GW2 going to China

[InfiniteRetro]

Its irrelevant when compared to games that dont launch in those nations. People like to compare WoW's total playerbase (NA/EU/KR/BR/CH) to games like Swtor who launched in (US/EU). Its not a fair comparison when your comparing the two sizes. Ones going to be way larger than the other because its available in more places. And ppl like to make the arguement against games that start out with a 2mil+ playerbase but thats actually a good number for NA/EU. Remember MoP sold 3.1 mil copies first week. Thats prolly around the size of the NA/EU playerbase. 2 mil is not such a bad number for a starter MMO in NA/EU.

I expect Wildstar and TESO to give similar results seeing as GW2 was also 2mil day one. Also wonder about GW2's Chinese business model. Will it be B2P? Sub based like WoW where you pay for game time? Isnt it like most ppl dont own computers in china so they play at Cafe's right? Should be interesting how Revenue will work. Specially since the Gem store doesnt have P2W items and it doesnt have much cosmetic gear. And i know Asian MMO's love their cosmetics.

um gw2 doesn't have much chance vs the other Asian mmos out/coming out. 2 million day one? LOL please. and lets be honest, they hyped the shit out of gw2 and it now barely gets over 100k active players. in fact, swtor gets more traffic on most major mmo sites than what gw2 does now. and that game was DOA!

In Age Of Wushu currently, FAR better and deeper experience than gw2. in fact, AOW reminds me of GW1 Factions zones and a better engine usage than that crappy paint plastered art style with its supermodel characters swimming around in it.

lets hope wildstar and TESO have subscriptions because its pretty obvious how and where they cut corners when theres no sub attached.

[Karizee]

they hyped the shit out of gw2 and it now barely gets over 100k active players.

Try 3.5 million.

[InfiniteRetro]

Try 3.5 million.

ahhhhhhhhhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha oh I forgot, in the gw2 mind a sale means that person is active. if an account is made but they never play it must mean its active.

just like when the developers confirmed server status' were showing 'bound' accounts not 'people logged in' LOL Karizee...your lies are golden

[Exroyal]

Your blind hate is also golden, Infinite.

Glad for ANet to launch in China, but as Zeek said last page, I wonder how the business modell will work there.

[Zilong]

Its irrelevant when compared to games that dont launch in those nations. People like to compare WoW's total playerbase (NA/EU/KR/BR/CH) to games like Swtor who launched in (US/EU). Its not a fair comparison when your comparing the two sizes. Ones going to be way larger than the other because its available in more places. And ppl like to make the arguement against games that start out with a 2mil+ playerbase but thats actually a good number for NA/EU. Remember MoP sold 3.1 mil copies first week. Thats prolly around the size of the NA/EU playerbase. 2 mil is not such a bad number for a starter MMO in NA/EU.

I expect Wildstar and TESO to give similar results seeing as GW2 was also 2mil day one. Also wonder about GW2's Chinese business model. Will it be B2P? Sub based like WoW where you pay for game time? Isnt it like most ppl dont own computers in china so they play at Cafe's right? Should be interesting how Revenue will work. Specially since the Gem store doesnt have P2W items and it doesnt have much cosmetic gear. And i know Asian MMO's love their cosmetics.

I understand what you are saying but isn't the box value greater than the business model (I mean gems for items not p2w)?

They already have the game, sure it will cost to translate, go according the law (China's) and everything else. But it's a made game, improving area of distribution will improve revenue overall which is greater than what they have today. I'm just speculating of course, but I feel like we already support them XD, going to china is just a bonus.

[Zeek Daniels]

I understand what you are saying but isn't the box value greater than the business model (I mean gems for items not p2w)?

They already have the game, sure it will cost to translate, go according the law (China's) and everything else. But it's a made game, improving area of distribution will improve revenue overall which is greater than what they have today. I'm just speculating of course, but I feel like we already support them XD, going to china is just a bonus.

Im no expert on Chinese economics, or how the population is doing. How many people have access to computers, what government restrictions are, what wages are like. I have no idea. I assume out of their huge population most ppl are poor. But thats prolly just the farmers that live in the outskirts and not the main citys. Thing is from what ive heard WoW's subscription is very cheap to be counted as a subscriber. Like a few cents or somthing per hour game time. So i dont know if alot of poor people are playing a few hours a month or if its just alot of not poor people who play alot per month. Either way they are still paying and i also heard they dont buy expansions because they play at Cafe's. So im guessing the Cafe's are gonna buy a bunch of copies? People who want to play can then make an account and maybe pay the cafe for game time? Iono how its gonna work, i just dont think box sales from individual customers in china would be that high unless they could afford it.

[Deleted]

World of Warcraft China is free from subscription, I think? So is their race changes and such too, it costs nothing. It's only the box that costs.

[zito]

World of Warcraft China is free from subscription, I think? So is their race changes and such too, it costs nothing. It's only the box that costs.

