I dont think your going to get stronger sales down the line for a game has show weak sales compared to previous expansions. Usually the "overhyped" games get strong sales at the start and then the rest gradually come in. I dont think your going to get the same amount of growth sales wise that you were getting. Either those ppl no longer play MMO's, they moved on to a new MMO, or they are waiting further into the expansion. Part of the Cata playerbase is clearly gone.
So we see growth this quarter, Q4 2012 will likely be the real show in how well MoP release content holds (and possibly 5.1, since it's due on the PTR soon). If they keep rolling new content out quickly and continue with their philosophy of new content for all levels of skill, it'd be a strong argument that they learned from what was largely a failed experiment with Cata.
Be seeing you guys on Bloodsail Buccaneers NA!
If 5.1 drops before the end of 2012, I think Blizz is going to have another surge of subscribers and purchases of Mists. If they can follow it with 5.2 in, I dunno, March of April, that'd be fantastic, because if I had to guess 5.2 will have the Ulduar style raid they've been hinting at.
I guess WoW is dying after all...
I dunno if release content will last the raiding community 'til March/April, so I'd think closer to February or early March we might see 5.2 drop, followed shortly after by 5.3 taking after 5.1 with more casual- and story-oriented content. If that small-big cycle continues on the schedule 5.0/5.1 are on, it could be a formula for success.
Be seeing you guys on Bloodsail Buccaneers NA!
Even if WoW dropped to 3 million subs it wouldn't be dead because that is more subs than any other mmo has.
EVERYDAY I'M SHUFFLIN. ┏(-_-)┛┗(-_- )┓┗(-_-)┛┏(-_-)┓
Oh, no it wouldn't.
Honestly Blizzard kept all of their promises for the launch of Mists except for I think, what, the Valor Point Upgrade for Gear?
I figured 5.1 may drop by December. They're actually doing their best to push content out faster.
But, yeah, that wouldn't make you petty:P
It doesn't matter if there is a lag in subscription numbers. There always will be for any game. Blizzard is under no obligation to report their subscription numbers on a daily basis. Certainly some people may have left since they compiled the subscription number they recently reported but then more people may have joined up. Considering this is a new and popular expansions, I think the latter is more likely.
As far as reporting subscription numbers to its shareholders, while these numbers are interesting the real numbers are Blizzard's revenue, costs and net earnings. The money is what is most important. In fact, as we all know, Blizzard has amazing earnings. That's what shareholders want to know about.
Last edited by Stellan; 2012-10-09 at 01:23 AM.
It's strange to me that 10 million people subscribe while only 3 million play MoP.
if WoW dropped to 3 mil subs it would pretty much be dead. And heres why. The WoW playerbase is split. 40-45% of it is NA/EU players and the rest is Asia. WoW makes most its sub money from NA/EU. Using same ration of WOW only had 3 mil subs then only 1.3 mil players are NA/EU which is basically what other sub games are or were when they were considered failures. So i wouldnt be boasting about having WoW at 3 mil subs and still going strong when "you ppl" criticize other games for having those numbers.
Just so you know, this is the breakdown of activision-blizzard non-gaap revenue for Q2 2012
Source: http://investor.activision.com/results.cfm
So Asian earning is about 10% of total A-B earning. It does not matter wether there is 7 millions sub in asia, the money is in europe and america, only those sub really matters. The others are only eye powder for fanboy.