Will Blizzard counter the release of The Elder Scrolls Online on April 4?

[Thunderball]

This is how I see it all plays out:

4 April 2014 - ESO - Much as I love ESO, I think it's going to be a huge flash and then two months later have a steep decline in interest with the hardcore PvE people.

Why would a typical WoW raider buy this game is beyond my comprehension. It's designed for a completely different audience.

[Detheavn]

They probably will do fuck all, since they are too busy focusing on getting WoD in beta.

[Celista]

This is how I see it all plays out:

You didn't include EQ:N and Destiny, along with some other games slated for Q4 release this year (possible Bless NA release). EQ:N is doing some innovative stuff and is launching f2p, I have a feeling that it won't be anything to sneeze at. Also SWTOR xpac.

I'm excited about Rift too, especially the new souls!

2. Got any better ideas?

There's literally half a dozen quality MMOs releasing this year, they really have no way to counter unless they had decided to release WoD by this month or the beginning of next month. My point was that a fem draenei reveal or dev watercooler isn't something that I'd consider a "counter". >.< Beta is questionable at best unless it's another open beta.

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Why would a typical WoW raider buy this game is beyond my comprehension. It's designed for a completely different audience.

I really enjoyed ES:O, its pvp focus is part of the appeal. Although yes, if I didn't also enjoy pvp I wouldn't have considered it.

[Krazzorx]

You didn't include EQ:N and Destiny, along with some other games slated for Q4 release this year (possible Bless NA release). EQ:N is doing some innovative stuff and is launching f2p, I have a feeling that it won't be anything to sneeze at. Also SWTOR xpac.

I'm excited about Rift too, especially the new souls!


There's literally half a dozen quality MMOs releasing this year, they really have no way to counter unless they had decided to release WoD by this month or the beginning of next month. My point was that a fem draenei reveal or dev watercooler isn't something that I'd consider a "counter". >.< Beta is questionable at best unless it's another open beta.

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I really enjoyed ES:O, its pvp focus is part of the appeal. Although yes, if I didn't also enjoy pvp I wouldn't have considered it.

The traditional examples used to show Blizz countering stuff is with content patches or announcements, not new games. What they want to do is keep people distracted for that massive early time period where sales are high.

While they may not counter, they have in the past, and beta launching certainly distracts even casual players. (Even if they don't get in as there's tons of new info released.)

As a note: yes, beta is the only noticeable thing they could do for ESO. I personally think it'll be launched at PAX, but we shall see.

[Grogo]

I think you will see the big hit once Wildstar comes out, Wildstar is the one that people will stay with, it looks really good.

[Musik-Diversity86]

I think you will see the big hit once Wildstar comes out, Wildstar is the one that people will stay with, it looks really good.

They said the same about Aion, Rift, Swtor, GW2, Age of Conan, DC Universe, Warhammer... well it keeps going. Wildstar will be slightly different but won't be the big hit. WoW has been truckin, is truckin, and will be truckin along until the end of WoW itself. Final Fantasy XIV seems to be the only other MMORPG that is doing so well compared to everything else. I tried almost every MMORPG out there, F2P and P2P and WoW/FFXIV are the ones that are doing it right.

[TheWindWalker]

Definitely this! Blizzard doesn't really have to do much in order to counter anything.

They said the same about Aion, Rift, Swtor, GW2, Age of Conan, DC Universe, Warhammer... well it keeps going. Wildstar will be slightly different but won't be the big hit.

That's just the thing. They did counter GW2. I remember fairly clearly when a friend of mine who happens to be a dev of the game found out about the Mists pre-patch being announced and reminded us that GW2's "free weekend" prior to the release was going on. They OP isn't wrong, they do line these things up on occasion.

[Deleted]

They will announce their newest addition to the cash shop.

[Kanogan]

The Elder Scrolls isn't even competition for Blizzard. TESO will go free to play within a year or two.
I do think Blizz will show us something about WoD the day TESO launches though, hopefully something about the beta!

[Celista]

They said the same about Aion, Rift, Swtor, GW2, Age of Conan, DC Universe, Warhammer... well it keeps going. Wildstar will be slightly different but won't be the big hit. WoW has been truckin, is truckin, and will be truckin along until the end of WoW itself. Final Fantasy XIV seems to be the only other MMORPG that is doing so well compared to everything else. I tried almost every MMORPG out there, F2P and P2P and WoW/FFXIV are the ones that are doing it right.

GW2 and Rift are pretty good, I'd consider these games a success even if they don't have the market share that WoW does. Wildstar has a lot of potential as does ES:O, but for different reasons.

