World of Warcraft will NEVER go F2P (interview)

[Gimlix]

I don't know if this was talked about yet, but recently a new interview with CEO Mike Morhaime was made, and he said this:

"We didn't make the game to be free-to-play. We would have to rework the game pretty significantly in order to make it free-to-play. It's not something we're currently considering."

Then he said:

"Player response to the content has been good, and we saw increased engagement that has contributed to maintaining relatively stable subscribership quarter-over-quarter. We'll continue to invest heavily in World of Warcraft to deliver frequent, high-quality content to our players."


Source: http://www.gamersnet.nl/nieuws/20131..._free_to_play/ (It's in dutch most of it)

The part that's in dutch says that Mike Morhaime thinks that the new expansion will give WoW's live a new boost.

[Gamidroon]

Because "It's not something we're currently considering." means never right?

[QuiksLE]

Because "It's not something we're currently considering." means never right?

In Blizzard case, yes

[Video Games]

It won't go f2p unless it makes more money than it staying a sub game would make. Probably be soon I'd imagine.

[Unproven]

Because "It's not something we're currently considering." means never right?

have to agree. What a wired way to translate that just to get a topline that make folks click on the topic.

[Zantos]

"Player response to the content has been good, and we saw increased engagement that has contributed to maintaining relatively stable subscribership quarter-over-quarter. We'll continue to invest heavily in World of Warcraft to deliver frequent, high-quality content to our players."

Um what? I would hardly call what the sub numbers were doing during MoP and Cata stable.

[Deleted]

Does that mean every modern MMO is design to got F2P just in case? I think this guy is just throwing this to sound tough.

Ofcourse that doesnt mean WoW will go F2P anytime soon, although at this stage its more of a well-paid whore than a MMO in my dictionary but then again... what do I know.

[Gimlix]

Because "It's not something we're currently considering." means never right?

The part in dutch says "We're not even thinking of making World of Warcraft F2P"

[Hardcream]

Actually sounds more like they aren't considering it pre-expansion, but if the numbers continue to fall as drastically as they have it might be something that they will have to work out. They have clearly investigated the possibility if it is something that they have already said will require a rework of the systems in game.

[Deleted]

instead 13 euros per month (Spain price monthly, and i think that in every country), blizzard should change the prices to 8 or 10 euros per month.

[Deleted]

dont even see a reason why would they do it

[Molestron]

The game has 7 million subs, stable subs now it seems as it only dropped by 100k since last report. Why would they even consider going f2p?! Talk again when the game has 3 mil.

[Herecius]

That quote is a long ways away from being NEVER in all caps.

[Deleted]

Thanks god all F2P communities are total crap.

[Hardcream]

The game has 7 million subs, stable subs now it seems as it only dropped by 100k since last report. Why would they even consider going f2p?! Talk again when the game has 3 mil.

It won't ever have 3 mil subs as long as it still operates in China due to its policy of always open accounts which remember Blizzard doesn't operate WoW in China either, but counts the subs that never close. They are however below 2mil subs in the western market currently which means that they don't have nearly the foothold they once had. However they are a 10 year old game and once you reach that decade mark it is understandable that you just won't have nearly as many players interested due it just being an aging game. It also doesn't help that their next expansion is going to literally make no sense either. What happened to Emerald Dream or anything in line with actually mattering for the lore, they are literally pulling a super hero move here by calling it Earth 2 I mean Azeroth 2.

[Soisoisoi]

It won't go f2p unless it makes more money than it staying a sub game would make. Probably be soon I'd imagine.

"Player response to the content has been good, and we saw increased engagement that has contributed to maintaining relatively stable subscribership quarter-over-quarter. We'll continue to invest heavily in World of Warcraft to deliver frequent, high-quality content to our players."

Yeah, sounds that way.

[Hardcream]

Yeah, sounds that way.

When you lose 100k subscribers right after you release the last patch for an expansion, and the next expansion is around a year away if history plays any indicator then I wouldn't be rolling eyes too hard as they might fall right out. My guess is they will continue to lose more subscribers to the expansion, and then the expansion will release and hopefully they can pull back some numbers, but I don't think they will ever go back above 10mil continuous subscribers again, and I think they are just going to aim for getting back above 2mil subscribers in the western markets (which who knows how possible that is).

[wariofan1]

When you lose 100k subscribers right after you release the last patch for an expansion, and the next expansion is around a year away if history plays any indicator then I wouldn't be rolling eyes too hard as they might fall right out. My guess is they will continue to lose more subscribers to the expansion, and then the expansion will release and hopefully they can pull back some numbers, but I don't think they will ever go back above 10mil continuous subscribers again, and I think they are just going to aim for getting back above 2mil subscribers in the western markets (which who knows how possible that is).

The 100k subscriber loss was from Q3, which means the summer. SoO wasn't released then, it was the drought of no new content and just farming ToT. Taking that into consideration, only a 100k loss is pretty damn good.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

I doubt free to play will happen. I think they would have to drip below 500k subs for the sub model to not be profitable. Why toss the predictable / steady income away. I could see a reduction in the piece a MUCH more likely out come in the future. But no point now.

[Deleted]

instead 13 euros per month (Spain price monthly, and i think that in every country), blizzard should change the prices to 8 or 10 euros per month.

No, they shouldn't.