Since my summer update on Second Life user concurrency has still remained flat during the whole of 2012 and there has been a big decline in total regions in Second Life during 2012. In my summer 2012 update I pointed out that on 19th July 2012 there were 29, 496 regions on the grid. In January 2012 the region count was 31, 078 and as of 4th of December 2012 it stands at 28, 290 regions. A slow large decline and very alarming indeed.
If rates continue then I think it will drop down to somewhere between 26, 000 to 27, 000 before 2013 year ends unless something changes soon. This is very alarming that SL regions, SL active users and SL sign ups have been lost in Second Life during 2012 more than in previous years. Seems like SL users are spending more time outside of SL and doing other things.
- What are your views on 2012 economy and SL stats this year ?
- What does LL need to do to kick-start the SL economy again ?
- If you were CEO of Linden Lab what would you do ?
I hope Rodvik and the rest of Linden Lab will do something about this SL economy decline in 2013/2014 otherwise its back to the early days of Second Life before 2020 I predict.
Current region counts!
- 28, 290 – Total Regions
- 1854.01 – Total Area (km²)
- 7, 090 – Linden Owned
- 21, 200 – Private Estates
It seems to me there has been less interest in SL for some reason with more region closures etc. The trend during 2012 I think was a big switch towards the most popular 40 OpenSim grids and there has been growth in terms of regions/users this year. OpenSim grids are much cheaper, better financially, expanding (sims/users) and there is new investment being made all the time.
SL daily concurrency levels decline further in 2012
- Since July 2012 the minimum daily concurrency seems to be balanced between 30, 000 to 35, 000 mark.
- Since July 2012 the median peak daily concurrency seems to be stable between 45, 000 to 48, 000 mark
- Since July 2012 the maximum daily concurrency seems to be remain around 60, 000 to 64, 000 peaking
- Since July 2012 the daily Second Life sign ups have dropped down to around 11, 000 – 14, 000 mark
Linden Lab does no longer release statistics for Second Life and I base my findings via the SL Grid Survey, Hypergrid Business reports and other SL metric sources.
In 2013 Linden Lab needs to seriously lower tier costs and bring more to the table so that SL users don’t go else where. If Linden Lab created a SL app for all mobile/tablet platforms that would be a great news. It’s possible and change is needed for 2013!
My next update will be in the spring > published in April 2013.
Daniel Voyager 