Will Blizzard release sub numbers of Classic eventually?

[Sencha]

If they're good, yes. If they're bad, no. So it's pretty easy to know if it's a success or not.

[Seranthor]

I said...they have to say something

And "sorry bros you have to believe me, pinky promisse Classic doesnt have many subs" is an option...i just dont believe Blizzard will say that.

Clearly you fail to grasp that Blizzard doesn't revolve around what you want. They dont HAVE to do anything. They dont have to say anything. You also fail to grasp that those numbers are none of your business.

Ask yourself this one question. What benefit does Blizzard get from releasing these numbers? Be very specific, and be prepared to back up your answer.

[Big Thanks]

Clearly you fail to grasp that Blizzard doesn't revolve around what you want. They dont HAVE to do anything. They dont have to say anything. You also fail to grasp that those numbers are none of your business.

Ask yourself this one question. What benefit does Blizzard get from releasing these numbers? Be very specific, and be prepared to back up your answer.

Shut up the entire community and endless spam of the forums. (if the subs are normal and NOT all that amazing)

If the subs are ginormous...they better say nothing otherwise it would be PR chaos

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Shut up the entire community and endless spam of the forums. (if the subs are normal and NOT all that amazing)

If the subs are ginormous...they better say nothing otherwise it would be PR chaos

You just gave them a reason NOT to give you numbers...you haven't provided any reason why they would want to.

[Big Thanks]

You just gave them a reason NOT to give you numbers...you haven't provided any reason why they would want to.

LOL, you believe Classic will overtake retail? Thats really generous of you! I dont believe it.

But i just told you the reason why they would want to IF the subs are just normal.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

LOL, you believe Classic will overtake retail? Thats really generous of you! I dont believe it.

But i just told you the reason why would they want to IF the subs are just normal.

Releasing the numbers won't shut anybody up. Everyone expects Classic WoW to have big numbers at launch...what remains in doubt is how long they can retain those numbers. If anything, it will only inflame the discussion with one side lording it over the other. "See, I told you that Classic was gonna be huge" or "See, I told you Classic would fail"

[Monster Hunter]

Trying to create a "i told you so" moment a few/lot of months into the future
Agree or disagree (we will have a talk a few months from now to see who was right)

Here is my theory:

Blizzard will at some point in time say how many people are playing Classic.
Why?
Because this whole project was built upon the theories of fans about "what is best? Classic VS Retail"
Blizzard will not be able to resist the urge to say:

"See i told you so, you think you do but you dont" (low subs)
OR
"Cool, the forum dwellers were actually right" (a lot of subs)

Blizzard has the right...the OBLIGATION to release the sub numbers of Classic...for Science!
For many many many many years forum dwellers were discussing if this project would be a success or a failure.

Sub numbers will put an end to this discussion.
It will either shut us up (low subs)
Or enable us to talk more (high subs)

Either way...i think Blizzard will do it
They have to...they have an obligation here.

The won't because the sub is the same.

Blizz don't release sub numbers because up and down trends can have stock price implications, but no longer have any bearing on predicted revenue.

It's no longer about number of sub's it's entirely about how much you can milk out of those subs. Having half the numbers is fine if you get twice as much £ per player. And on that classic is a dead ip from a buissness perspective as there's no way of increasing the value per player.

Let's say wow classic exceeds it's most wild and insane expectations from the classic community and pulls in all 12 mil subs at wows height.

That's 180,000,000 dollars a year. Thats 360,000,000 over 2 years, 2 years is usually the time between major game releases at other studios.

Let's compare that to black ops that made 500,000,000 in 3 day's after release. So without counting future sales over the next months, then added monetization of season passes and loot boxes, e.t.c, e.t.c

Surfice to say the money a new AAA title or even a wow expansion brings in always and forever will outstrip wow classic even is wow classic hit the crazyest goal of the crazyiest dreamer.

And ultimately its money that desides where dev time goes.

There's a reason act-blizz said "no major releases in 2019" classic is a passion project by a small team inside blizz, devoting more than the bare minimum resources to its development and maintenance will never be worth it compared to developing new ip or more easily monetized ip.

When I said ages ago the market and demographic had changed I really ment it. At wows height it would be considered a flop by todays standards and numbers.

Now when we get realistic for the number of mmo games still around and hand them a generous 1mil players. That's only 15mil a year, which is penny's for a company.

