I think it's time for Blizzard owns up to being "Responsible"

[facelesssoul]

How about they be transparent to their Investors and Clients and give us monthly WoW subscriptions so we can make informed decisions with our hard earned money and time when we see how their decisions are affecting subscriptions be it positively or negatively.

While they're at it, they should give us a breakdown by region and demographic. I'm curious how everything reflects back into sub numbers. It would take hardly any effort to

Transparency and Good Faith would go great lengths to show they are confident about the impact of their decisions. A simple overlay of how changes affect the bottom line would be nice for both investors and players.

[Mr Crix]

Does subscription numbers really matter to the playerbase? If your allience your on stormrage or a dead server of your horde you have roughly a dozen to pick from.

What other info would you glean from the numbers beyond a decent grasp on the cash shop revenue?

[Relapses]

"I demand to know subscriber numbers so that I can post on forums about how dead the game is. I was going to do it anyway but I need proof."

Yeah -- how about no?

[facelesssoul]

Does subscription numbers really matter to the playerbase? If your allience your on stormrage or a dead server of your horde you have roughly a dozen to pick from.

What other info would you glean from the numbers beyond a decent grasp on the cash shop revenue?

Well I would like to actually see numbers to back claims of positive or negative impacts of design choices to the game. Instead of seeing BS speculations of "WoW is Dead" and "All is fine". Also makes Blizzard more accountable in front of it's stakeholders.

[agentsi]

"I demand to know subscriber numbers so that I can post on forums about how dead the game is. I was going to do it anyway but I need proof."

Yeah -- how about no?

I agree with the person above on the basis of the OP clearly being a troll trying to beat a horse that isn't dead yet. Just because you want it to die, doesn't mean it ever will.

But I would also be okay with them just being honest about numbers. I don't think it would hurt them at all, and frankly, who really gives a shit.

Why so many people care about what OTHER people do is beyond me. Are they hurting you or directly affecting your life in any way? No? Okay, who gives a shit. Stop looking for a reason to be mad at someone or some, thing.

[Relapses]

Well I would like to actually see numbers to back claims of positive or negative impacts of design choices to the game. Instead of seeing BS speculations of "WoW is Dead" and "All is fine". Also makes Blizzard more accountable in front of it's stakeholders.

If the information mattered to stakeholders it'd be in the QR. Turns out, it's not so it isn't. Funny how that works, huh?

Not to mention even when we did have subscriber numbers the information was completely fucking worthless because Blizzard has never released their new customer generation or attrition numbers. But hey, let's not pretend that's something you ever cared much about to begin with. You just want a data point you can point to and say, "See... right here! They failed to BUFF MAGES which resulted in 300k subscriber losses!"

[Lochton]

How about they be transparent to their Investors and Clients and give us monthly WoW subscriptions so we can make informed decisions with our hard earned money and time when we see how their decisions are affecting subscriptions be it positively or negatively.

While they're at it, they should give us a breakdown by region and demographic. I'm curious how everything reflects back into sub numbers. It would take hardly any effort to

Transparency and Good Faith would go great lengths to show they are confident about the impact of their decisions. A simple overlay of how changes affect the bottom line would be nice for both investors and players.

They do not need to release subscription numbers to the investors. The investors do not invest in World of Warcraft alone, and MAUs are the numbers they want to hear. They are already transparent in that area. Making subscription numbers public does not serve anything good, and the ones who want to will read the bad in anything.

What they truly need to do, is to make a public message video, addressing their players and investors about the current events, and offer us a little brief description of the current handling, at a face value, instead of just a wall of text. They need to better convey what they are aiming for and talk to and about players' experiences in the current content.

- - - Updated - - -

Well I would like to actually see numbers to back claims of positive or negative impacts of design choices to the game. Instead of seeing BS speculations of "WoW is Dead" and "All is fine". Also makes Blizzard more accountable in front of it's stakeholders.

Subscriber numbers is not what shareholders really want to hear, it seems. It is the activity numbers, the MAUs.

[facelesssoul]

If the information mattered to stakeholders it'd be in the QR. Turns out, it's not so it isn't. Funny how that works, huh?

