Mop - 2.7 million sold in first week

[Conscious]

Right, what do you mean by this. The game has sold well, for a 8 year old game it is incredible. Now obviously the launch in China will increase to even more sales, what is the exact problem here.

I don't think you understand what pessimist means...

"The game sold like shit." Again, what are you basing that on? You realize you can compare that to previous expansions, and they have it right on the front page, right?

2.7 Million copies in a week. It took a week, to get to that number. Seven days.

All previous expansions took a day. Twenty-Four hours.

It took seven times as long to get to just shy, but Below Wrath's numbers, and just above TBC.

[Orange Joe]

china doesn't buy the expansion..... There will be no sales there.

[KrazyK923]

2.7 Million copies in a week. It took a week, to get to that number.

All previous expansions took a day.

And it didn't even beat Wrath.

And? What actually matters is the monthly total.

[Thulvaso]

2.7 Million copies in a week. It took a week, to get to that number.

All previous expansions took a day.

And it didn't even beat Wrath.

But that doesn't matter. The game had the most subs in Wrath so it makes sense. It doesn't need to beat an expansion to be "better" MOP blows Wrath out of the water. Sales do not equal overall quality.

This expansion has been dragged through the dirt from die hard GW2 fans, panda haters overall undesirable people which has given it a bad rep but now it is launched and is incredible.

What saddens me is most people who hated Cata are now away from the game, this expansion is the revival of what wow should be. Exploration this is not just "Warcraft" but "World of" something Cataclysm lacked.

[Deleted]

So I am not a math wiz, but how do you get from 2.7mil to 10mil?

They sold 2.7 million copies but their subscriber base rose to 10 million.
Not all players buy the expansion on first day/week/even month sometimes. Some simply just don't but it.

[Snarebusta]

Right, what do you mean by this. The game has sold well, for a 8 year old game it is incredible. Now obviously the launch in China will increase to even more sales, what is the exact problem here.

China doesn't buy expansions. They get them for free. I would assume someone with enough experience in this game and on this forum be a moderator on this forum, would know this.

[Deleted]

Cataclysm brought us to 12 Million.

We were recently at 9.1 Million.

Now we're at 10 million.

We've still a net loss of two million.

The net loss is more than any other recent similar MMO has had players at their peak, and five to ten times more than most of them have players right now. If anyone calls that anything other than a resounding continued success for the game, then they're clearly clueless.

Then again, there's this misguided capitalistic culture and view in certain western worlds that tells you that the only success is continued massive growth, whereas anyone with half a brain knows there's no such thing as infinitely sustained growth. And when we have people like that running the world, suddenly there's an economic collapse, and everyone's all like "Huh, wha? How could this happen!?"

Yeah.

2.7 over a week is probably not Blizzard's idea of 'alive and well', nor is only 900k people coming back.

No you're right of course. "Alive and well" has to mean +2 million subscribers and +3 million subscribers and +5 million subscribers and +100 million subscribers and +7 billion subscribers, and then of course everyone has to start subscribing to multiple accounts so we can continue to grow, because "economy 101" teaches us growth = good.

Then there's of course the small matter of Mists of Pandaria being the most polarizing and "vilified" expansion this game has seen, getting 50%/50% and worse ratings on Youtube for all the previews, being slammed left and right on every single forum months in advance, getting such unbelievable anti-hype that you'd think not a single soul would buy it.

Yet 2.7 million did already in a week. You really surprised it got a slower start? You really surprised it got less action than the earlier expansions which nobody had any problems buying?

Based on all I've read on the forums, I thought I'd be one of the few who buys it, and even still, who cares. What do you need millions of people for? Battlegrounds, instances and raids are regionwide, quests you can do with your friends through crossrealm zoning. It's not like you'll ever see 10000 different people in the game, let alone 1 million. Let alone 10.

But no. "Amagad WoW only has 10x the players of any other similar MMO right now! Amagad it's dead! Blerpp."

[Duridi]

Because we've been at 10 million before, you're looking at it the wrong way. We're still down what, a couple million subscribers?

That's not a gain in my book until we're past 12 million again. Otherwise we're just creating an illusion of success, and that's not fair to anyone.



Considering it's sales, you'd better hope it keeps these subscriptions. If 900,000 was the best we could get for come-back numbers, I'm worried.



2.7 over a week is probably not Blizzard's idea of 'alive and well', nor is only 900k people coming back.

Fair enough, but I would say getting back 900k of the almost 3 million that quit isn't necessarily a low number. I think it's a quite healthy number of people giving it another chance, considering how many people they managed to upset the last 1-2 years. I mean, they dropped 1,1 million the last quarter, and then regained roughly 80% of them shortly after.

Now, I don't expect them to necessarily hold all these, but if people are willing to give them a chance again that's a sign they can still regain a decent chunk if they play their cards right.

I just think it's a bit silly talking about losses of say 800k, or 1.1 million which we have seen, being considered a heavy blow. Then the tables turn and they regain 900k... it's suddenly considered a small chunk.

[Orange Joe]

2.7 Million copies in a week. It took a week, to get to that number. Seven days.

All previous expansions took a day. Twenty-Four hours.

It took seven times as long to get to just shy, but Below Wrath's numbers, and just above TBC.

