Mop - 2.7 million sold in first week

[Zeek Daniels]

Yes, China doesn't buy expansions, it won't affect that number. It will however affect the subscriptions numbers since the 900,000 gained since Launch was before MoP launched in China.

Well if you take what the guy said about buying in anticipation you could see where they could have bought a week or two prior to Oct 2nd which is i believe the china launch date for pandaria? So actually those subs would include the china pop who resubbed(bought time) while not including chinese sales.

[DisposableHero]

But that's my point. How many people bought MoP before the launch date? Yet those sales only get registered as day 1 sales. The same goes for China. The launch date is October 2 (it may be October 4 but that is irrelevant). The only way players in China can pre-purchase MoP is to go out and buy game time and they would most certainly have done this before the launch date so their numbers will be included in the 10 million regardless of how Blizzard words it.

If you go to the source of that info they calculate Chinese game time in subscriptions based on if they have logged in in the past 30 days, meaning there is potentially a substantial number of "subscription" gains from that region as even if they bought the time in advance they aren't going to be counted unless they logged in prior to the launch, which I expect some would but many would not.

[EndikoTV]

Seems to be doing okay to me! If nothing else, it's a solid xpac that should drive more players back as it's significantly better than it's predecessors!

[MoanaLisa]

Nobody, not even the extreme fanboys if they're honest, would have expected for the expansion to sell worse than TBC. A poll a while ago even had almost 60% people voting that MoP would sell more and faster than Cataclysm.

I don't know that I would agree with any of that. TBC came at a time when the game was growing extremely rapidly, something that stopped some years ago.

All along, I've been more or less saying that early sales would be down simply because a huge chunk of the player population has gone missing since the start of Cataclysm.

As for polls here, they aren't evidence of anything at all. They're entertaining to read but mostly they're biased one way or another to get a specific result and the subject of endless mindless arguments.

In any case, don't presume to have an opinion about my expectations or honesty.

[Gray_Matter]

I wasn't aware of that, but the subscribers numbers are also absent Chinese figures unless they are being extremely misleading in their sentence structure, which I won't put past them.

"During the first week of launch, prior to the release in China on October 2, the expansion had already sold through approximately 2.7 million copies and the game’s global player base passed 10 million subscribers, with growth across all major regions."

They never said that the uptake wasn't in China, just that it was prior to the release in China but the only way for people in China to "buy" MoP is to buy subscription so it has to include them. Very sneaky.

Either way, I don't suspect the remainder of the first week holds a candle to the first day and pre-order figures so I don't think the comparison of the numbers we have is as daft as some of you feel it is.

I looked at the VG Chartz and Cata sold roughly 25% in the second week so if you use the 2.7 million as 5 quarters then you get about 2.16 million on launch day. That would put the total at about 24% which is the lowest uptake of all expansions.

[Rukentuts]

2.7M in first week, versus Cata with 3.3M in one day.

Keep trying to spin it to the shareholders.

[Gray_Matter]

If you go to the source of that info they calculate Chinese game time in subscriptions based on if they have logged in in the past 30 days, meaning there is potentially a substantial number of "subscription" gains from that region as even if they bought the time in advance they aren't going to be counted unless they logged in prior to the launch, which I expect some would but many would not.

Potentially. It depends, there were other events (Theramore) and other things that people could do before the launch to prepare. I know I was a bit tempted to resub and sell some of the stuff (glyphs, etc) that I have in the weeks leading up to it.

[crakerjack]

If you want to be arrogant and not acknowledge the fact they increased, good?

I don't understand how you can be so illiterate... what are you? Ten? I'm not usually this hostile, but you're so arrogant.

[Baar]

2.7M in first week, versus Cata with 3.3M in one day.

Keep trying to spin it to the shareholders.

Where is the spin? They are saying exactly how it is.

[Tharkkun]

2.7 millions of any games is not a small feat. MoP is NOT by any consideration a flop, it is a financial success undeniably. To the 2.7 millions copy, you have to add at very least, 2.7 millions of month of sub, because you need to register at least a month to be able to play MoP.

However

This is less a success that wolk and cataclysm were and relatively speaking, i would say less a success than TBC was. Why do i say that.

