It’s a jungle out there for massively multiplayer online gaming and the tigers like World of Warcraft are still prowling with their 7 year age and 10.3 million paying subscribers, but what does this mean for the smaller outfits? Well, it looks like the new working model for MMO games is free-to-play: a model that allows users to download, install, and play the game without a monthly subscription but offers perks and enhancements for a price.

According to a 2011 MMO Games Market Report released by Newzoo, forty-seven percent of all free-to-play MMO spending comes from the US delivering $1.2 billion out of a total $4.9 billion spent by consumers in 2011 across emerging markets across Western and Asian market sectors. This is significantly higher than only 39 percent in 2010.

Revelations from the report, introduced by VentureBeat, include data from iQU about what games gamers play. According to the tracking day from 80 million online gamers worldwide, Wargaming.net’s World of Tanks tops the charts in Europe and Russia (the home turf of the MMO publisher) and Riot Game’s League of Legends is number one in the U.S. and AeriaGames’s Shaiya takes the lead in Latin America.

“The MMO games market is rapidly turning global. It has become increasingly important for MMO developers and publishers think carefully about which titles to publish in what territories and how to adapt the games according to local preferences, including monetization models that work best,” said Peter Warman, Newzoo CEO and co-author of the 2011 MMO Games Market Report.

Much of this expansion is thanks to the convergence of the cloud with gamer’s daily lives. The depth of Internet connectivity into homes and on-the-go allows players to connect with their games they want; and add in the trends towards mobile gaming, casual games that run easily on smartphones and connect users socially will probably begin to win out.

Going free-to-play gave a recent 700% boost to Sony’s DC Universe Online

After going free-to-play, DC Universe Online appears to have hit the short-term jackpot. It’s too early to tell how this trend will affect the superhero MMO based on popular comic books published by DC Comics, but it’s looking up. In the days immediately afterwards Sony Online President John Smedley tweeted that he is “really happy with how DCUO is doing.” According to statistics released on the subject the user base has been growing at a rate of 6 percent per day and over 85 percent of daily logins are returning players.

This has also netted them a pretty pile of cash as Smedley reports that they’ve seen a 700 percent increase in total daily revenue.

According to a report from Eurogamer, the earnings are split 47 percent from the PC version and 53 percent form the PlayStation 3 version.

Remember everyone: this is the same Sony who shut down the PlayStation network for almost a month after intrusions—an event costing them millions of dollars. The combination of forces that set this in motion for Sony could have pushed them towards the free-to-play model looking for a quick fix to their woes. If it works out well, it could spell good news for the industry as a whole.

It’s not all sunshine and roses, however, especially for LEGO Universe, a free-to-play MMO who announced they will be closing their doors January 31, 2012. Much of their failure might be attributed to going to market too soon, with little content, and a poor offering to fans of the toy building blocks who have seen glorious video games produced from famous IP from Star Wars to Harry Potter.

Analysts believe that 2012 will be a year of consolidation for the free-to-play MMO industry, which is recently seeing an explosive radiation in MMO franchises and types.

As free-to-play games continue to attract online gamers, those who produce interesting and compelling content will probably shine in 2012 and pave the path for the next generation business model. They’ve got a lot of audience to work with, so it will be all about wooing the gamers who want to play their games.

After all, gaming is sexy (especially for girl gamers).