Activision Blizzard Q4 2022 Earnings Results

Originally Posted by Usernameforforums

There was also the year sub mount

thats kinda moot as before there were quite a few half year mounts...

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Originally Posted by Cavox

What does this even mean? Besides being corpo speech of course.

that people spent more time and money than before, in a jist

Originally Posted by chiddie

The comparison is totally flawed. But anyways, I already said that WoW will never address solo issues for the well know reasons.

Look man, I see you in these topics all the time and you seem to think that this is a developer issue when it's a 100% you issue. You want to play the game incorrectly. Do not complain about developers refusing to listen to you because you're functionally incapable of playing the game correctly.

Originally Posted by Cavox

What does this even mean? Besides being corpo speech of course.

that in game shops bring more revenue each year.

milking of whales going good

basicly only addicts are left in game - addicts willing to spend much more money then they are already spending so blizzard sees that they can keep game in maitnance mode like DF as long as they keep adding more and more paid promotions

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Originally Posted by Lolites

how about that SL came out at during early pandemic, when a lot of people were home, trying to kill some time, while DF came out after pandemic, during which some people died and a lot lost their jobs and burned their savings so they had to cut luxuries like videogames?
not saying that is only reason why sales are lower, there are definitely more, but why do some people seem to think not reaching sales of expansion that was (briefly) FASTEST SELLING PC GAME IN HISTORY means sales are low?

nah DF is just a complete failure even bigger then SL thats why it sold much worse.

there is no need to overthink it.

when you cater your game to like 5% of your playerbase ofc it sells badly .

Originally Posted by Rusken

It's quite funny that WoW can simultaneously have significant year-over-year growth and at the same time fall so short of sales numbers. Really shows how the public's view of a company affects the bottom line.

Not overly surprising. Shadowlands launched in the the middle of the pandemic when most people were staying at home and the entire home entertainment industry was BOOMING because of it. It also burned many people who probably weren't overly excited to try WoW again quite yet.




It definitely FEELS like more people are still playing several months post launch. My friends list is still lively. My guild still has 10 people online at any non degenerate hours of the day. No issues with the attendance boss for raids, yet at least.



It will be interesting to see how quickly they can get actual new content out the door though. People aren't going to stick around forever with the current gameplay loop (or any loop for that matter, you need new content to keep people coming back).

I cannot wait to play D4, June cannot come quick enough, dropped 135$CAD on it already.

Originally Posted by Relapses

Look man, I see you in these topics all the time and you seem to think that this is a developer issue when it's a 100% you issue. You want to play the game incorrectly. Do not complain about developers refusing to listen to you because you're functionally incapable of playing the game correctly.

I didn’t mean it is a dev issue. It’s just how I would like the game to be.

I hate having to do coop PvE stuff in game(s) with people I don’t know in order to progress, there’s not much I can do about it.

I have always been a solo self found type and I always will.

Originally Posted by Relapses

I have no reason to believe GC would lie about something so completely inconsequential. He used his knowledge of WoW's retention data to make an incredibly valid observation about the nature of internet discourse and how developers learn from it. Forums, Twitter and reddit are often full of the players most disillusioned by a product and these players are often not very good at verbalizing their dissatisfaction. That is to say that a lot of them may not even know why they dislike something, just that they dislike it. That's fine, it's the internet. Updoots to the left. My problem isn't that this kind of discourse exists. It has always existed and always will exist. My issue is that it's often pretty boring stuff like what the guy who started this entire exchange said: "Nobody's playing Dragonflight because Shadowlands sucked." Like, put yourself in a developers' shoes. How does a vague statement like that help anybody improve the game? It's just something somebody says to feel better about disliking something, often seeking validation from other people with other vaguely negative sentiments. It's my personal belief that the amount of this type of negative groupthink present in the WoW community (see: Hirumared's excellent video on negativity bias) is part of the reason the game is the way it is. Players are no longer interested in using critical thinking skills to explain why they dislike something and instead just want the instant gratification they receive when somebody else on the internet agrees with them.

edit: To be clear, what I'm getting at here is that while I cannot prove unequivocally that more people simply aren't playing Dragonflight for reasons intrinsically related to the prior expansion's quality, a generalized statement which doesn't assume malicious intent on behalf of the potential WoW-consuming playerbase is more likely to be true. Glass half-full, instead of, "throw the glass out the fucking window and run over it with a convoy of fully loaded 18-wheelers," if you will.

