darkmorgado



    Batman

    that is all ;)

  • overcorpse #12 6 months ago

    I get marked down because i think DC Universe needs more content?

    Some people are total pricks.

  • dagas #13 6 months ago

    F2P is a flawed concept since it means they have to design the game not around what is fun, but around selling you stuff. A subscription fee forces them to try to make the game better to make you stay, but F2P forces them to put in a bunch of stuff based on if they can milk money out of you or not. Ultimately "free" games changes the development process for the worse. I rather pay up front and have them focus on making the game as great as possible rather than a game that is built around making money. We are in fact moving towards making games deliberatly bad to force people to pay to skip those bad and tediuos parts.

  • slippysloppy #14 6 months ago

    It's great to see so many people playing, the cities are alive again. There are a few "experienced" players moaning about the "noobs" but they can shut their traps as without them we'd be looking at the plug being pulled - DCUO has always been a bit too elitist in my opinion and the F2P model has improved this.The game badly lacks documentation, relying too much on previous MMO experience. New players are always asking questions which they shouldn't have to do and owning the physical copy didn't offer much more help either. I'm still having to Google stuff and head to the forums to work out ways to progress and look for explanations.

    I have noticed the population starting to drop off a little though, there's going to be a lot of people who get to level 30 and can't get any further, I mean it's tough enough when you're paying a sub unless you're prepared to grind your way through. The way I'm managing is to play in short bursts, one quick session a day in between other games and you know, life.

  • Sharzam #15 6 months ago

    This gmae is the perfect candidate for F2P, some games would not work as means using the cash shop for advantage over others but as it uses a set number of skills its more about personal choice and tailor your character.

    So means that your left with simple content (green latern) and cosmetic/utility stuff.

    Personally i really like it i would never pay £9 a month for it but would happily pay a few quid here and there for extra slots when needed.

  • CaptainTrips #16 6 months ago

    Played this briefly on the PC. Didn't follow through with a full-time subscription at the time, but I did find the game to be fun - particularly the combat and PvP, which are excellent.

    Hope this does well with the F2P model!