2.7 Million copies of MoP sold, WoW passes 10M Subscribers

[zenzaliv]

That said, the fact here is that Mists of Pandaria sold worse than Cata, worse than WoTLK, and we don't know about TBC (but possibly worse, since MoP sales are after a week, while the other expansions have day 1 numbers). So there's a huge chance that MoP is the worst selling expansion in WoW history.

Of course, these are still very big numbers for an MMO, but are not a success in WoW history in any way. I am sorry to say this, but people celebrating these numbers as a big success for WoW really didn't understand much about them.

I'm not surprised at all by the numbers and if you stop to think it makes perfect sense. Late BC is when more and more non gamers got into WoW. A lot of people really enjoyed BC so bought the expansion. With more people playing more people wanted to play. WotLK was hugely popular with the non hardcore crowd so with even more people playing they had high hopes for Cata, hence the very high sales numbers. Many consider Cata as the worst expansion ever and WoW lost tons of subs during it's life. It's no surprise that people who unsubbed are skeptical about the new expansion after the worst one. WoW still has the most diverse playerbase of any game. In catering to some other get upset, Cata upset people from every demographic and only those who simply enjoyed that game stayed. I think Blizz is going the right direction with MoP so far. Not perfect, but improving. If they don't mess things up we will prolly see subs increasing even more.

[Bloatedhouse]

Wow.. Some of these replies shows how little people know, saying that 2.7 mio copies means that "WoW is dead".
I think it's awesome, and I for one just returned, because I heard a lot of good stuff about this x-pac! Congrats Blizz I'd say!

[Deleted]

Don't try to derail the discussion over the "WoW is dead" sillyness. The game is clearly not dead in any way.

That said, the fact here is that Mists of Pandaria sold worse than Cata, worse than WoTLK, and we don't know about TBC (but possibly worse, since MoP sales are after a week, while the other expansions have day 1 numbers). So there's a huge chance that MoP is the worst selling expansion in WoW history.

They certainly clearly gained some subscriptions after their low mark before last summer, and while that's good, it's not surprising (and shows that most players are based in China, where the subscription fee is very little).

Of course, these are still very big numbers for an MMO, but are not a success in WoW history in any way. I am sorry to say this, but people celebrating these numbers as a big success for WoW really didn't understand much about them.

Ofc lets conveniently forget the current severe world economical crysis that might prevent a lot of people to have the monthly fee cost in and lets all blame just the game and not the industry of entertainment as a whole. Lets forget that the whole computer game industry has been in a steady decline and lets all say its blizzards' fault for the latest expansion selling less than previous ones that were made in a time that the whole world was spending much much more in entertainment products...



The game is fine... the decline in Subs is just natural from an aging game and the increase in the offers from the industry as a whole... also, the economical crysis in the entertainment segment is also taking its tool and making people think its not realy cool to have so many monthly costs and entertainment gets the first slice out.

I still think its a damn miracle that a game like wow still has so many subs, in an aging platform and in a business segment (subscription MMOs) that is on decline, shifting towards FTP.

[connectz]

Don't jump to conclusions yet. MoP has been out for a little more than a week, and many current subscribers may want to play the 10 day free trial in order to get a taste of this new expansion. Just because MoP didn't break any records yet does not mean it will not do so in the upcoming month.

I haven't bought MoP yet. Many people are in the same boat. So why don't you wait a little bit before throwing premature conclusions based on incomplete statistics.

The statics for initial sales aren't incomplete. If anything they're masked by the absence of MoP's first day sales.

[swallowtail]

Don't jump to conclusions yet. MoP has been out for a little more than a week, and many current subscribers may want to play the 10 day free trial in order to get a taste of this new expansion. Just because MoP didn't break any records yet does not mean it will not do so in the upcoming month.

I haven't bought MoP yet. Many people are in the same boat. So why don't you wait a little bit before throwing premature conclusions based on incomplete statistics.