It's inconsequential to be a game dev who basically says don't worry about people who say they quit because of x reason they almost never do so we don't really have to cater to them? Justifying inaction is not inconsequential. It might be true it might not be true we don't have the data. It is interesting that for the last few years people have said the story is less important than the game and yet they are now bringing back Metzen.

WTF LOL. Someone quitting a game because they don't like what the Devs did or didn't do, they are upset with the company that makes the game, or because they don't like the game anymore for x reason isn't malicious intent. That's Kenn level of mental illness/thinking.

Let me reiterate: You think that the majority of people who quit during an expansion that has alot of negative reviews, several different controversies with the company that makes the game, such poor story telling they had to beg Metzen to come back, and several threads of people explaining they are quitting because of x or y did so not because of any of the things mentioned but because they had babies , got new jobs, got a new hobby, etc... and had completely positive or neutral views of wow when they left. Do you seriously think your theory is less convoluted then the facts we are presented with? You literally had to dig up a decade old quote just to find any "evidence" to your theory while everything I have mentioned is shit that is recent.

Originally Posted by qwerty123456

It's inconsequential to be a game dev who basically says don't worry about people who say they quit because of x reason they almost never do so we don't really have to cater to them? Justifying inaction is not inconsequential. It might be true it might not be true we don't have the data. It is interesting that for the last few years people have said the story is less important than the game and yet they are now bringing back Metzen.

WTF LOL. Someone quitting a game because they don't like what the Devs did or didn't do, they are upset with the company that makes the game, or because they don't like the game anymore for x reason isn't malicious intent. That's Kenn level of mental illness/thinking.

Let me reiterate: You think that the majority of people who quit during an expansion that has alot of negative reviews, several different controversies with the company that makes the game, such poor story telling they had to beg Metzen to come back, and several threads of people explaining they are quitting because of x or y did so not because of any of the things mentioned but because they had babies , got new jobs, got a new hobby, etc... and had completely positive or neutral views of wow when they left. Do you seriously think your theory is less convoluted then the facts we are presented with? You literally had to dig up a decade old quote just to find any "evidence" to your theory while everything I have mentioned is shit that is recent.

Honest question, did you read a single fucking word that I wrote?

Originally Posted by Relapses

Honest question, did you read a single fucking word that I wrote?

Clearly I did as I was able to respond. However you seem unable to .

Originally Posted by chiddie

I didn’t mean it is a dev issue. It’s just how I would like the game to be.

I hate having to do coop PvE stuff in game(s) with people I don’t know in order to progress, there’s not much I can do about it.

I have always been a solo self found type and I always will.

It's completely fine not wanting to do co-op stuff, but this game is definitely not for you, and I doubt many (if any) MMORPG is. I'm sure there's something out there that does cater towards this in the same category as WoW perhaps. Blizzard will likely never make this game for solo-players (they already do a good job to an extent if all you do is open-world stuff) and I doubt they ever intended to either.

Ouch, Dragonflight sales must be truly terrible if they don't disclose real numbers. They released them for each and every expansion except Dragonflight. That's very telling.

Originally Posted by qwerty123456

Clearly I did as I was able to respond. However you seem unable to .

Your response was so wildly off-topic I have a hard time believing you did. It reads like you read the first sentence then decided to let ChatGPT take the wheel for the rest.

Originally Posted by Gurkan

And that's why Sepulcher was so popular with the community, right?

Sepulcher was exactly what I am referring to. A tight gameplay experience, there was no more depth or complexity it's just a raid like all the others. The game hasn't really changed in the last 15 years. When I say challenge I mean people like to be challanges with mechanics they've not experienced before, not just the same but harder.

Originally Posted by Relapses

My outlook is a bit less cynical. Blizzard still offers a unique product in WoW that has a dedicated base. Even though this expansion didn't have blow-out sales numbers like the last, it's still a great game which has a long development cycle ahead of it. All this talk of "gamers evolving" would see Blizzard sooner give up entirely on WoW and focus all of their dev time on something like OW2. I don't think that's the best way forward either. There's room for WoW in the Blizzard vernacular but it doesn't need to always outsell every preceding expansion in order for it to be successful or enjoyable.

Oh yeah, WoW certainly has it's dedicated base and for what it is it's still a great game I don't disagree. But what it is isn't something that's going to increase in subs over time because it attracts very little new players and more and more existing players are getting bored of it. To no fault of the game, it's just not really much different to what it was 15 years ago.

I wouldn't agree with OW2 either because I mean OW2 feels like an old game as well, it's one of the least popular shooters. I think if Blizzard really want another breakout success they need to create a title with some real depth and innovation rather than just churning out generic experiences.

