The problem with the F2P numbers is that the average "player" represents a very small revenue stream. The number isn't high because the game is good; the number is high because there's little causing the extremely marginal player to drop out.
The best comparison is just to look at revenue. By that metric, I'm sure WoW would be on top.
"There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
"The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
"Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"
My initial point was concerning long time players leaving. That just proves my point that they can't draw in and keep new players. If 24 million people tried the game and thought 'stick that up your arse' then i guess retention is an even worse problem than i thought.
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You may be right but is you look at the numbers these free games are boasting. No doubt inaccurate but if they do indeed have 20 million people playing the game then all they would need is around a third of them to spend $15 a month to cover how much WOW makes from subs. We have no way of knowing really. While it is hugely successful wow is not some unstoppable behemoth.
"There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
"The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
"Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"
Imo it's quite natural that they have a hard time getting new players in. Imagine if you had to start a new video game, a multiplayer game, but before really reaching the multiplayer you'd have to sink in 50+ hours of gameplay in order to get to the social part (speaking of max level here). I probably wouldn't be terribly interested in a game that demanded such a time investment before even showing me if it's really worth playing.
IMO I think it's naive to think that WoW has so many players currently because of the games quality rather than just feeding off the franchises past success and popularity. Think about it, even non gamers know what WoW is, probably not so about Guildwars or Swtor. It's just the most mainstream game.
I don't like it anymore than the next guy, have been devoted these 9+ years. But; it is what it is (<--- THAT is something I hate saying/hearing)
It's only going to take one innovation for that to change. And that innovation may be sooner than we realize.
Those are the words I'd like to forge into solid, blunt objects and bash over the heads of the keyboard-thumping leetists that still persist to know better than anyone else. You know the ones. This is a fact,this is something no gamer has ever faced before, because no game has ever lasted this long in the limelight before: WoW isn't dying because of newer products, lack of innovations or poor design decisions. Those may be factors, but the underlying reason is the release date of this product:
November, 2004.
It is just getting old. This is neither a good nor a bad thing. It just is.
Just because something is a decade old is no excuse for what is happening to this game. By your logic Coca Cola should be bankrupt by now because they're old too.
People are beginning to realize that recoloring zones, taking features away, and selling a patch as an expansion for $39.99 isn't going to fly anymore.
People should be excited for an expansion because we expect new and interesting features and mechanics not the same old crap.
HURPADURP UR POS USLESS 2 CUZ U DUN ARGE WIT MEH
SWTOR has between 500,000k-1million WESTERN subscriptions (they never cheated and provided worldwide numbers like Blizzard does). It has 10million players. The person I quoted said that WoW has more players than any free to play game, I provided numbers to the contrary. But by all means, my post is the one that's useless and unbelievable.
I am not trying to start an argument of which game is more successful. The person I quoted stated that WoW has more players than any free to play game, and I was merely telling him he is wrong.
Although, to be honest, Bioware has admitted that they are raking in cash hand over fist from their cash shop, so I would be interested to see that comparison. And I bet those other Eastern/casual "MMOs" that boast 20+million players make even more than SWTOR does.
Last edited by iceberg265; 2013-12-07 at 08:32 PM.
This is the only article I could find on the topic, not counting those linked in the article itself.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/07...llion-in-2012/
It won't give you numbers about how much companies are making revenue wise, but it shows market share by payment type. I remember seeing a chart back in 2008 that had the top takers. WoW was at the top, then it was all ftp stuff like Maple Story, then at the bottom a couple new sub based mmos (AoC came out around then, so probably that).
Personally, I think people are in for a shock when the next sub numbers come out. I don't think the amount of Western/European subs are anywhere near what we think.
Why isnt this thread closed yet?
Putting aside its a 10 year old game for a second, 7 million subs is more then EVERY other MMO in the western markets (not sure about Asia, but one would assume with the amount of people that play MMO's there they would exceed it) put TOGETHER over the last decade. If that's not the definition of success I don't know what is
Doesn't Bliz consider the asian subs active even if they really aren't because of their payment system? Seems like they could abuse that to show the stats in their favor.