1.3 million sub drop

[Conscious]

EvE is running on 500k subs, and doing a damn fine job. 2 million would be enough to provide sufficient funds to churn out MORE content than WoW is getting at the moment and still be profitable. but it wouldnt be enough to pay bonuses, dividends, Titan, gold plated hookers for the management etc.

How do you figure? EvE is a fundamentally different game. That's apples and oranges, the only thing they really have in common is a subscription and being an MMO..

Do you think WoW's current infrastructure alone could be supported by 2 million people? And content? And Staff? Frequent updates? Major patches?

The answer is no, you'll have to literally widdle the game down to a venerable 'mini' version of WoW.

[Huehuecoyotl]

How do you figure? EvE is a fundamentally different game. That's apples and oranges, the only thing they really have in common is a subscription and being an MMO..

Do you think WoW's current infrastructure alone could be supported by 2 million people? And content? And Staff? Frequent updates? Major patches?

The answer is no, you'll have to literally widdle the game down to a venerable 'mini' version of WoW.

total and utter nonsense. the income WoW generates at the moment is 80% pure profit. they could maintain the same development staff, support staff and infrastructure costs and still make money. but of course they would be able to reduce both support and infrastructure if there were only 2m players, so they could save some.

i cant believe there are still people believing that all of the income they make from WoW somehow gets spent on WoW. remember, they built the entire original game on the basis of expecting half a million subscribers. would they have done that if they didnt think they could have made money out of those 500k?

[Deleted]

Yeah, but we still won't be talking cutting edge, nor will we be talking subscription based, and you still have to factor in attrition purely based on people not wanting to play the reboot.

I think Blizzard knows as well as anyone, that you want to preserve your existing player-base (or grow it) as much as possible before transitioning to a new title, or a reboot.

It depends if the intellectual property remains popular. I don't see anything beating Warcraft for a while, especially if Blizz made it darker.

Warcraft has beautiful art and a universal fantasy setting (meaning it appeals to everyone). The only lore that could really beat it is D&D but no one has made a good D&D MMORPG that can compete with WoW.

[KCguy]

So the facts say:-

1. 1.3million drop in subs as at 31 March 2013. Largest drop in subs ever in Wow history.

2. Kotick states publicly he is concerned over Wow Subs.

3. The massive decline in subs is from 3-6months of latest expansion release.

4. Around 1mill subs lower than the lowest point in Cataclysm.

And ur trying to tell us all that everythings fine?

Dude u need to wake up and actually check the facts because your continual attempts to tell us all that everythings fine is becoming hilarious.

If a majority of the subs were in North America, I think Blizzard would be much more worried. But as it stands, it doesn't appear they are too concerned. At least not to the point where it is "desperation mode". The expansion has been amazing, Burning Legion looks like it will be next. A return to BC is just what the doctor ordered. Might even bring back older players.

[Conscious]

If a majority of the subs were in North America, I think Blizzard would be much more worried. But as it stands, it doesn't appear they are too concerned. At least not to the point where it is "desperation mode". The expansion has been amazing, Burning Legion looks like it will be next. A return to BC is just what the doctor ordered. Might even bring back older players.

Like, how has the idea that because they came 'mostly' from China, that it's suddenly A-OKAY to lose a massive amount of subscriptions.

[Pann]

If a majority of the subs were in North America, I think Blizzard would be much more worried. But as it stands, it doesn't appear they are too concerned. At least not to the point where it is "desperation mode". The expansion has been amazing, Burning Legion looks like it will be next. A return to BC is just what the doctor ordered. Might even bring back older players.

How do you know what Blizzard are thinking? The fact that Kotick said they expected subs to continue to decline suggests they are concerned.

[Osmeric]

Like, how has the idea that because they came 'mostly' from China, that it's suddenly A-OKAY to lose a massive amount of subscriptions.

If the cause was grindiness, there could have been many occasional users in China that decided it just wasn't worth it. Those are the least valuable users of the game anywhere.

[Deleted]

If a majority of the subs were in North America, I think Blizzard would be much more worried. But as it stands, it doesn't appear they are too concerned.

Even tho Kotick himself said he was concerned?

Come on guys read the conference call report before making such untrue statements.

Koticks words >>>>

"and subscriber declines in our World of Warcraft business all raise concerns"

[Ryzzen]

Like, how has the idea that because they came 'mostly' from China, that it's suddenly A-OKAY to lose a massive amount of subscriptions.

