Blizzard - "Most Profitable first half EVER"

[Acidbaron]

Without a doubt due to them branching out in different type of games. Just hope this translates in more content for less and not less content for more.

[Packing an i5]

Without a doubt due to them branching out in different type of games. Just hope this translates in more content for less and not less content for more.

I don't think there's any reason to believe more profit from their other games is going to make them work harder on Wow. Why take any risk and just make items for overwatch and increase salaries.

[Deleted]

Sales and profits hit new high for Blizzard? - BLIZZDRONE ANTENNA TRIGGERED
Release of another massively hyped and now even oversexed game with apparently more porn of anime like characters than game reviews, that is 'surprisingly' massively popular in Asia?! - CHECK
This and another game that is not WoW are named as primary contributors for this financial surge and WoW was not!? - CHECK
Activision Blizzard PC game sales actually went up by only 2.5% QoQ and 10% YoY on the quarter despite Overwatch taking over the globe surpassing at least currently the Billion Dollar elephant LoL in terms of popularity? - CHECK
Forget whatever I said about Blizzards spread out 'stable' portfolio of other gametitle in the other threads. - CHECK
Forget that WoW already made less than 50% of Blizzards revenue in the last 2 quarters before they stopped reporting it seperately I turned into the spin above? - CHECK

This clearly calls for a tribute to WoW in the WoW generals and unironically calling everyone who disagrees the slightest an 'arm chair finance expert' and 'spinning the facts'! Wew WoW is like getting back to 15 Million subs!

[Malstrum]

WoW is the only MMO on the market. MMOs in general are dying.

You must never have heard of a company called Square Enix. They make a game called Final Fantasy XIV, it's very successful now.

[Demithio]

This doesn't actually help WoW at all as a game. In fact, it further tells Blizzard that they don't need to develop quality content for WoW in order to rake in huge revenue. Do some people actually think that more profit for Blizzard equals bigger and better things for WoW in the future? I'm afraid that's not how the big corporate world works.

Having said that, considering the declining numbers and 'legacy' status Blizzard has unofficially assigned to the game, I doubt WoW is currently a major contributor to their revenue success as compared to their other lineup. Blizzard has simply jumped on the low development cost with high returns bandwagon. That's obvious by the type of new games it produces and what has happened to WoW over the years in terms of amount and quality of development. They've done a decent job of producing less of WoW for less capital and still manage decent returns through marketing strategies. They are in full profit making mode, which is great for investors, but not necessarily good for fans of WoW.

[Aleksej89]

MMOs are rapidly dying out as a type of game.
WoW is the only subscription-model western MMO that has over a million subscribers.

[MoanaLisa]

Yeah I know that they're working on WoW much more, but that's the point. Why working more for something less profitable? It's pure business, do as small as possible for more money(proportionally).

Because one should entertain the idea that the cost to create enough content to try and keep people around for an extra month or two is less than the revenue they gain if people stay for an extra bit, i.e. more profit.

That's why.

You can't seriously be saying that if you have five products you simply abandon development on all except the most profitable one? Pure business is finding ways to generate more profit from all existing products, not just the most profitable one of the moment.

[TheFirstOnes]

I still cannot believe people bite Jaylock's low hanging bait. I have been here for 3 damn years and every damn time its the same thing. How? How does this happen? Why? Why does this happen? None of the points he makes are ever factual or insightful.

Legion is still a good expansion though. Just saying.

[Eon Drache]

You must never have heard of a company called Square Enix. They make a game called Final Fantasy XIV, it's very successful now.

I did. I played it. It had 1/4th the subs wow had at the last estimation. According to all the "WoW is dead" shit, FFXIV doesn't even hold a glass for the water.

[PenguinChan]

I have coworkers that play Hearthstone that didn't even know that WoW existed. So lol no. WoW is a ghost of what it was for them, one they fortunately still support.

This happens all the time for MMORPGs, and any games in a series honestly. This isn't anything new, nor exciting honestly -- I mean hell a lot of people didn't even know Warcraft 1 - 3 existed when classic was a thing.

[brunnor]

I did. I played it. It had 1/4th the subs wow had at the last estimation. According to all the "WoW is dead" shit, FFXIV doesn't even hold a glass for the water.

His post was to combat the thought that MMORPGs are dying when FFXIV is growing in subs. WoW is dying. The subs just keep doing down over time. There seems to be no stopping it. That doesn't make it an insult or a bad thing, it just means it is going down to a point of death. People saying games like Rift, Wildstar, even FFXIV are "dead" and all of them hold around a million players give or take. So with WoW being around 4 million somewhere, it's not hard to start seeing that it is getting closer and closer to that which is deemed "dead" by the community.

[Sting]

His post was to combat the thought that MMORPGs are dying when FFXIV is growing in subs. WoW is dying. The subs just keep doing down over time. There seems to be no stopping it. That doesn't make it an insult or a bad thing, it just means it is going down to a point of death. People saying games like Rift, Wildstar, even FFXIV are "dead" and all of them hold around a million players give or take. So with WoW being around 4 million somewhere, it's not hard to start seeing that it is getting closer and closer to that which is deemed "dead" by the community.