Well TBC sold 2.4 millions in 24 hours and 3.51 millions in a month (i don't have the number for the first week). But TBC was release when wow had 5 millions players, cataclysm had 9 millions.

So for me relatively speaking, MoP is the least succesful WoW extension to date, but, time will tell the rest.

I haven't bought it yet either because I'm playing Rift but my Wife did. So I'm one less subscriber. I would hope people realize that Mop will probably sell slightly less due to interest in a game that's 8 years old. People eventually move on.

[Awe]

I love it how some WoW players are targeting with their remarks people who claimed that "WoW is dead". Honestly, WoW is not dead and will not be for several years ahead. It has been said for years and nobody with at least a bit of common sense will claim otherwise. People who says "WoW is dead" are trolls or just people who loves flinging arguments on the level of 12-year olds. Targeting such people and proclaiming your victory is like bragging about outmuscling an infant. Most of witty remarks in this thread can be summed up as "Rofl. WoW biggest! WoW not dead! Fuck you!" The 2.7m sales are something that could be expected and they are neither a big success nor a big failure.

At the same time anyone who got bored/disillusioned/disappointed with WoW in general is thrown into the same sack with the aforementioned people and proclaimed a "WoW hater". This comes together with shitting on every single released MMO other than WoW using a primitive understanding of power value. Its same as if someone from say an USA would come forth and say something like "Lol, USA is much bigger from Switzerland and we have more people, more cash and more nukes. Switzerland is shit!". This continues for YEARS and is one of the reasons I am more and more moving myself away from WoW community. Dont get me wrong, there are trolls and idiots in any game. But the worst mix comes out when you take a troll and give him some sort of tools that "legitimates" his nonsense. "Wow biggest! Me play WoW! Your argument is invalid!". Honestly, if I ever would think of giving MoP a try, such thoughts are quickly shut down every time I enter this forum and read some of the posts.

[Rukentuts]

Where is the spin? They are saying exactly how it is.

A 20-25% drop in sales in a sample time of 700% the usual sample time is good news?

[Sett]

There was an active ban to Iranian and some other Middle Eastern places that played WoW. It's not a tiny sub lost like 100 people. It's much, much higher.

Seeing the numbers posted this strong without them and without China ( their system for WoW works differently most often than not for this ) is nice to see. Good work, Blizzard. Keep the content rolling.

[Talen]

That number will go back under 10 million in 6 months. So tbh i wouldnt brag about that, just gotta do more pr spin in the future

Thats a bit of a downer isn't it?

Despite all the complaints about the engine (largely justified), WoW is still a hugely fun game. And, with MoP, Blizzard has addressed the single major problem with Cataclysm responsible for the loss of subs...the near complete alck of end game, non-raiding content.

There are definite improvements that can be made in various areas, and WoWs lost that "shiny" and "new" feel but unless there is a major problem, I woudln't be too sure numbers will drop that much.

EJL

[GrinningMan]

I love it how some WoW players are targeting with their remarks people who claimed that "WoW is dead". Honestly, WoW is not dead and will not be for several years ahead. It has been said for years and nobody with at least a bit of common sense will claim otherwise. People who says "WoW is dead" are trolls or just people who loves flinging arguments on the level of 12-year olds. Targeting such people and proclaiming your victory is like bragging about outmuscling an infant. Most of witty remarks in this thread can be summed up as "Rofl. WoW biggest! WoW not dead! Fuck you!" The 2.7m sales are something that could be expected and they are neither a big success nor a big failure.

At the same time anyone who got bored/disillusioned/disappointed with WoW in general is thrown into the same sack with the aforementioned people and proclaimed a "WoW hater". This comes together with shitting on every single released MMO other than WoW using a primitive understanding of power value. Its same as if someone from say an USA would come forth and say something like "Lol, USA is much bigger from Switzerland and we have more people, more cash and more nukes. Switzerland is shit!". This continues for YEARS and is one of the reasons I am more and more moving myself away from WoW community. Dont get me wrong, there are trolls and idiots in any game. But the worst mix comes out when you take a troll and give him some sort of tools that "legitimates" his nonsense. "Wow biggest! Me play WoW! Your argument is invalid!". Honestly, if I ever would think of giving MoP a try, such thoughts are quickly shut down every time I enter this forum and read some of the posts.