[Big Thanks]

Releasing the numbers won't shut anybody up. Everyone expects Classic WoW to have big numbers at launch...what remains in doubt is how long they can retain those numbers. If anything, it will only inflame the discussion with one side lording it over the other. "See, I told you that Classic was gonna be huge" or "See, I told you Classic would fail"

But im counting Classic WoW to somewhat "fail"...thats part of the prediction.
I dont believe it will retain any "casual" on the entire planet. Not a single one. Its too hard for them.
Thats why im counting on Blizzard saying something like MAU's or something to shut people up.

- - - Updated - - -

It's no longer about number of sub's it's entirely about how much you can milk out of those subs. Having half the numbers is fine if you get twice as much £ per player. And on that classic is a dead ip from a buissness perspective as there's no way of increasing the value per player.

Let's say wow classic exceeds it's most wild and insane expectations from the classic community and pulls in all 12 mil subs at wows height.

That's 180,000,000 dollars a year. Thats 360,000,000 over 2 years, 2 years is usually the time between major game releases at other studios.

Let's compare that to black ops that made 500,000,000 in 3 day's after release. So without counting future sales over the next months, then added monetization of season passes and loot boxes, e.t.c, e.t.c

Surfice to say the money a new AAA title or even a wow expansion brings in always and forever will outstrip wow classic even is wow classic hit the crazyest goal of the crazyiest dreamer.

And ultimately its money that desides where dev time goes.

There's a reason act-blizz said "no major releases in 2019" classic is a passion project by a small team inside blizz, devoting more than the bare minimum resources to its development and maintenance will never be worth it compared to developing new ip or more easily monetized ip.

When I said ages ago the market and demographic had changed I really ment it. At wows height it would be considered a flop by todays standards and numbers.

Now when we get realistic for the number of mmo games still around and hand them a generous 1mil players. That's only 15mil a year, which is penny's for a company.

Have to agree with everything you said here

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

But im counting Classic WoW to somewhat "fail"...thats part of the prediction.
I dont believe it will retain any "casual" on the entire planet. Not a single one.
Thats why im counting on Blizzard saying something like MAU's or something.

Let's say your prediction is right and Classic "fails"...why would Blizzard want to go out of their way to advertise that? That's like saying they took a bunch of money and flushed it down the toilet.

[Big Thanks]

Let's say your prediction is right and Classic "fails"...why would Blizzard want to go out of their way to advertise that? That's like saying they took a bunch of money and flushed it down the toilet.

Its not gonna fail THAT bad...is it?
I mean, we all like to think we are part of a bigger group in the world and that more people are like us...

LoL i think a lot people are like me...
But they usually arent (T_T) *cry

Well see how it goes

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Its not gonna fail THAT bad...is it?
I mean, we all like to think we are part of a bigger group in the world and that more people are like us...

LoL i think a lot people are like me...
But they usually arent (T_T) *cry

Well see how it goes

I'm just asking you for a reason why Blizzard would go out of their way to announce any kind of failure at all.

Let's take a look at that boardroom meeting:

Executive: Classic WoW isn't doing as well as we expected.
CEO: Well, that sucks. What do we do about it?
Executive: Go on the forums and tell everyone. Shout it from the rooftops!
CEO: You're fired. Does anyone have an idea that won't have the shareholders asking for my resignation?

[Big Thanks]

I'm just asking you for a reason why Blizzard would go out of their way to announce any kind of failure at all.

Let's take a look at that boardroom meeting:

Executive: Classic WoW isn't doing as well as we expected.
CEO: Well, that sucks. What do we do about it?
Executive: Go on the forums and tell everyone.
CEO: You're fired. Does anyone have an idea that won't have the shareholders asking for my resignation?

1)It will not fail that bad. There is at least 1 million nerds like myself out there. I believe!
2)Classic will not be a money maker.
Its a passion project.

The one and only way it will make A CENT is if NEW people subscribe.
People that are not playing BfA at all.

The only measure of its success is increased MAU's of the quarter/s.

[Veggie50]

LOL, you believe Classic will overtake retail? Thats really generous of you! I dont believe it.

But i just told you the reason why they would want to IF the subs are just normal.

You think it's in Blizzards interest to tell the community "told ya so"? Because that's about the dumbest thing I heard today, and I watched a Trump interview.

If MAU for classic is below expectations, they'll just keep calling it a passion project. If its above expectation, they'll pat their development team on the back and tell stakeholders the total number of wow MAU's are up. They have zero "need" to tell the playerbase about how classic is doing.