[sarecho]

the D3 expansion was the counter. wow is a game that's as much about socializing as the actual game, just like farmville. farmville isn't wildly popular with millions of players because the game is so much fun, it's easy to do while doing something else and so is wow. the elite, hardcore players have been done with mop a long time. the ones paying the bills right now are kind of the leftovers

blizz doesn't have to retain them, they'll be around even if mop lasted another 12 months in its current form. these folks log in to socialize. people who are done with wow will latch on to another game.

rift, swtor, gw2.....that's MILLIONS of subs that wow lost. it wasn't a coincidence that wow lost 5 million players in the same time frame as rift/swtor/gw2

those games took a huge chunk out of wow. wow's addictive and casual nature will ensure that it's around a long time. the people who stick around aren't looking for a great game, they're looking for something familiar, easy, and social. they dont' want to have to learn the mechanics to a new MMO, they don't want to have to start at the bottom again.

they're perfectly happy with wow

[Anevers]

There isn't really any external threat to WoW, we been seeing these kind of threads since BC launch with Vangaurd, they all fall short.

[sarecho]

The Elder Scrolls isn't even competition for Blizzard. TESO will go free to play within a year or two.
I do think Blizz will show us something about WoD the day TESO launches though, hopefully something about the beta!

overall the MMORPG genre has more players than it did 3 years ago
overall wow has 5 million fewer players than it did 3 years ago

it's an undeniable fact that wow has competition these days. teso, across all platforms, is almost guaranteed to sell as many copies as wow has subs. beta signups were in the 5 million range and PC sales of TES games are usually 15-20% of the totals sales including consoles (oblivion, skyrim)

rift didn't fail, swtor didn't fail and gw2 didn't fail. they're all profitable and they all took some of wow's subs. these are all facts. ESO will be more competition for wow

it's disgusting that certain kinds of wow players don't realize that competition is great. rather rep your brand that get more for your money

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There isn't really any external threat to WoW, we been seeing these kind of threads since BC launch with Vangaurd, they all fall short.

then were did the 5,000,000 subs from cata and mop go? did they all die? did they all just stop playing games? or did they jump to the other MMORPGs that pulled millions of subs from somewhere?

[Synche]

the D3 expansion was the counter.

I would agree. I want to play D3 more then any other MMO right now, will the feeling fade ? Probably, but I am not interesting in any MMO to be released this year. ESO looks alright, but I just want a multiplayer Skyrim, not an MMO. Wildstar looks to cartoony and I can't get based the art style, combat also seems kinda meh. Wildstar might be going to try to bring back "hardcore raiders" with their 40 man raiding but I feel that it will fall flat. 40 man raiding is all nostalgia and is not sustainable by the general raiding group any longer.

[sarecho]

I would agree. I want to play D3 more then any other MMO right now, will the feeling fade ? Probably, but I am not interesting in any MMO to be released this year. ESO looks alright, but I just want a multiplayer Skyrim, not an MMO. Wildstar looks to cartoony and I can't get based the art style, combat also seems kinda meh. Wildstar might be going to try to bring back "hardcore raiders" with their 40 man raiding but I feel that it will fall flat. 40 man raiding is all nostalgia and is not sustainable by the general raiding group any longer.

ESO is as close to a multiplayer skyrim as you could ever get. they did improve skyrim's shit combat though. but it feels as much like a TES game as it can. they did an impressive job

[Wyattbw09]

There is nothing that they can do to counter ESO. Anyone who is playing this game has already decided to try the game with the vast vast majority of those people having pre-purchased it.

They could release open beta tomorrow and it would have a minimal, at best, impact on ESO.

[Arrowstormen]

Bring some news or announce Beta I'd wager.

[Morgaith]

overall the MMORPG genre has more players than it did 3 years ago
overall wow has 5 million fewer players than it did 3 years ago

it's an undeniable fact that wow has competition these days. teso, across all platforms, is almost guaranteed to sell as many copies as wow has subs. beta signups were in the 5 million range and PC sales of TES games are usually 15-20% of the totals sales including consoles (oblivion, skyrim)

rift didn't fail, swtor didn't fail and gw2 didn't fail. they're all profitable and they all took some of wow's subs. these are all facts. ESO will be more competition for wow

it's disgusting that certain kinds of wow players don't realize that competition is great. rather rep your brand that get more for your money

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then were did the 5,000,000 subs from cata and mop go? did they all die? did they all just stop playing games? or did they jump to the other MMORPGs that pulled millions of subs from somewhere?

finally a good post.

[mvaliz]

1. Blizzard has countered other MMO launches in the past.

2. Got any better ideas?

Promotions and Patches is what Blizz generally does to "counter" an MMO launch. Nothing akin to those looks to "counter" anything.

In a way, I think they already did their "counter", which was to release the Digital Pre-buy of Draenor a couple weeks ago, thus guaranteeing a sale of the expansion + attract another player to play WoW for at least a month for their new level 90 boosted character... since the 1 month subscription will go PAST the April 4th release of ESO. This is also, of course, exclusing Diablo 3's expansion and Hearthstone release.

TBH though I think the release of the pre-buy/max-90 selling's timing has more to do with the end of the fiscal quarter (March 30th) to encourage last-minute subs than it has anything to do with ESO...

[Daffan]

Weird post, I don't really consider any of these things a "counter" to ES:O release.

draws interest away from thinking of buying ESO to staying with WoW