This is true. But to most people they cant see a single company be successful and if they don't like them or their games, they have to inject their opinions forcefully into the community, so most people can never actually give proper feedback.

[Deleted]

might want to start washing your feet better, that way they don't taste so bad when you put them in your mouth.

I hate most of these new memes but there's a really appropriate one for this situation:

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURN!

[Necronium]

MoP was way more fun than expected. I hope this keeps up and the upcoming patches will be just as amazing.
Beats Cata by a longshot, that's for certain, and thinking back on the other expansions (Can't make a fair comparison, but at least for now) this is the most fun expansion yet.

[Gsara]

Considering the fact that there are 10M subscribers, I find 2,7M sold copies very very poor. It pretty much means that not even 1/3 of WoWs subscribers purchased MoP.

Roughly half of the worldwide wow player base have never and will never need to buy the game.

---------- Post added 2012-10-04 at 12:09 PM ----------

I don't even know one person that plays wow still, clearly proven by only getting $150M montly for sub fees

1.8B a year JUST in sub fees (before expenses, yah i know its a margin)

Small time opperation with no player base

Again, roughly half of the world wide player base have never and will never pay a monthly sub fee.

[Sinitar]

The statics for initial sales aren't incomplete. If anything they're masked by the absence of MoP's first day sales.

Can you really judge a game based on initial sales? I don't know about you buddy, but MoP has put great emphasis on preorders and digital sales, and you can't put these in the same box with what you call 'initial sales.' So far, only the most enthusiastic WoW players bought the expansion. Most WoW players I know prefer to take it slowly instead of rushing into things.

[Deleted]

Don't jump to conclusions yet. MoP has been out for a little more than a week, and many current subscribers may want to play the 10 day free trial in order to get a taste of this new expansion. Just because MoP didn't break any records yet does not mean it will not do so in the upcoming month.

I haven't bought MoP yet. Many people are in the same boat. So why don't you wait a little bit before throwing premature conclusions based on incomplete statistics.

Sorry, but I am not making any assumption. The hard data say that after a week MoP sold clearly worse than the other WoW expansions.
This doesn't mean that the game is dead at all, but I think people should really accept it how it is: not a success. I think that Blizzard could have done better, by releasing a better expansion. By blindly praising Blizzard even for this product and this disappointing results, I think people are making a bad service to grant WoW the future it deserves. Sure, the game is 7 years old, but for a MMO, so heavily relying on social aspects and sense of long-term achievement, this isn't only a drawback, but also an advantage over most competitors.

Sure, it's still to be seen how sales and subscriptions will be in a few months, but honestly, given these numbers, I wouldn't hold my hopes too high, really. The game is on the decline and MoP sadly didn't change that trend, even if I am sure it will be a veeeery long and profitable decline.

[Elhana]

So, passed 10 mil mark, yet it was at 12... doesn't add up, more like 2 mil decline, but it doesn't look good in PR bullshit.

1 mil growth means 1 mil quit before and just checking MoP, hoping it will get better - most will quit again.

2.7 mil sold in one week means first day sales were too low for report, likely much worse than cata.

They can remove raids and still have about 8 mil mouthbreathing kids playing 1 hour a day. While it will still be a success from financial PoV, it is not the game I'm paying to play.

[Akka]

Also, let me add this.

Those 7+ millions players who didn't buy MoP are likely based in China. In China the business model is very different, they pay a very little sub fee, and the expansion is not out yet.
So, it's likely that 2.7 millions is the number of people playing WoW in Europe, USA and Australia. This is pretty much the dimension of the Western community at this time. GW2 so far sold 2 millions copies (several weeks ago), and it isn't available in China. WoW is clearly still the most played MMO in the Western world, but by a far, far smaller margin than most WoW players think...

I don't think it's THAT bleak. Cata sold 3,3 M in the first day and around 4,7 M overall (or in the first quarter, but that's a rough enough approximation).