I think you are over reacting a little bit to these numbers. Sure it's not as much as previous expasions but it's still a good number. It still beats any other mmo on the market. So nay say all you want, it's still going strong.

[KrazyK923]

China doesn't buy expansions. They get them for free. I would assume someone with enough experience in this game and on this forum be a moderator on this forum, would know this.

I'm wondering where the proof is for this, because thusfar it seems like something people just repeat because they heard it. I'm not saying you're lying, but could you show me proof somewhere?

[vazar_da_priest]

yea 2.7 on first day and 10 mil subscribers...OMG WOW IS DEAD!!!!

its back to BC numbers. calm down idiots

[Conscious]

And? What actually matters is the monthly total.

Look at the total's following each release.

Monthly sales aren't a significant increase.

With only about a third of the first day sales coming in throughout the month.

Even if half of the first week's sales occur through the rest of the month, we're still at Wrath's sales, and below Cataclysms.

[Thulvaso]

China doesn't buy expansions. They get them for free. I would assume someone with enough experience in this game and on this forum be a moderator on this forum, would know this.

Okay then, maybe he/she got mixed up with Subs/Sales. I get it wrong sometimes as do other people. Just because you are a moderator doesn't mean you are some wowpedia page that has 100% facts.

[Matchu]

Still follow me?

No, because your argument is flawed. Cataclysm was roughly 2 years ago. If you're just going to invent your own timeframes, you may as well say "Cataclysm brought in 12 million since launch" and completely ignore anything in the interim (hello TBC and Wrath). In 2012, we know it had 9.1 million subscribers. Now it's at 10. For FY2012, that's 900,000 more people. Comparing FY2012 to FY2010 gives 2 million less.

Secondly, because you don't know what's "growth" and what's "recovery". There are now 900,000 more people playing. How many of them are new people who just picked it up and how many are returning old players? It's impossible to tell.

Thirdly, because all of that doesn't also include issues of the the shrinking MMO market. It didn't help SW:TOR nor GW:2 either. It's not helping WoW.

Number crunching aside, it's still the biggest MMO.

[Sinitar]

Oh no, someone's being realistic.

Realistic? That's a rather poor way to put it. So, does your 'realistic' point of view takes into account the people that are waiting to try out the MoP trial before purchasing it? Or the players who like to avoid the initial wave of players, the queues and the other inconveniences that are included in the new expansion package? You're being rash and ignorant, not realistic. Once a couple of months pass, you can scream about WoW's failures all you want.

[Orange Joe]

I'm wondering where the proof is for this, because thusfar it seems like something people just repeat because they heard it. I'm not saying you're lying, but could you show me proof somewhere?

feel free to post china sales numbers on ANY expansion. Don't you think that is some info they would release?

[theWocky]

Yeah, they took longer than usual to get that out. It is true - as most people pointed out that they usually brag about "first day" records.

I guess they really left it as long as they could and counted every sale to boost it as much as possible.

When you're down, you can only go up, I guess.

That's more successful than I guessed, but a drop of almost 20% on their new expansion is hardly a success story and share-holders will be pissed, but some good may come of it as I sincerely hope they now "catch a wake up" and treat their customers better by delivering more content updates as they've promised and not delivered. It would be nice to join Azeroth again for a bit, but not until they've restored my faith in them.

This comment is also interesting:

base passed 10 million subscribers, with growth across all major regions.*

*Based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.

Is this sales talk for: "we've padded the figures as much as we can get away with" ? Does make you wonder, hey?

Either way, I hope the game keeps improving.

[Deleted]

Rising competition?

Guess it depends a bit how you define it . They have plenty of games trying, but falling flat on their face. I would hardly call that competition.

Indeed, it depends how you define competition and "falling flat on their face", too.
I'm a fan too, but i'm also realistic.
I stand my point. Good numbers all considered.

[KrazyK923]

Look at the total's following each release.

Monthly sales aren't a significant increase.

With only about a third of the first day sales coming in throughout the month.

Even if half of the first week's sales occur through the rest of the month, we're still at Wrath's sales, and below Cataclysms.

I'm sorry. I just cannot take you seriously after looking back and seeing your "TOR is far from dead" and then your doom and gloom about this. Its would be hilarious if it wasn't so ridiculous. All I am seeing is the typical argument that went along back when subs were falling and people were yelling, "THE GAME IS DEAD! THE GAME IS DEAD!" and so then the game regains more than a third of its subs alone and its only a pittance in your eyes.

Its called a bias. Its ok to admit you have one, we all do. But, please, stop pretending like you're arguing on neutral grounds.

[Drithien]

Alright, so it's "recovery" and not "growth." Is recovery a bad thing, then?

No it is not. I never said such a thing. Actually as I said in a previous post on this thread, I like that the game seems to be doing good. I am neither a hater nor a fanatic. I like playing the game, enjoy it, have my opinions about it, like to discuss them with other players, but I don't like getting into fghts over the internet over it. What promoted me to write your quoted post is the feeling of disappointment of some people trying to 'sell' Mists' initial performance as a triumph against all that have a different opinion. Trying to pass recovery as growth seems like one of those dubious political speeches, where the speaker says just the right amount of words to create a positive image to you about him, while leaving all the nasty but crucial parts aside as 'not important details'. I feel sad when words, the tool that we use to communicate with each other is misused in such a way where things could have been better if nobody wrote anything actually. That's all.