No surprise that DF didn't sell too well. I think this is the first time ever that they didn't have 3.2-3.4m copies sold on day 1, but a lot less.

The bad story and bad PR during SL + other great games existing has definitely had a huge effect on them this time around. DF is definitely a great expansion, but at the same time it's also not THAT exciting to really stand out somehow and bring players back. The zones, characters, lore etc. feel like a "generic" WoW expansion with that being a mix of Cata and Wrath.

There just isn't too much to be excited about except that it's finally an expansion with almost no controversies and no big issues. But I guess just being a solid game isn't enough.

Just a reminder , from vanilla to mop over 100 million accounts were made. So wow had a overall low retention rate. Hearing more people sticking around is a big feat, but its now also important to keep at it.

just look at classic wow and woltk classic their retention rate seems to be in free fall

Originally Posted by Relapses

I think it's more fair to say that the people who quit in Shadowlands quit because they moved on with their lives and fewer people were enticed by Dragonflight. I know this is surprising, but sometimes people quit playing games for reasons that aren't because they hate them.

I would assume closer to what ONCHEhap said personally, WoW has tons of older players who have continued to play despite their lives developing. Ive asked a good probably 10 people whether they are getting Dragonflight, interested, what they think etc, and I only know of 1 who bought it and hes very meh (admittedly hes a bit of a depresso so) but the others pretty much all said they're just sick of Blizzard, crap expansions, lack of content, the systems, all the usual stuff you hear, and that they wont be coming back. Ive also seen a ton of people on my friends list who have never quit and played every single xpac up to SL quit which is quite surprising to me.

Obviously thats just my friends list but I dont know, the sort of people I hang around with in WoW definitely arent quitting just because they got new jobs/families, but because they're just tired of paying a ton of $$$ for what they consider a bad xpac.

For me personally, Dragonflight is right up my alley coming from playing the RTS and loving the traditional fantasy stuff, but its the first xpac ive not bought and played on release. Ive admittedly not judged it so im not personally saying its bad, but I definitely just have a very bad taste in my mouth buying BfA and not liking it, and then SL.

Both of them had good stuff, but a lot of stuff I just didnt like in WoW in general so Ive given DF a pass despite 'wanting' to play it for what its supposed to be.

I could see more people coming back in fairly large numbers if the coverage of the xpac remains positive and if Blizzard have a strong marketing campaign throughout the rest of the xpac, a big drive to bring people back for later xpacs etc.

Originally Posted by Hambo94

I would assume closer to what ONCHEhap said personally, WoW has tons of older players who have continued to play despite their lives developing. Ive asked a good probably 10 people whether they are getting Dragonflight, interested, what they think etc, and I only know of 1 who bought it and hes very meh (admittedly hes a bit of a depresso so) but the others pretty much all said they're just sick of Blizzard, crap expansions, lack of content, the systems, all the usual stuff you hear, and that they wont be coming back. Ive also seen a ton of people on my friends list who have never quit and played every single xpac up to SL quit which is quite surprising to me.

Obviously thats just my friends list but I dont know, the sort of people I hang around with in WoW definitely arent quitting just because they got new jobs/families, but because they're just tired of paying a ton of $$$ for what they consider a bad xpac.

If 50€ +12/a month is a lot of money , I feel like your friends may have different issues^^

Originally Posted by ArenaDk

If 50€ +12/a month is a lot of money , I feel like your friends may have different issues^^

I mean compared to basically any other game it is. Its irrelivant if its a large amount of money in the grand scheme of things. Living in Europe is expensive as hell atm let alone if you have a family and mortgage, and many of them just dont want to be paying $200 for something they dont think is very good lol.

They can go out and pay under £40 for a ton of AAA games that they think are better.

Just because you dont think 50€ +12/a month is a lot of money for a video game product, dosent mean that you are correct and that everyone else has to see it the same way.

Outside of people who are whales and buy into these free cosmetic based games, WoW is pretty much the most expensive game out there. Who would pay for it if they dont think its that good.

Eg. Id have bought DF if it was just a one time £50 purchase, and then I have access, but im not paying £50 + £12 right now, im just not willing to start shelling out for a game that im not sure I feel is worth it.

Is it unusual that there is no mention of Hearthstone?

Activision Blizzard increased representation for those who identify as women or non-binary to 26% globally, as of the end of November, versus 24% a year earlier

How do they know? Did they ask us at some point?