Earnings Call: PR talk for WoW translated

[Ehuehuecopter]

Here's how we read your posts

"bla bla i thinks that wow is dying because no reasons"

[TriHard]

They are losing subs, we all know it. That's why they chose the words that they did, but let's be honest though.. WoW has been the prime MMO since 2004 and it'll stay that way for at least the next 3 years I think, but I doubt any longer than that.

[Ehuehuecopter]

They are losing subs

We know it


What a bunch of bull. Shit.

[Gadzooks]

The game has been dying since the launch of TBC, so say internet dwellers. For a thing that's been in an agonizing state for 10 years, it sure looks quite happy and healthy. Truly a magnificent scientific exception.

I want a product that's dying like WoW, but profits like it. Please. Tell me what one is. I want to make 3.6 billion dollars.

Hell, I want a job at Blizzard. If anyone has job security, they do.

[rda]

You missed the important parts:

Blizzard-Activision made a record amount of money, double of what they made last year. Do you know how many companies would like to double their income, in one year?

Sales from the game shop are up 30%.

They can have less players, they made a literal mountain of money, the game is profiting, nobody is losing their jobs, and there will be more WoW expansions.

Do you really think the investors are gonna say "Hey, you made us almost 4 billion dollars, but there aren't enough WoW players, could you fix that?"

Blizzard's on a roll. Their stock is a solid buy. But you're holding a funeral for the game.

Yep.

No, no, no, I agree that Blizzard are doing well as a company. As I said, happy for Overwatch, etc.

I just think that it's funny to look at the constant excuses and hiding of data in these reports for WoW - the game continues to fall down for years yet their reports continue to desperately try to deceive people into thinking it is doing great. ("We stopped reporting subs because they are not useful" was a ton of laugh.)

I am reading the portion for WoW mostly because it is fun to look whatever crap comparison they are trying to parade this time, that's all. :-)

[styil]

Blizzard hasn't lied in their investor reports in the past, why would they start now? They're a publicly traded company which makes billions of dollars a year. If an investigative report came out slamming Blizzard for fudging their numbers, it'd be curtains for the whole show. I simply do not see any compelling reason for Blizzard to be obscuring information. Yes, they stopped releasing raw subscriber data in WoD but that likely had more to do with the introduction of the WoW token than anything else. Regardless, I just can't buy into this huge conspiracy theory players on this forum seem to have about Blizzard trying to hide WoW's massive shortcomings.

I'm not suggesting that Blizzard is lying with the numbers. I'm suggesting that Blizzard has offered nothing of value with the numbers supplied in this report. I'm trying to understand why you find things like "+10% monthly active users" (which doesn't tell you anything) the "only acceptable data" simply because it's from Blizzard. It offers nothing of value and I find that metric unacceptable.

[Ehuehuecopter]

I am reading the portion for WoW mostly because it is fun to look whatever crap comparison they are trying to parade this time, that's all. :-)

Ladies and Gentlemen

From the man who compared lol and wow growth

[Vorkreist]

I want a product that's dying like WoW, but profits like it. Please. Tell me what one is. I want to make 3.6 billion dollars.

Hell, I want a job at Blizzard. If anyone has job security, they do.

WoW is making 3.6 billion ? Woah pass me that dank weed you're smokin

[Zelorra]

Look, another "WoW is dead" thread in desguise lol

Actually here's the translation for you:

"Even if WoW is a 12 years old game, a lot of people still pay to play it and it's still making us a shit-ton of money"

[Ehuehuecopter]

WoW is making 3.6 billion ? Woah pass me that dank weed you're smokin

I guess he wa ironic

[TriHard]

I don't think they're really trying to hide it, what they're showing is that they still make a lot of money because people buy their mounts and other services. One mount / service sale does make them more money than a sub.

[Ehuehuecopter]

I don't think they're really trying to hide it, what they're showing is that they still make a lot of money because people buy their mounts and other services. One mount / service sale does make them more money than a sub.

So lol isn't making money if don't count skin or services, it is just the "new thing" after years of mmo rpg

[Ehuehuecopter]

Look, another "WoW is dead" thread in desguise lol

Actually here's the translation for you:

"Even if WoW is a 12 years old game, a lot of people still pay to play it and it's still making us a shit-ton of money"

Pretty much this

At the end of the day wow is still running on the top 5 of mmo rpg, people are playing, blizzard is making money.

Even with the salt of the rda squad, no other mmo rpg had a positive growth over the same wow span life

[ls-]

I don't think they're really trying to hide it, what they're showing is that they still make a lot of money because people buy their mounts and other services. One mount / service sale does make them more money than a sub.

