Market Expansion or Fanboi Conversion? Wow, iPods...

[jpark]

I have seen some curious thinking on this point in other threads so I will summarize:

The MMORPG industry has not expanded with WoW large subscription base - it merely has taken its existing fanboi base for other products and brought it into this genre.  WoW subscription numbers do not represent market expansion for the MMORGP genre.

While the following comment has not been made, it seems to me the same logic would have to be applied if you believed it:

The portable music industry has not expanded with iPod retail sales - Apple has merely taken its existing die hard customer base for their other products and brought them into this industry segment.  iPod sales numbers do not represent an expansion of the portable music genre.

Where do you fall on these points?

[stray]

Blizzard was already mega-huge, so yeah, it's a lot Blizzard fanboi's (not to mention previous mmo addicts).

The iPod has far more going for it than just an existing fan base. Also, Apple was still in recovery mode when the iPod was released. They didn't exactly have a huge enough fanbase to explain the massive number of iPods that started being sold.

[Lum]

Far more people own iPods than own Macs.

Far more people play World of Warcraft than play other MMOs (admittedly the majority of which are in Asia).

Arguing that the market hasn't expanded for either is just patently silly.

[naum]

Far more people own iPods than own Macs.

The iPod explosion has bumped the Mac market segment up (or maybe it's just the grooviness of OS X…) — I believe last quarter the share of Macs amongst new PC sales went up to 7%, almost doubling from its typical 3-4%.  Perhaps the transition to Intel from PPC will put a lull in those numbers as folks wait until the new Intel machines roll out before making a new Mac purchase…

[Bunk]

Well, I'll start on pint two:

I have never purchased an Apple product in my life until I bought my iPod last month. I bought an iPod because even though they have limitations, they have the features I wanted (music and photos), combined with a slick interface and a big shiny market presence.

As to WoW: Its the only current MMog I pay for. I bought it because it offered the basic type of game I wanted, combined with a really slick interface and a huge market presence.


The above is a little tongue in cheek, especially the WoW stuff. It doesn't really apply to what you asked either. That's mainly because I don't really believe that either of your initial statements are correct.

[Lt.Dan]

The MMORPG industry has not expanded with WoW large subscription base - it merely has taken its existing fanboi base for other products and brought it into this genre.  WoW subscription numbers do not represent market expansion for the MMORGP genre.

"The MMORPG industry has not expanded with WoW - it has merely brought some of their non-MMORPG players and brought them to the genre"

[Sairon]

WoW is beyond the point of just recruiting fanbois and people already familiar with genre, heck I even know people who don't play games who has goten hooked on WoW.

[Murgos]

WoW has certainly increased the MMOG user base.  It's just that right now those users are mostly using WoW, so it hasn't yet increased sales in other MMOG's, once they get tired of WoW there will be some portion of that group who will try other things.

[Teleku]

http://media.putfile.com/Who-is-Leroy-Jenkins

Have you guys seen this shit (Despite the fact the dumb ass's didn't know, still....)?  World of Warcraft as expanded in a huge way, and is very mainstream compared to all other MMOG's.  I personally know several people who don't even play computer games and have either stated playing, or asked me if I can teach them how to play if they get it ("since everybody else is doing it").

Yes, it has expanded the market.

iPod as well, since its a fad, and everybody who is hip and has money therefore must buy it, despite knowing nothing about it.  I imagine this will create a lasting expanded userbase in the portable music market.

[HaemishM]

http://media.putfile.com/Who-is-Leroy-Jenkins

Holy shit, I think I just plotzed.

I wonder how much Blizzard had to pay to get that question in there.

[cevik]

"The MMORPG industry has not expanded with WoW - it has merely brought some of their non-MMORPG players and brought them to the genre"

I think the point you are missing from the original argument is the question of whether or not these new players have been "brought.. [in]to the genre" or if they are simply Blizzard fans passing in the night, and when WoW fades they will not ever play another MMOG again (they are not fans of the Genre, but of the dev company)..

Now I think that argument is patently stupid, I enjoy playing games by id, for example, but I only spent 10 minutes putzing around with Doom 75 1/2 before I realized it sucked and id has lost their touch.. So I highly doubt that WoW pulled in a lot of people who are just sticking around in a MMOG because it's "teh Blizzard!11!" and not because they like the genre, thus I suspect that in 10 years (or however long they are able to milk WoW and/or it's sequels), the market will still stay expanded, sure it will shrink a bit as people walk of their cat shit smelling rooms to find a large yellow orb in the sky that burns the very essence of their being straight through to their souls.. but I suspect we've passed the point of no return, no longer are we forever doomed to be a niche market.. *shrug*..

I'm just happy that of the two biggies, WoW and SWG, that the virtual world flopped like a sad little dying fish, and the game drew in the players.. I enjoy playing games more than I do setting up generators to power my hat farm.. Sorry Raph..