The Asian game market is very different. They don't pay monthly sub fees like we do, and Blizzard only gets a cut of the fees they do pay. They license the game to a company over there to run. It's why they have multiple lockouts, etc. Losing 10-20 players from China is about equal to losing 1 sub in NA or Europe as far as money loss goes. That is why people say it is OK because the losses were mainly in Asia.

[TheTaurenOrc]

The Asian game market is very different. They don't pay monthly sub fees like we do, and Blizzard only gets a cut of the fees they do pay. They license the game to a company over there to run. It's why they have multiple lockouts, etc. Losing 10-20 players from China is about equal to losing 1 sub in NA or Europe as far as money loss goes. That is why people say it is OK because the losses were mainly in Asia.

This is what confuses me; how does the model work there? My understanding is the user pays for game time in hour blocks, how does this get classified as a sub? Because a user bought game time that month?

[Deleted]

This is what confuses me; how does the model work there? My understanding is the user pays for game time in hour blocks, how does this get classified as a sub? Because a user bought game time that month?

He is correct that Blizzard sold the license to another company... IN CHINA... but the rest of Asia is run by Blizzard directly.

Asian gaming culture they buy 'timecards' and dont setup a monthly rolling subscription.

therefore they just stop buying these cards to stop playing the game. Its also notoriously almost impossible to tell how many of these cards r active at one time, hence Blizzard have to 'estimate' thier own sub numbers in Asia. Basically, they cant use data from how many timecards r sold they have to try to work out how many have been activated and whether they r still allowing access to the game.

I agree with u that this method is called a 'sub' very losely because they are not 'tied in' subscribers like we are in EU and USA.

[Pann]

This is what confuses me; how does the model work there? My understanding is the user pays for game time in hour blocks, how does this get classified as a sub? Because a user bought game time that month?

There ya go; Subscriber Definition: World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules

[Deleted]

Like, how has the idea that because they came 'mostly' from China, that it's suddenly A-OKAY to lose a massive amount of subscriptions.

I'm not worried about China. They are very protectionistic about their products anyway.

[cabyio]

No, but things like WoWProgress, Realmpop, etc. provide good sample sizes, in the hundreds of thousands, if not low millions. So it's definitely fair to use the information, even if only for ballpark estimates.

But we were talking about why people quit... which wowprogress has no data on. Try again.

[Osmeric]

This is what confuses me; how does the model work there? My understanding is the user pays for game time in hour blocks, how does this get classified as a sub? Because a user bought game time that month?

That is correct.

[Pann]

That is correct.

That is not strictly correct they could have bought the game time several months ago but as long as they log in during the last 30 days they are counted as subscribers.

[Osmeric]

That is not strictly correct they could have bought the game time several months ago but as long as they log in during the last 30 days they are counted as subscribers.

Right. I meant used the time. Simply having unused time on a card does not count.

[Deleted]

considering wow is the main golden cow of blizzard if the sub loss in eu and na was substantial there most likely wouldve been a loss in revenue not a gain in revenue.

you arent proving your point and are still just running around calling blizzard liars to push your own agenda

I would suggest they would really prefer to keep some of those subscriber



Please put your finger where the 'mostly Chinese' man lost did not touch your revenue stream

[HeedmySpeed]

I think they ignore the Asian market because they are stereotyped as the "hardcore" variant of gamer. Supported by things like the non-shared lockouts.

And who cares about "no lifers" amirite guiz?

I agree it's absolutely retarded to ignore the Asian market subscription losses.

[Windfury]

If you include ToT, there are 29 MoP raid bosses, which at current standing means 27 weeks of full clears... even more if you had stopped prior to T15. Even if you ran it on multiple toons (who would all have to be geared enough to meet ilvl requirements), that's not something that someone who was subbed for a month here and there would get done.

Sorry, but I dont believe this for a minute.

As I've said repeatedly it was on 6 toons over a period of 14 weeks. It was prior to ToT. That's 16 bosses x 14 weeks x 6 toons = 1344 potential bosses. Obviously I didn't do it every week on every toon. I did it religiously on 3 toons, my Shaman, DK and Druid (DPS/Tank/Heals respectively), and got all 3 drops on my shaman. I realise it's very unlucky but I swear to god it happened. Sorry it doesn't support what you've already pre-decided but there's nothing I can do about that.

People's posts about hurp durp maybe they're were on drugs so they just don't understand numbers are incredibly offensive by the way. I would appreciate not being called a lying druggie by people who don't know me and won't listen to me because my experience doesn't suit their agenda. Thank you.