Updated: Disney To Move Subscription-based MMOG Toontown To Hybrid Ad-Supported Model
Editor’s note, 07/11/07: Just heard from Disney regarding a misunderstanding about their plans for Toontown. It actually will be the same hybrid free/premium model planned for the Pirates MMOG and described below. The subscription game will continue; the ad-supported edition will have limited functions with a goal of enticing at least some of those users into the full premium edition.
Original: As competition among virtual worlds aimed at kids heats up, Disney plans to shift its online multiplayer video game Toontown from a subscription-based format to an ad-supported one by this fall, according to Mediaweek. Disney has charged $9.95 a month for Toontown subscriptions since it launched four years ago; in May, it began beta testing a free version. The company is currently negotiating with advertisers.
Paul Yanover, EVP and managing director for Disney Online, said that the change is driven by a desire to increase the amount of users. But the timing also comes as Nickelodeon’s free, kid-targeted virtual world Nicktropolis prepares to begin accepting ads. Other MMOG sites for children, like subscription-based ClubPenguin, also are growing in popularity. Since its January launch, no-charge Nicktropolis has grown to 1.4 million unique users as of May, according to comScore, besting Toontown’s 1.165 million users. And, coming next year, Cartoon Network plans to introduce its own MMOG.
Staci adds: Meanwhile, a new, ambitious Disney MMOG is having a tougher-than-expected time getting off the ground. The Pirates of the Carribean game touted at CES in January and teased as part of the Disney.com remake already has missed a hoped-for launch in tune with the third Pirates film’s May premiere. Now Variety has confirmed that Pirates of the Caribbean Online won’t be out until someetime this fall. This round of beta testing ends mid-July and another round will start in September after changes have been implemented. This MMOG is expected to be a mix of free and premium from the start. I saw a demo of an early version and it was impressive but perhaps a tad too ambitious.
MMOG’s are important to Disney’s online future. At CES, CEO Bob Iger spoke of versions that might offer an epic adventure in Narnia, racing through Radiator Springs, etc. If Pirates were a movie promo it might make sense to rush but it’s a franchise so getting it right matters more.
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