Not to mention even when we did have subscriber numbers the information was completely fucking worthless because Blizzard has never released their new customer generation or attrition numbers. But hey, let's not pretend that's something you ever cared much about to begin with. You just want a data point you can point to and say, "See... right here! They failed to BUFF MAGES which resulted in 300k subscriber losses!"

Funny how the first assumption is that WoW is only losing subs and never showing an uptick for healthy changes or new content. Stakeholders are not only the investors, it also includes the player-base and employees.

Transparency would invite a healthy and sensible discussion backed up with numbers when it comes to the game. Honesty and transparency are the first steps to accountability.

I urge players to tally all the /played across their characters and add up how much they paid subs since they started playing WoW and see if they don't have a stake in the health and growth of this game.

[Biomega]

This has very little to do with "responsibility". Businesses withhold certain information with good reason - they also withhold some information for bad reasons, but this is part of their core business operations and could screw with a lot of things for little to no benefit.

If you don't like the game, don't play it. Easy.

[Nerph-]

What they truly need to do, is to make a public message video, addressing their players and investors about the current events, and offer us a little brief description of the current handling, at a face value, instead of just a wall of text. They need to better convey what they are aiming for and talk to and about players' experiences in the current content.

I agree with this. Also OP I don't understand why you need to know sub numbers in order to decide if you want to play a game, am I missing something? Just play it if you enjoy it, and if you don't, don't play it?

[Zantera]

I personally don't feel like the number of subs is that interesting, though obviously more people playing makes the game feel more alive and that's not a bad thing. But when it comes to people trying to analyze the statistics I think we get into a huge grey zone because the game doesn't necessarily have to be declining to lose subs. I know several people who have quit, not because the game got bad in their opinion but rather the fact they spent maybe a decade of their life mostly playing WoW and they hit a point where they wanted to try something new. If you are a raider for example, WoW is the kind of game that can be tricky to juggle along side other games (depending on your time).

[Relapses]

Funny how the first assumption is that WoW is only losing subs and never showing an uptick for healthy changes or new content. Stakeholders are not only the investors, it also includes the player-base and employees.

Transparency would invite a healthy and sensible discussion backed up with numbers when it comes to the game. Honesty and transparency are the first steps to accountability.

I urge players to tally all the /played across their characters and add up how much they paid subs since they started playing WoW and see if they don't have a stake in the health and growth of this game.

If you wanted real transparency you'd have asked for the attrition and new player generation data I mentioned. This is vital information which would help us, as players (or stakeholders as you say), understand how the game is performing with a level of certainty which subscriber numbers alone cannot reveal.

But that's not what you asked for.

Don't pretend you're a crusader for gamers' rights. You want that information for the same reason that tools like Bellular make multiple hour-long videos citing imaginary numbers to prove a point: So you can say the game sucks and use the subscriber numbers as evidence. Like I said, you can already freely do that anyway so I don't see why having data to support your foregone conclusion would change much.

[MoanaLisa]

Activision's only responsibility to investors is to report revenues and profits and other financial data. WoW subscriptions are a small piece of that compared to CoD and Candy Crush revenues.

In addition, there is no other MMO reporting active subscriptions so there's no special reason why Blizzard needs to do it either, especially since it's clear that subscriptions are now only one of many revenue streams for the game and perhaps not even the largest one at that.

Lest we forget: There are zero investors/stakeholders in WoW and Blizzard proper. Investments are in the umbrella company (ATVI/Activision). Blizzard is a division of the larger corporation and at this point not even close to the most important division with respect to revenue.

As for your hard-earned money and time that's a personal and subjective calculation based upon how much you enjoy the game and its content. "I'll like the game more because subscriptions went up last month" doesn't even start to make any sense.

[TrollHunter3000]

How about they be transparent to their Investors and Clients and give us monthly WoW subscriptions so we can make informed decisions with our hard earned money and time when we see how their decisions are affecting subscriptions be it positively or negatively.