I hear using a third party site to make the grand judgment based on a vocal minority is a good way to make choices.

[dryankem]

If blizzard wasn't trying to drive people away... then why did they screw up so badly during cataclysm? Almost all the community was against removal of rating requirement on PvP gear... they did nothing about mmr abusers... they didn't even reset the ladders when it was blatantly clear that people who had 52 wins and 24 loses at 2800 rating were cheating... but no, blizzard doesn't do anything. How about that 4.3 huh? Gotta love running DS over and over and over and over and over and over... so where again did you think blizzard was trying?

How can you think Blizzard isn't trying? They may not be up to your standards but I'm sorry that you expect the game to be perfect. In cata they rebuilt everything from 1-60, added content for 80-85, added 2 races and generally had pretty decent balance for most class and races (at least in the raiding scene that every claims to be the most important thing in the world, next to world hunger). In MOP they added another continent, added content for 85-90, added a race that could go either horde or alliance, added monks, added scenarios, pet battles, and farmville. Oh let's toss in the fact that LFR was just added in a patch.

If you think it's so easy to do all that and keep 10m people happy then start your own game because instead of playing this one you could be on the next episode of cribs. Seriously think for a min. Blizzard takes some chances and makes mistakes but if you think it's easy and that they are lazy, you're clearly not grasping reality.

[Vervacious]

At the same time anyone who got bored/disillusioned/disappointed with WoW in general is thrown into the same sack with the aforementioned people and proclaimed a "WoW hater". This comes together with shitting on every single released MMO other than WoW using a primitive understanding of power value. Its same as if someone from say an USA would come forth and say something like "Lol, USA is much bigger from Switzerland and we have more people, more cash and more nukes. Switzerland is shit!". This continues for YEARS and is one of the reasons I am more and more moving myself away from WoW community. Dont get me wrong, there are trolls and idiots in any game. But the worst mix comes out when you take a troll and give him some sort of tools that "legitimates" his nonsense. "Wow biggest! Me play WoW! Your argument is invalid!". Honestly, if I ever would think of giving MoP a try, such thoughts are quickly shut down every time I enter this forum and read some of the posts.

If you are trying to move away from the WoW community, what exactly are you doing on a WoW forum? /confused

[mvallas]

Where is the spin? They are saying exactly how it is.

The definition of editorial "spin" is by saying "exactly how it is" but in such a way to compare numbers/stats to imply something that it's not.

The spin is saying MoP is 2.7... Cata is 3.3 and Wrath is 2.8 - but downplaying the "one is for first-day, the other is for first week" concept. If they did an honest comparison - MoP's first-day sales would probably be significantly lower than any previous expansion, and disregards any further sales figures for Cata/Wrath/BC during the next 6 days for comparison.

I personally don't mind it in this case, because I feel comparing 1st day sales to 1st week is splitting hairs. :P

[Tharkkun]

I wasn't aware of that, but the subscribers numbers are also absent Chinese figures unless they are being extremely misleading in their sentence structure, which I won't put past them.

Either way, I don't suspect the remainder of the first week holds a candle to the first day and pre-order figures so I don't think the comparison of the numbers we have is as daft as some of you feel it is.

China doesn't have MOP so the subscription increase doesn't reflect the additional increase they will receive from China once MOP is released there. The 10 million number includes all subscriptions though.

China subscriptions don't pay a monthly fee. The average person pays about $8 a month compared to US for playtime because they pay per hour. It's like 4 or 6 cents per hour. But if they pay once during any period of the month they are counted as a subscriber.

[Trollhamaren]

WOW is not dead, but it will never be 12m "subscribers" again. (subscriber doesn't mean former WoW player, remember there's gold farmers, fake acounts, bots, and acounts that people buy to make RAF) Actual "MoP" players is 2.7m, and there's some new players coming that have just bought the game to try it and in the future will upgrade their game to MoP, by the end of the expansion could be 3 or 3.5million MoP players, counting the ones that normally left and the ones who join.