There's a big difference between being actually dead, and being "dead" as judged by the (no longer) playing community. Especially profit wise.

[brunnor]

There's a big difference between being actually dead, and being "dead" as judged by the (no longer) playing community. Especially profit wise.

Of course. But since we are on the most popular non-playing community forums, figured it's best to use their terminology.

[Sting]

Of course. But since we are on the most popular non-playing community forums, figured it's best to use their terminology.

I disagree, since you're basically validating their claims. Sure, WoW is on the decline, but there's no way of telling where it'll stop, and if that point is too low for the game to warrant further development. They sure as shit can't stop for a while though, not as long as they're so far above their competition.

It's just a dick move by Blizzard towards the players to stop reporting sub numbers, and last I heard they aren't even reporting revenue on a game-by-game base anymore, just lump everything together to keep the picture pretty. It makes sense though from a economic point of view.

[rda]

It's just a dick move by Blizzard towards the players to stop reporting sub numbers, and last I heard they aren't even reporting revenue on a game-by-game base anymore, just lump everything together to keep the picture pretty. It makes sense though from a economic point of view.

They don't have to report that (neither sub numbers, nor revenue per game).

That said, I agree they want to have their cake and eat it too all the time in that they will report any statistics, taken out of context and sometimes actively misleading, when it can be used to convey the "we are doing spectacularly well" message.

Example 1: they treat their Warcraft movie as a great success and refer to it as the best movie based on a videogame - omitting that the movie hardly broke even and is only a success in that other movies based on videogames lost more money proportionally. It was a dumb investment with zero return and a lot of wasted time at best, yet somehow they talk about it as a positive.

Example 2: they reported subs for WoW when they were high, then they stopped reporting them when they fell into oblivion because "sub numbers aren't a useful metric". But then they had Overwatch and - surprise - numbers of people who bought the game are again reported despite not being "a useful metric", because they are reasonably high.

Blizzard are spinning things harder than 90% of the companies I saw or worked with. They are completely shameless. And, in a way, that helps - ie, if they don't report sub numbers for WoW or, say, the number of preorders, you can be sure they are nothing to write home about, because if they were good, Blizzard would have shouted about that from every corner.

[Manabomb]

Blizzard had their most profitable quarter and first half ever! This is great news and only showcases that Blizzard is truly in the game for quality.

The whole: "we don't release it until its ready" surely has a whole lot to do with how profitable Blizzard has been in recent years.

This bodes extremely well for Legion as it already has nearly 2 million in pre-order sales acquired and server activity as a result has skyrocketed.

Wow has also shown "great trends" from the Legion announcement and WoW movie. The future looks bright boyz!

But if you read between the lines, like a real investor, you'll notice that WoW is a minority in sales figures and profit margins coming from Blizzard.

They are basically Square Enix now. They have a pet MMO or two with a bunch of over-hyped best sellers to keep the rest of the company floating.

[Eon Drache]

His post was to combat the thought that MMORPGs are dying when FFXIV is growing in subs. WoW is dying. The subs just keep doing down over time. There seems to be no stopping it. That doesn't make it an insult or a bad thing, it just means it is going down to a point of death. People saying games like Rift, Wildstar, even FFXIV are "dead" and all of them hold around a million players give or take. So with WoW being around 4 million somewhere, it's not hard to start seeing that it is getting closer and closer to that which is deemed "dead" by the community.

FF isn't growing and there is no proof of that whatsoever. Last checked the active player count for it was going down. Also Rift and Wildstar are f2p. You can't even compare them and if you want lets throw Runescape in there for the laughs.

[brunnor]

FF isn't growing and there is no proof of that whatsoever. Last checked the active player count for it was going down. Also Rift and Wildstar are f2p. You can't even compare them and if you want lets throw Runescape in there for the laughs.

Why does F2P change a genre dying or not? The answer is, it doesn't. A genre isn't dying if there are others of the same type out there not dying. A game or two might be dying/died already but the genre is still just fine. People will play games if they are of enough quality to warrant it.

[Eon Drache]

Why does F2P change a genre dying or not? The answer is, it doesn't. A genre isn't dying if there are others of the same type out there not dying. A game or two might be dying/died already but the genre is still just fine. People will play games if they are of enough quality to warrant it.

I'm saying in comparison to WoW you can't say WoW is dead but other MMOs with so little of the playerbased compared are alive and well. If they are doing "Great!" then WoW is too.

[Deleted]

They are very succesfull as a company.

Thing is, WoW is the least successful game currently. Diablo is doing great, HS is doing great, OW is doing great. Just WoW is struggling to retain its players.

Maybe it's just too old. I mean come on, Legion will have tiers 19, 20 and possibly 21. How many can you do before you get bored? I had enough with T13 - T18. I'm not going to raid ever again. Possibly quitting wow for good.