While they're at it, they should give us a breakdown by region and demographic. I'm curious how everything reflects back into sub numbers. It would take hardly any effort to

Transparency and Good Faith would go great lengths to show they are confident about the impact of their decisions. A simple overlay of how changes affect the bottom line would be nice for both investors and players.

why do they need to release sub numbers? Their investors care about how much they're bringing in. Doesn't matter if it's subs or whatever else.

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Well I would like to actually see numbers to back claims of positive or negative impacts of design choices to the game. Instead of seeing BS speculations of "WoW is Dead" and "All is fine". Also makes Blizzard more accountable in front of it's stakeholders.

Why do you need those numbers though? Either you like the changes or you don't. What do other people's opinions matter to your own? Are you incapable of forming your own opinion?

[Shadowferal]

If you do an /all search for other players and find zero...then you probably are alone.

[facelesssoul]

I agree with this. Also OP I don't understand why you need to know sub numbers in order to decide if you want to play a game, am I missing something? Just play it if you enjoy it, and if you don't, don't play it?

Well it's not called a community for nothing you know..

I could list many reasons for more voluntary transparency about WoW subscriptions but I'll frame it this way: WoW's experience is based on the cumulative progression and experience of the game unlike Netflix or Verizon for example. If you stop subscribing to Netflix or switch to another Cellular carrier you are not impacted at all by how long or how much time you used their services before.

I see a lot of talk from Blizzard about fostering a great community and having fun with friends it's not too unreasonable to expect them to release in good faith the numbers to back it. They are not legally required to do so, but if they are going about being moral then they ought to not obfuscate their numbers or have them in a black box.

[TrollHunter3000]

Funny how the first assumption is that WoW is only losing subs and never showing an uptick for healthy changes or new content. Stakeholders are not only the investors, it also includes the player-base and employees.

Transparency would invite a healthy and sensible discussion backed up with numbers when it comes to the game. Honesty and transparency are the first steps to accountability.

I urge players to tally all the /played across their characters and add up how much they paid subs since they started playing WoW and see if they don't have a stake in the health and growth of this game.

How do sub numbers impact your decision to play? How does that matter at all? You either enjoy the game or you don't. You have not even attempted to argue why it matters to you.

[Relapses]

Well it's not called a community for nothing you know..

I could list many reasons for more voluntary transparency about WoW subscriptions but I'll frame it this way: WoW's experience is based on the cumulative progression and experience of the game unlike Netflix or Verizon for example. If you stop subscribing to Netflix or switch to another Cellular carrier you are not impacted at all by how long or how much time you used their services before. I see a lot of talk from Blizzard about fostering a great community and having fun with friends it's not too unreasonable to expect them to release in good faith the numbers to back it. They are not legally required to do so, but if they are going about being moral then they ought to not obfuscate their numbers or have them in a black box.

How on earth does the number of people subscribing to WoW support the notion that Blizzard is fostering a great community? That's one of the weakest arguments I've ever seen on this forum. Buddy, just be real: You want subscriber numbers so you can feel better about your opinion that the game sucks. I've got good news for you: You don't need the subscriber numbers to feel that way. Just watch a Bellular video. He'll give you all the imaginary numbers you want so that you can feel that way and feel like there is concrete evidence to support your cynicism.

[TrollHunter3000]

Well it's not called a community for nothing you know..

I could list many reasons for more voluntary transparency about WoW subscriptions but I'll frame it this way: WoW's experience is based on the cumulative progression and experience of the game unlike Netflix or Verizon for example. If you stop subscribing to Netflix or switch to another Cellular carrier you are not impacted at all by how long or how much time you used their services before.

I see a lot of talk from Blizzard about fostering a great community and having fun with friends it's not too unreasonable to expect them to release in good faith the numbers to back it. They are not legally required to do so, but if they are going about being moral then they ought to not obfuscate their numbers or have them in a black box.

If you feel like there isn't enough of a community to play the game then quit. Are you able to log in and find a raid group? If so, what's the problem? Or if you pvp, can you find others to pvp with? If so, then what's the problem?

"I can list many reasons" *proceeds to ramble without listing any reasons*

Nice.

[Mysterymask]

Well if it means that much to you why not but some stock so you have some voting rights....