When will this madness end? (wow)

[Lakov_Sanite]

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.”

So it's no surprise that the expansion was a hit but if i remember their last subs updates was 10.5 million so it gave them another one million boost?! This is getting a tad crazy now, any thoughts on when the supposed decline actually starts?

[HaemishM]

When Blizzard releases its next MMO?

[rattran]

WoW is still better than the alternatives if you want a fantasy mmog. Until that changes I don't see a decline, and as Haemish says, the eventual WoWkiller mmo will likely come from Blizzard.

[Trippy]

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

[Lakov_Sanite]

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

Ah good point though it's kind of sad when a 'small boost' is more than most current mmo's have in subs total.

[Venkman]

Actually, I'd even question WotLK's "small boost". More likely, the boost came in throughout the year against a slightly smaller amount of people leaving through normal attraction/attrition ratios. The "boost" WotLK gave was probably more to re-upping lapsed users.

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?

[Trippy]

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?

[Jobu]

Countries with less population than WoW include:

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

[Viin]

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.

[Cheddar]

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.

Do secondary accounts cost less?

[Merusk]

Sometimes, I think is the answer.  They run specials every now and then as 2nd acct incentives.

The real question is, how have their sub numbers done since they nerfed the "no training while unsubbed "bug."

[ajax34i]

Judging by what I remember the server peaks to be on Sundays, and the current numbers shown by EVE-Offline, their sub numbers have increased since the "no training while unsubbed".  By quite a bit, actually.  Their all-time high used to be 42k, half a year ago, and before the start of all these recent wars (Goons vs. Stain/RA, whatever's going on in the North), I wasn't seeing the server go above 39k, week after week, but now it's 43k.

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.

[Malakili]

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.

Thats actually a really interesting observation.  If true, it means that they have really succeeded in creating a player driven game, but it also raises the question of what can the creator of such a game do to retain as many subs as possible without giving up the player-driven aspect of the game.   Still, evens consistently growing numbers, regardless of where the subs are coming from, does seem to indicate that CCP is doing SOMETHING right.

[TripleDES]

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).

Multiaccounting is common in WOW, too.

My ex-brother-in-law, who never really played computer games or never was good with computers, had two WOW accounts. Friends of him were supposedly also multiaccounting.

PS: Ex-brother-in-law thanks to WOW. 

[Triforcer]

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

[TripleDES]

Situation was more hilarious than the standard cut'n'dry WOW relationship killer.

While he was busy all day, when he was not at work, playing his damn game, their relationship stagnated. My sister ended up hanging all day on her computer surfing the web, chatting and god knows what. At some point, he started losing interest in WOW, noticed that my sister was bothering more about her surf experience than him (i.e. a similar situation the other way around), he got upset and things escalated in a decent manner.

[Lantyssa]

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.

[K9]

When will the plateau come?

[NiX]

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.

The problem with this is, like with one site who intentionally made false news, their "reputation" was tarnished in the eyes of Kotaku.

Seriously, write up some ground rules and let's get Raph on board.

[Slyfeind]

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.

[Murgos]

Countries with less population than WoW include:

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

This combined with the 'not hiring WoW players' thread leads me to think I have found the source of the economic crisis...

[Goreschach]

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.

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?

[Slayerik]

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

Tri, usually I see your posts and sometimes cringe....but this one was fun of win.

And that almost rhymed.

[Ratman_tf]

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.

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?

I'd make it so the chick was really a transvestite and he found out on their wedding night.

Surprise!

[Daztur]

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.

[Trippy]

Meh.

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

About half.

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.

They don't count those. Basically those "subscription" numbers are the number of monthly subscriptions (Western-style) plus the time card accounts that have logged on in the last month (Asian-style).

Edit: clarified

[Xerapis]

HAI GUYZ!

Let's have the "over-inflated Asian numbers fuck up total subscription numbers" argument all over again!

Thing to remember: Let's say Blizzard "adjusts" their numbers inaccurately. Let's say they tell us DOUBLE the actual subscriber numbers. Pretty big lie. How do they compare exactly to the nearest competition?

The numbers don't have to be a good metric.  EVERYONE in the proper demographic knowing about the game? That's a pretty damn good metric.

[Trippy]

Blizzard's always been upfront about how they count. It's in every press release that announces subscriber numbers.

[Xerapis]

Oh, sure. You know it, I know it, and Schild could probably write a fucking dissertation on how subscriber numbers are recorded and reported. He might even be able to do it without referencing HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED 

But for others.....

[UnSub]

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.

You're right.

How about we use the "WoW makes Blizzard over $US 1 billion dollars a year in revenue" as a metric? Profitability of 40% at that level too

Alternatively, discount 50% of WoW's players as "foreign" and you still have the biggest MMO in the English-speaking world.

WoW: the biggest, no matter how you cut it.

[kildorn]

I love the "those are all canceled, based on the evidence that this one guy I know totally canceled his account and thus THE END IS NEAR.

WoW's going to keep growing for a while. They've established market dominance and managed to make the entire game about people trying to compete with them on their own turf, while missing the backing cash and the development time that goes into a few expansions. They're in the same spot EQ used to be in. Everyone else needs to make something you'd like So Much that you'd leave established social and character relationships to jump ship to. Even if your game is slightly better than WoW, it's not better than WoW + your friends.

[Venkman]

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 

[Jeff Kelly]

The most important thing is that WoW now has critical mass. I see a lot of people playing it or coming fresh to it that never vere playxed any computer games at all. Why? Because their friends/family/colleagues at work play it.

For some it's basically the new ICQ/AIM/Skype, a way to keep in touch with people, for others it's a replacement for network TV or other entertainment but everybody knows someone who plays so they are more likely to play themselves and it can be played on anything that is at least 5 years old wich is also a bonus. So WoW will keep on growing for some time I presume.

[Sunbury]

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 

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.

[DraconianOne]

Secrets don't remain secrets for long.