They COULD decide to tell us something about it, perhaps to share a success. They are in no way "forced to do so".

[Big Thanks]

You think it's in Blizzards interest to tell the community "told ya so"? Because that's about the dumbest thing I heard today, and I watched a Trump interview.

Ive seen dumber things said in blue posts

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

1)It will not fail that bad. There is at least 1 million nerds like myself out there. I believe!
2)Classic will not be a money maker.
Its a passion project.

The one and only way it will make A CENT is if NEW people subscribe.
People that are not playing BfA at all.

The only measure of its success is increased MAU's of the quarter/s.

First off, I've never said Classic was going to fail...you did. I was just running with your prediction of Classic being somewhat of a failure.

Yes, the only way Classic makes money is if it gets people to subscribe that aren't currently subscribed. No one is disputing that.

The question is why should they feel a need to specifically point out how well or how poorly Classic is doing?

[Monster Hunter]

Let's say your prediction is right and Classic "fails"...why would Blizzard want to go out of their way to advertise that? That's like saying they took a bunch of money and flushed it down the toilet.

Well.
A. It failed befor it started in a buissness sense as even if it got 12mik players it can't generate the revenue that you would get releasing a new AAA ip or even a fortnite Clone in today's money.
B. Its not ment to succeed, its a passion project by a very small team with little support company wide, hence "no major releases in 2019.

They won't release subs or data on it simply because they don't care and its an insignificant game in there roster. Like the wc3 re release.

[Big Thanks]

First off, I've never said Classic was going to fail...you did. I was just running with your prediction of Classic being somewhat of a failure.

Yes, the only way Classic makes money is if it gets people to subscribe that aren't currently subscribed. No one is disputing that.

The question is why should they feel a need to specifically point out how well or how poorly Classic is doing?

Like monster hunter said.
Its an insignificant project. No harm in tell us details (if it doesnt overtake retail...which it wont)
In the name of Science...we need this numbers...which is pitiful...but cmon...everyone is expecting this.

[Monster Hunter]

You think it's in Blizzards interest to tell the community "told ya so"? Because that's about the dumbest thing I heard today, and I watched a Trump interview.

If MAU for classic is below expectations, they'll just keep calling it a passion project. If its above expectation, they'll pat their development team on the back and tell stakeholders the total number of wow MAU's are up. They have zero "need" to tell the playerbase about how classic is doing.

They COULD decide to tell us something about it, perhaps to share a success. They are in no way "forced to do so".

number of MAU'S don't matter its the value per MAU.
At current sub price even if wow pulled all 12 mil players back it still wouldn't be worth it over making a new ip just on subprices alone.

The game is heavily dependant on expansion releases and micro transactions, wow tokens to pump the value per MUA.

2 years of 12 mil subs is a little over half the money blacks ops made in 3days.

[lagiacrux]

But "they have to" imo

because the release of classic WoW is actually something of a "Prophecy" level.
This is a huge thing being discussed for ages....years on the forums and in the community in general.

This is a thing of legend proportions. This is stuff written in legends.

Science needs this numbers.

dude calm down ...

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Like monster hunter said.
Its an insignificant project. No harm in tell us details (if it doesnt overtake retail...which it wont)
In the name of Science...we need this numbers...which is pitiful...but cmon...everyone is expecting this.

Did you actually read what Monster hunter said?

They won't release subs or data on it

The only argument you are making is why you want the numbers...not why Blizzard "has to" give you those numbers

- - - Updated - - -

Well.
A. It failed befor it started in a buissness sense as even if it got 12mik players it can't generate the revenue that you would get releasing a new AAA ip or even a fortnite Clone in today's money.
B. Its not ment to succeed, its a passion project by a very small team with little support company wide, hence "no major releases in 2019.

They won't release subs or data on it simply because they don't care and its an insignificant game in there roster. Like the wc3 re release.

That's my point though...there literally is no point in Blizzard releasing that data.

I don't actually believe Classic will be a "failure"...I think it will succeed in doing exactly what it's intended to do. It's a show of goodwill to the Classic Community and it will bring in those people that currently aren't subbed at all. It's not going to be a huge game changer profit wise...but it'll pay for itself. I suspect that there will be a line somewhere on the quarterly reports to the shareholders about Classic WoW server activity...but nothing too specific.