Tag Archives: AD2460

Which Countries Make the Best MMOs?

I’m on a kick lately of segmenting out MMOs by uncommonly explored attributes and analyzing numbers. In June, I ranked the best MMORPG by year for the past twenty years (including honorable mentions for each year). In July,  I estimated the most played free MMORPGs, sorted by peak player counts. This month, I’m looking at which countries produce the best MMOs.

First, this requires a ranking of the best MMOs. As opposed to June’s best MMORPG blog post, I decided to use an impartial judge to assess the cream of the MMO crop. I selected mmorpg.com’s user ratings as my source due to their ratings’ age and breadth. From there, I chose the top 50 MMOs as a cutoff. This provided a strong sample set without severely diminished quality between the top and bottom of the list. I don’t necessarily agree with the order (Defiance is ahead of World of Warcraft, seriously?), but the list looks solid overall. The result? MMOBro’s first infographic!

which countries make the best mmos infographic

The United States and South Korea were the first countries to begin developing MMORPGs in the 90s. Seeing them as #1 and #2 on the list is to be expected. Thus, I find the data more fun than surprising. It is noteworthy that South America is unrepresented, despite what is actually a strong MMO userbase.

It is important to note that mmorpg.com caters to a Western audience which does skew the list. I researched Korean MMO rankings by popularity (as opposed to ratings), but over 90% of their most popular MMOs are developed in South Korea. It then seemed to me that focusing on a single, large audience would make for a more compelling and relevant read. MMOBro also targets a Western audience (by virtue of the whole site being written in English). Thus, I hope (and believe) for our readers, the validity is not lessened.

Feel free to download the infographic and share it. I only ask you drop a link to us in the process.

And for those fact checkers out there, here’s the complete 1-50 list (which may be different now compared to current ratings). Feel free to ask any questions or point out any inconsistencies.

  1. Black Desert Online (Pearl Abyss – South Korea)
  2. Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet – USA)
  3. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (Square Enix – Japan)
  4. The Secret World (FunCom – Norway)
  5. Elder Scrolls Online (ZeniMax Online Studios – USA)
  6. AD2460 (Fifth Season – Norway)
  7. Warframe (Digital Extremes – Canada)
  8. Rift (Trion Worlds – USA)
  9. Darkfall: Unholy Wars (Aventure S.A. – Greece)
  10. Blade & Soul (Team Bloodlust – South Korea)
  11. Marvel Heroes 2016 (Gazillion Entertainment – USA)
  12. Path of Exile (Grinding Gear Games – New Zealand)
  13. Destiny (Bungie – USA)
  14. Eve Online (CCP Games – Iceland)
  15. Lord of the Rings Online (Turbine, Inc. – USA)
  16. EverQuest II (Daybreak Games – USA)
  17. Guild Wars (ArenaNet – USA)
  18. Final Fantasy XI (Square Enix – Japan)
  19. Dark Age of Camelot (Mythic/Broadsword Online Games – USA)
  20. Ryzom (Nevrax/Winch Gate Property Limited – France/Cyprus)
  21. TERA (Bluehole Studio – South Korea)
  22. Perpetuum (Avatar Creations – Hungary)
  23. Aika (JoyImpact – South Korea)
  24. Atlantica Online (NDOORSGAMES – South Korea)
  25. WildStar (Carbine Studios – USA)
  26. Neverwinter (Cryptic Studios – USA)
  27. PlanetSide 2 (Daybreak Games – USA)
  28. Fallen Earth (Reloaded Productions – USA)
  29. Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments – England)
  30. Wizard101 (KingsIsle Entertainment – USA)
  31. Dungeons & Dragons Online (Turbine, Inc. – USA)
  32. Ultima Online (Origin Systems/Broadsword Online Games – USA)
  33. DC Universe Online (Daybreak Games – USA)
  34. Lineage 2 (NCSoft – South Korea)
  35. EverQuest (Daybreak Games – USA)
  36. Anarchy Online (FunCom – Norway)
  37. Defiance (Trion Worlds – USA)
  38. Vindictus (devCAT – South Korea)
  39. World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment – USA)
  40. Asheron’s Call (Turbine, Inc. – USA)
  41. Age of Conan: Unchained (FunCom – Norway)
  42. Firefall (Red 5 Studios – USA)
  43. Eldevin (Hunted Cow Studios – Scotland)
  44. PlanetSide (Daybreak Games – USA)
  45. Xsyon: Prelude (Notorious Games – USA)
  46. Global Agenda (Hi-Rez Studios – USA)
  47. Wurm Online (Code Club AB – Sweden)
  48. Dragon Nest (Eyedentity Games – South Korea)
  49. Trove (Trion Worlds – USA)
  50. Aion (NCSoft – South Korea)

4 Replies