Would pretty much suck of WoW china was a sub based because of the fatigue system. Or did they remove it?

[Zeek Daniels]

World of Warcraft China is free from subscription, I think? So is their race changes and such too, it costs nothing. It's only the box that costs.

According to people on this forum in china thats not what it is. They dont buy expansions, thats been confirmed. Pretty much why expansions dont even sell half their sub numbers aka 3.1 mil MoP sales and 10mil + subs.
Another thing is that there is a chinese sub model. Its not a monthly fee like us but they pay for game time. An hour cost X a weeks worth costs Y a months worth costs Z. Dont know what the actual cost is but i think its a more expensive monthly fee than ours if you were to pay the chinese monthly game time fee. Also once an account pays for game time it counts as a sub for that month. So if you pay for 2 hours in the month of January blizzard will count you as a Subscriber and include you in their Sub numbers for the quarter.

So what i was trying to get at in an earlier post was that poorer chinese players may be playing a few hours in a few months and adding alot of players to the total subscriber base even tho they dont play alot.

[notorious98]

ahhhhhhhhhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha oh I forgot, in the gw2 mind a sale means that person is active. if an account is made but they never play it must mean its active.

In Blizzard's mind, buying a card in China with 4k minutes and logging on for 1 minute a month is the same as being a "subscriber". I mean, fair is fair, right?

[Gray_Matter]

In Blizzard's mind, buying a card in China with 4k minutes and logging on for 1 minute a month is the same as being a "subscriber". I mean, fair is fair, right?

Personally I am not to worried about subscriber numbers from that perspective. What I do like is that more customers = more content because there is more money to spend on that content. I anticipate the GW2 will work in a very similar fashion in China compared to WOW where clients can pay per hour.

[rhandric]

Personally I am not to worried about subscriber numbers from that perspective. What I do like is that more customers = more content because there is more money to spend on that content. I anticipate the GW2 will work in a very similar fashion in China compared to WOW where clients can pay per hour.

Unless there's some reason why they can't sell the box, there's no need for them to pay per hour for GW2, since there's no sub...

[Zeek Daniels]

Unless there's some reason why they can't sell the box, there's no need for them to pay per hour for GW2, since there's no sub...

Im just trying to compare how blizzard deals with chinese hurdles to boost subs and if alot of their chinese subs are poor then it makes sense to give them the box free and just pay the sub. Because if you want more subs you need to get players who wouldnt normally be able to afford your game anyway.

Now GW2 doesnt have a sub as we all know and we all had to buy the box. The question is does Anet only go for the chinese population that can afford the box cost? or do they give the box free and pay game time. The latter will add the most number of players.

[Deleted]

Chinese will blow throught the game in 2 weeks and never touch it again. Bad marketing decision to release it there before so many other regions.

[rhandric]

Im just trying to compare how blizzard deals with chinese hurdles to boost subs and if alot of their chinese subs are poor then it makes sense to give them the box free and just pay the sub. Because if you want more subs you need to get players who wouldnt normally be able to afford your game anyway.

Now GW2 doesnt have a sub as we all know and we all had to buy the box. The question is does Anet only go for the chinese population that can afford the box cost? or do they give the box free and pay game time. The latter will add the most number of players.

Right, I understand the angle, I just wouldn't compare GW2 to sub based games; I'd rather know how single player games released in China are handled, and would expect the same from GW2. Hell, how was GW1 releasedd in China?

Chinese will blow throught the game in 2 weeks and never touch it again. Bad marketing decision to release it there before so many other regions.

Now, I don't pay attention to what regions have the game tbh, but...seriously, what region doesn't have the game outside China? China's always a corner case when it comes to releasing games there, due to it having strict 'violence' (bones/etc) restrictions -- which is why Wrath of the Lich King took forever to be released there, and in GW2, enemies in regions like Orr would need to be redesigned.

[notorious98]

Im just trying to compare how blizzard deals with chinese hurdles to boost subs and if alot of their chinese subs are poor then it makes sense to give them the box free and just pay the sub. Because if you want more subs you need to get players who wouldnt normally be able to afford your game anyway.

Now GW2 doesnt have a sub as we all know and we all had to buy the box. The question is does Anet only go for the chinese population that can afford the box cost? or do they give the box free and pay game time. The latter will add the most number of players.

I think I'm more inclined to believe your latter scenario. Although, who knows. Maybe they adopt a F2P model similar to some Asian themed MMOs.

[shelia7854]

Just hope the China agent of GW2 will do well than the Blade&soul China agent .......

[barackopala]

Just hope the China agent of GW2 will do well than the Blade&soul China agent .......

Care to give some info about the Blade&Soul China stuff?

[Fernling306]

Try 3.5 million.

You have said some really silly things in the past, but thinking that GW2 has 3.5 million active players takes the cake.

[Karizee]

You have said some really silly things in the past, but thinking that GW2 has 3.5 million active players takes the cake.

Just as silly as some people saying 100k :P