CORRECTED-Online features boost video game revenue -report
(Corrects percent of PlayStation 3 titles that incorporate some online features, paragraph 6)
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Video games with online components bring in more than twice the revenue as those played offline, a research firm said in a report to be published on Thursday.
"Developers who are not embracing online opportunities to a greater level are leaving money on the table," said Geoffrey Zatkin, president and chief operating officer of San Diego-based Electronic Entertainment Design and Research.
Games that use some degree of multiplayer capability also tend to make nearly 25 percent more revenue than those without. And games that allow users to play each other online bring in close to twice that of games which do not.
The report looks at the Xbox 360 from Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), the PlayStation 3 from Sony Corp (6758.T), and the Wii from Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS), starting with their respective launches, through June 1, 2007.
Analysis of some 219 retail titles and 187 downloadable games was conducted.
Some 77 percent of Xbox 360 games incorporate online features in some manner, compared with 67 percent of PS3 titles, the researcher said.
Yet 98 percent of the titles for the Wii, a console with lower-priced games geared toward more casual players, have no online functionality at all.
(Reporting by N. Evan Van Zelfden)
