f13.net

IRVINE, Calif. - December 23, 2008 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now played by more than 11.5 million subscribers worldwide. This new high was reached following the November 13 release of the game’s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King™.

Within its first 24 hours of availability, Wrath of the Lich King sold more than 2.8 million copies, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. In addition to winning a number of editor’s choice awards from major gaming publications, the expansion has now gone on to sell more than 4 million copies in its first month, setting a new record for monthly PC-game sales. Both sales records were previously held by World of Warcraft's first expansion, The Burning Crusade.

“We’re pleased to welcome the new and returning players who have helped World of Warcraft reach these new milestones, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and support that the game’s global community has continued to show,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to providing all of them with an excellent entertainment experience for a long time to come.”

“Not only is Wrath of the Lich King still doing well, the base World of Warcraft game and the World of Warcraft Battle Chest® are performing better than last year,” said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop. “That type of traction is very impressive for a game that is going into its fifth holiday season and speaks to the enthusiastic player base Blizzard Entertainment products have.”

No last number was on 10/23/2008 where they said "over 11 million" so WotLK actually gave a rather small boost.

(http://pandadesigns.com/f13/wow_chart_20081223.jpg)

Which I think is even more important than an expansion boosting a game. It shows that WoW continues to grow even four years later. What game since EQ1 has been able to claim that?

EVE?

I do believe EVE is growing in subscriber numbers, but it is inflated by the fact that having a 2nd account is very useful (though by no means required). While subscriber numbers continue to grow steadily, I would guess 30-50% of new subscriptions are in fact a 2nd account for an already existing player. That said, when it comes to money, # of subscriptions is all that matters.

Matter of fact, if I made an MMO, the first thing I'd do is find a way to make secondary accounts useful but not  required. Secondary accounts have the highest ROI by a long shot.

I guess, with EVE, the population numbers will go up or down based on whether or not the major alliances are "having fun" or are bored out of their minds and not maintaining their subscriptions.  Whether an expansion is released (or not) seems to have less impact than drama or a new war.

I do believe EVE is growing in subscriber numbers, but it is inflated by the fact that having a 2nd account is very useful (though by no means required).

Careful.  If you imply that WoW has ended marriages, you may become an international media sensation.

Every now and then we should agree on a random obvious but silly topic for a thread, then have Raph post it to his blog.  We can make a fun game of seeing how many are turned into international stories.  It'll be a riot.

Countries with less population than WoW include:

Greece, Portugal, Sweden, Czech Republic, Cuba, Austria, Serbia, and Senegal. The list goes on and on.

I know one I know one! Let's say I met someone in an online game and we got married, but they were cheating on me by cybering with someone else online, and oh forget it.

Careful.  If you imply that WoW has ended marriages, you may become an international media sensation.

If you're going to rehash yesterday's news, you need to spice it up.



How about if the guy she was cheating with turned out to be one of the army's WoW bots?

Meh.

How many of these are people who pay monthly and not hourly (Chinese)?

In any case, I'm sure a bit chunk of those numbers are Chinese people who haven't played in months but don't bother cancelling their account since they have no reason to since they just pay hourly.

I'm sure that WoW has a lot more revenue than any other MMORPG, but these numbers really aren't a good metric of WoW's success.

I think the days of relying on the aggregate attention of individual gamers are over. The more recent strategies include going after as many guilds as possible (not just the ubers) and trying to get more people who've never played an MMO before (of which there are plenty, as long as you're not trying to sell a fantasy-based diku).

The thing about marketing though is you need to have, like, a good game to back it up  :awesome_for_real:

Humm, I just had an idea....

I've always read on these boards how important being in a guild / online friends in game are important for keeping players, or adding new ones.

Instead of a MMO company supporting guilds, what if they 'secretly' started forming guilds and recruiting?   Not by hiring people, but buy 'paying off' existing players / guilds leaders in some way to actively recruit, help new players, keep players interested.   Pay via free accounts, special in-game items, prestige, etc.

Instead of a MMO company supporting guilds, what if they 'secretly' started forming guilds and recruiting?   Not by hiring people, but buy 'paying off' existing players / guilds leaders in some way to actively recruit, help new players, keep players interested.   Pay via free accounts, special in-game items, prestige, etc.