With the rather good reputation that MoP enjoy FOR NOW among the vocal fans, I wouldn't be surprised to see it sell about 3,5 or 4 M overall and regain, at least for a time, 500K previous players.
For the rest... it will depend of how the game is actually going after a few monthes, because for now it's still new and shiny.

[Gurbz]

10 million subs and 2.7million expansion sales, yet WoW is dying? Yet TBC had nearly the same subs (8 million) when it launched but less sales (2.4 million), and was supposedly the highest point in WoW's popularity?! Or the fact that the subscriber base was 3 million higher at the launch of WotLK but Blizzard only sold 400k more copies at launch. Even Cata wasn't that much higher in initial sales despite having nearly the highest number of subscribers WoW has ever had.

When comparing number of sales per subscriber, each expansion has actually been nearly identical. The game is fine. As long as you are enjoying it, quit worrying about what everyone else is doing and play the damn game.

[Deleted]

suck it haters

[Xilurm]

So, passed 10 mil mark, yet it was at 12... doesn't add up, more like 2 mil decline, but it doesn't look good in PR bullshit.

1 mil growth means 1 mil quit before and just checking MoP, hoping it will get better - most will quit again.

2.7 mil sold in one week means first day sales were too low for report, likely much worse than cata.

They can remove raids and still have about 8 mil mouthbreathing kids playing 1 hour a day. While it will still be a success from financial PoV, it is not the game I'm paying to play.

It wasn't 12, it was 9 last time.

[Farora]

2.7 million expansion sales, 10 million subs? Sounds legit.

[Deleted]

I don't think it's THAT bleak. Cata sold 3,3 M in the first day and around 4,7 M overall (or in the first quarter, but that's a rough enough approximation).

With the rather good reputation that MoP enjoy FOR NOW among the vocal fans, I wouldn't be surprised to see it sell about 3,5 or 4 M overall and regain, at least for a time, 500K previous players.
For the rest... it will depend of how the game is actually going after a few monthes, because for now it's still new and shiny.

Well, it's not like GW2 finished selling its copies, it probably sold significantly more than 2 millions at this point. Anyway, time will tell and I am not interested at all in a war between MMOs, which is kinda silly. I am just pointing out that people on these forums tend to overestimate the superiority of WoW if compared to other MMOs in the Western market: it's still certainly played by more people than the competitors, sure, but not that much.

[connectz]

Can you really judge a game based on initial sales? I don't know about you buddy, but MoP has put great emphasis on preorders and digital sales, and you can't put these in the same box with what you call 'initial sales.' So far, only the most enthusiastic WoW players bought the expansion. Most WoW players I know prefer to take it slowly instead of rushing into things.

Oh I'm not judging anything, if you like MoP I' happy for you and hope you enjoy playing it.

Just stating facts!

[Jainzar]

Good job, Blizzard. I'm a hardcore raider, been since TBC and i love MoP so far. Fantastic job.

[Immitis]

Sorry, but I am not making any assumption. The hard data say that after a week MoP sold clearly worse than the other WoW expansions.
This doesn't mean that the game is dead at all, but I think people should really accept it how it is: not a success. I think that Blizzard could have done better, by releasing a better expansion. By blindly praising Blizzard even for this product and this disappointing results, I think people are making a bad service to grant WoW the future it deserves. Sure, the game is 7 years old, but for a MMO, so heavily relying on social aspects and sense of long-term achievement, this isn't only a drawback, but also an advantage over most competitors.

Sure, it's still to be seen how sales and subscriptions will be in a few months, but honestly, given these numbers, I wouldn't hold my hopes too high, really. The game is on the decline and MoP sadly didn't change that trend, even if I am sure it will be a veeeery long and profitable decline.

im sorry but theres a big BIG difference between "not as good as the others" and "not a success"

this is an 8 year old game, thats almost a decade, and it just gained about a million new subscribers when it hasnt gained any subscribers in the last almost 3 years.

calling this anything other then a success is just plain ignorance, is it "oh meh gerd best sales evar" no but it is most definitely a success