After years of being hailed as a nerds sporting activity, video gaming is now taking the spotlight. In recent years pushing up and now competing with film markets to become one of the top selling commodities in the world. Online gaming is always on the rise, where the cost of servers, online support is being covered by user subscriptions and real-time in game advertisements. According to the DFC Intelligence Online Game Market Forecasts, "subscription revenue from online games was $2 billion in 2005 and is expected to grow to $6.8 billion by 2011. Furthermore, subscription revenue is only one part of the online game business equation. Advertising and digital distribution revenue are also expected to grow significantly."

Fragmentation is also a concern that was noted in the report. With 50% of online game revenue in 2005 coming from countries of Asia outside Japan, most importantly have been South Korea, China and Taiwan. NCsoft leads the way with $300 million in online revenue for 2005 alone. Many American based company's, such as Blizzard, Vivendi and Square Enix, have started on this path as well however not any seeing the light of success such as was experienced with Ultima Online.

In addition, online Massively Multiplayer Online Games have been expanding with new genres. From your classic online role playing games to the fast pace shooters such as Half Life. While it is more then apparent that MMORPG generate a bulk of the revenue casual gaming is starting to take a hold now as well.

It is predicted that North America will eventually pass Asia in online subscription based revenues in 2011. It is also speculated that in 2011 that 29% of the worlds subscription revenue will be from console systems, however Japan is expected to be almost completely PC driven. There are many potholes ahead in the road to expanding the online gaming market. Electronic Art's growth can be noted as one of the few examples that will stand out in particular. In fiscal 2005 alone, EA had generated $3.1 billion, of which $55 million was directly from online game subscription revenue. All in all the online gaming market is still one with a long road of improvements and changes ahead, time will only tell who the true beneficiaries of this large growth will be. However its beyond a shadow of a doubt that many opportunities are yet to be found in the online subscription based market.

The research done by DFC Intelligence resource services help to provide a detailed strategic analysis of the interactive entertainment industry.