TBF, 1 sub is $15-20/month in NA region, that's not that bad

[Gadzooks]

No, no, no, I agree that Blizzard are doing well as a company. As I said, happy for Overwatch, etc.

I just think that it's funny to look at the constant excuses and hiding of data in these reports for WoW - the game continues to fall down for years yet their reports continue to desperately try to deceive people into thinking it is doing great. ("We stopped reporting subs because they are not useful" was a ton of laugh.)

I am reading the portion for WoW mostly because it is fun to look whatever crap comparison they are trying to parade this time, that's all. :-)

Dude, they're not hiding data. The investors don't care about the "data' you're all arguing over, and I saw no excuses, you're seeing that because you want to see it.

You know how you'll know that there's a problem? When they tell the investors they lost money on the game. Then the investors might give a fuck about the number of players.

If Blizzard was hiding something, they'd be putting themselves at a ridiculous amount of liability, the kind where people go to jail. They told the story the investors want to hear: "We fixed stuff, people are playing our games, and oh yeah, we made 3.6 billion dollars."

Do you honestly want to sit there and say Morhaime and what's his face at Activision are gonna put that much money, that many jobs, that much success, on the line to hide sub numbers?

Seriously. You're speeding into UFO conspiracy country at a high rate of speed.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not suggesting that Blizzard is lying with the numbers. I'm suggesting that Blizzard has offered nothing of value with the numbers supplied in this report. I'm trying to understand why you find things like "+10% monthly active users" (which doesn't tell you anything) the "only acceptable data" simply because it's from Blizzard. It offers nothing of value and I find that metric unacceptable.

Well, the good thing is, Blizzard didn't report for you, they reported the numbers to the investors. You? You don't matter in this context at all.

Go put some skin in the game as a shareholder, with a significant amount, not a couple shares, and you can throw the word "unacceptable" around at the shareholder's meetings, m'kay?

[ls-]

If blizzard was hiding something, they'd be putting themselves at a ridiculous amount of liability, the kind where people go to jail. They told the story the investors want to hear: "we fixed stuff, people are playing our games, and oh yeah, we made 3.6 billion dollars."

$2.4B /ftfy, out of which >60% are non-WoW and non-PC, so <20% of income is related to WoW in one way of another, that's a lot of money though

[Deleted]

Here's how I read your message:

"So, a blabla blabla blabla bla blablabla, is saying that Blizz intentionally trolls with their stats - Just to make shit look good?

Bla, bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla - bla bla you doing bla bla bla?"

Yes, I am saying that Blizz intentionally post misleading numbers just to make shit look good. Glad you understood.

If you think "data" and "facts" equals to "bla", then why would anyone on earth take anything you say seriously?

[rda]

Dude, they're not hiding data. The investors don't care about the "data' you're all arguing over, and I saw no excuses, you're seeing that because you want to see it.

You know how you'll know that there's a problem? When they tell the investors they lost money on the game. Then the investors might give a fuck about the number of players.

If Blizzard was hiding something, they'd be putting themselves at a ridiculous amount of liability, the kind where people go to jail. They told the story the investors want to hear: "We fixed stuff, people are playing our games, and oh yeah, we made 3.6 billion dollars."

Do you honestly want to sit there and say Morhaime and what's his face at Activision are gonna put that much money, that many jobs, that much success, on the line to hide sub numbers?

Seriously. You're speeding into UFO conspiracy country at a high rate of speed.

I am not sure what you are saying - that they are secretly publishing sub numbers in some reports open only to the investors who ask for it or whatever? But that doesn't matter, I am not accusing them in anything illegal.

It is much simpler. They used to publish that data openly, now they no longer do this. The reason is obvious to anyone - because they became a source of bad news rather than good. That's hiding.

No conspiracy theories.

[Ehuehuecopter]

What??? 2.4B??? This game is dead for sure

[rda]

If you think "data" and "facts" equals to "bla", then why would anyone on earth take anything you say seriously?

Because this and other threads have links to data and facts, with elaborations and explanations, and because you don't ask "why do you think X?", you are pushing right ahead with "that's BS!!!!111 wrongwrongwrong!11". That's why what you post looks like "bla".

- - - Updated - - -

Well, the good thing is, Blizzard didn't report for you, they reported the numbers to the investors. You? You don't matter in this context at all.

The fun thing is, they almost certainly didn't report sub numbers for WoW to any of the investors either (OK, a couple of Blizzard guys who also hold stock know them, that's a bit different). :-)