February 7: Blizzard Conference Call

[Leslie]

This is a thread, an open forum. Freedom of speech and all. There are rules, and if you follow them you can say whatever you want.

If you want to be fair, I say only the people whose predictions were correct should talk. I was wrong, so maybe I should shut up?

[Firecrest]

I posted this in the news thread but it was ignored

Subtract the botters, gold farmers, and multiboxing accounts from that 9.6 million... then you get the REAL number.

You were ignored because you're wrong. Each of those still represents fifteen REAL dollars a month in Blizzard's pocket.

[Duronos]

I think the aim right now for Blizzard is to keep this game alive long enough for TITAN to be fully finished etc.

I don't think they would release TITAN until WoW was actually done and over with. That seems like a whole load to handle.

[Count Zero]

I think the aim right now for Blizzard is to keep this game alive long enough for TITAN to be fully finished etc.

I don't think they would release TITAN until WoW was actually done and over with. That seems like a whole load to handle.

Everquest is still going, and it never peaked anywhere near where WoW did. WoW will be going on for the foreseeable future.

[Cybran]

Cataclysm lost 600 000 subs in its first 4 months.

http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/10/bliz...pdates-faster/

Mists of Pandaria lost around 500 000 (they said over 10 mil a few times)

So far the pattern is repeating. This means a few months without decent content and the numbers could start free falling again. Funniest part is they "promised to deliver content faster" just before FL and DS that lasted 8 and 11 months and had only 7 and 8 bosses.

[Huehuecoyotl]

Cataclysm lost 600 000 subs in its first 4 months.

http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/10/bliz...pdates-faster/

Mists of Pandaria lost around 500 000 (they said over 10 mil a few times)

So far the pattern is repeating. This means a few months without decent content and the numbers could start free falling again. Funniest part is they "promised to deliver content faster" just before FL and DS that lasted 8 and 11 months and had only 7 and 8 bosses.

this is the danger for people still playing the game. during Cata they redirected resources to work on LFR, which was going to be a MoP feature. they felt they had to do something to stem the falls in subscriber numbers. now MoP is seeing falls, and suddenly we are seeing tweets about a new "feature" that is going to be dropped into the middle of an expansion.

if they redirect resources like this, you will get less "normal" content both inside and outside raids. and there is the danger that whatever else is delivered will be badly conceived and rushed. LFR needed a LOT of tweaks after it was dropped on the players, tweaks that are still being made to this day.

[Mission]

and as usual small realms are hurting more and more
merges wont be done, more people leave.

bots as usual everywhere, = a tonne of subs as well, no wonder why they barely get banned or we ever see much of mass bans until the bots are over flooded

game is ok, but... xfer fees guild fees, dead realms, low pop almost dead realms and so forth dont help to keep ppl playing and subbed

[Synstir]

9.6 is way more still then I had expected.... considering they where over 10 million just after mop hit and now 9.6... not bad.
The only thing I worry about is that at 31 dec, it had been just 2 (or so) moths MoP had been out....
That is a very short period of time for people to unsub...... this worries me about that next quarter though.

But still, that number is way better I expected.

[BenBos]

As an active D3 player, but very much ON TOPIC of this thread , I am proud to say that Diablo3 added ANOTHER 2 million copies to its sales figure/

The score is now officially 12 million copies sold. Biggest PC hit ever (7 months after launch).

Time to protect PC games with on line playing modes only.

I still think the hit of WOW subs is partially caused by D3 (I know I am in that case and so is my son).

It will be interesting to see how Blizzard's DOTA will impact WOW. (SC2 is too different).

[Chrno]

GW2 had ZERO effect on WOW Subs...what the hell are you going on about?

i know gw2 has effected 2 subs, hola lol

[God8010]

If you can get 1 million people to look at you for 2 minutes once a week, you can make a living. Blizzard has over nine million people not only looking at them for hours on end, but also reaching in their own pockets for sub's, transfers, pets, faction swaps, renames and anything else. The company is far from fail but as long as this game lacks heart and gives into the few with forum complaints, the many will continue to feel any lack of balance, stability or security.

