One of the latest Screen Digest reports (via mcvuk) shows that last year, Europeans and North Americans have spent around $1.4bn for MMO subscriptions in total.

That is a 22% market growth difference from year 2007 and experts at Screen diggest say that despite the increased growth of the Asian online games market model where players instead of paying monthly fees buy items for money, the sector still has five more years to grow.

A comment from Screen digest’s senior analyst and head of games Piers Harding-Rolls: “Industry commentators have for some time been using the example of the Asian online games market to proclaim the death of subscription business models in the West, praising the accessibility and flexibility of free-to-access games that generate revenue by encouraging players to make micro-transactions as part of the gaming experience."