League of Legends places second in a list of the top 10 online free-to-play games as far as earnings for the year of 2013. With revenues of $624 million, League is only behind Korean military shooter CrossFire, which made $957 million last year.
The real winner in the free-to-play market is publisher Tencent, who is behind both CrossFire and League of Legends. Between the two games, Tencent pulled in a total of $1,581 million in revenue for 2013. According to Super Data, which put the information together:
The US digital games market grew 11% in 2013, reaching $11,766 million in sales across all segments, up from $10,582 million a year earlier.
Other big winners in the free-to-play market are publisher Nexon, which has three of the top 10 games including Dungeon Fighter Online, Maplestory, and a part stake in Counter-Strike Online and a total of $800 million in 2013 revenue.
Overall, the free-to-play MMO market seems to be dominating, going up from $1,991 million to $2,893 million in 2013, while the Pay-to-Play market experienced a loss of 19% from 2012 to just $1,126 million in revenue. The trend seems to be moving more towards games like League of Legends, as well as PlanetSide 2 and Dota 2.
What do you think of those free-to-play numbers?