Even the patch notes and blues contradict themselves on ideas and conceptual perception goals letting those who don't complain everyday feel lost in a sea of changes. Time to strap down on the wastes of time retooling tools that have been retooled every 6 months since the birth of the game and move on with more attempts at really using said tools on more custom content. Stop wasting peoples time making them feel they have to do dailies and let people play with their time killing and exploring custom world event content for the same ends. The system is lost in a sea of tradition and refuses to make the most of its world, rather hide in loot rolls and rep grinds. All done every time before and none offering that real feeling of exploration and personal effort.

[fuZinator]

Lost 400k subs in a three month period (Sept 25th - Dec 31st) and everyone thinks the game is doing OK?

[Deleted]

When i recieved the email last night i was wondering how the figures would show.

9.6 million is a considerable drop for them after their release date of September. What people are forgetting here is that it is shortly after their release, these figures show from Q4 ending 31st December 2012. So this incorporates Christmas sales, one month game play with new xpack purchases in some countries and so on.

You will see a more realistic drop in Q1 reports.

Blizzard is fare from failing WoW but they need to reign in their own arrogance a little and engage a better understanding of what their customer base is saying.

[Bosen]

Money is still tight for some people. I'm one of them. When I have more money, I'll be back on a more regular basis, and I'll be back to spending money on stupid crap like mounts. I think WOW's population with go up and down, but remain constant.

I recently partook of the 10 day trial, and I am sad that it ended, but I'm broke. I'm just as in love with the game as ever.

Another thing to consider, is that some families share an account. That's a loss of income for Blizz right there.

[Arbs]

Mists of Pandaria Sold 9 / 10 Million copies.
/clap /clap /clap

[Deleted]

I don't think they would release TITAN until WoW was actually done and over with.

This is a completely bizarre amount of cluelessness. Looking at the first MMO generation (UO, EQ, AC) as precedents WoW will remain open for decades to come. The idea of postponing Titan till then is outlandish.


I'd also like to know from where people get the idea, that subscription losses were mainly from Asia, when Pacific/Asia revenue skyrocketed, while Europe shrunk and NA remained virtually unchanged.

[Lukazor]

I'm not quite sure how to take this tbh. 440k subs lost at least (it says 'over 10 million') in 3 months since MoP released over a holiday period to me seems quite a bit worse than people are making out. This means that a new expansion has failed to attract more people to game and instead has driven them away, or people are simply losing interest in the game - Surely this doesnt bode well?

You'd think over a holiday period like Christmas the subs should have gone up or at least stayed the same, going by this Q1 2013 can surely only mean further and heavier losses. If I were Blizzard I'd be concerned.

And before anyone says I've recently resubbed and actually quite enjoying playing it casual.

[Perryn]

Didn't Osmeric keep bumping his thread about how the rate of decline in MoP was looking to be steeper than in Cata?

And people have already posted earlier in this thread that the quarter after Cata, WoW lost 600k subs.

So not only was Cata losing subs the first quarter after launch, it lost more subs that MoP did during that first quarter.

Not to mention this Cata came after IC and Lich King HC, while MoP came after DS/Madness fun.....

TBH I'm greatly enjoying MoP, it's something else entirely than Cata. The main problem for MoP seems to, ironically, be Panda's. Some people just can't stand them, it appears.

[Hakto]

News just in:

Mike Morhaime has just announced that Wow is officially dying.

"Given the irrefutable arguments of the hundreds of diligent forum posters on fan sites, it has come to our attention that World of Warcraft is dying."

"We wish to apologise to the millions of satisfied paying customers out there that don't have the time or care enough that Wow has dwindled to a measly 9.6 million subscribers to refute these arguments, but it is now obvious that we are unable to keep up with our competition in the MMO market."

ohh shyte it isn't April 1st yet .......

[Deleted]

These threads provide so much entertainment.