4. The numbers from China are 7.5 million registered users. How hard is that to understand 5. Out of the 9 million Total users 1.5 million are from NA/EU regions.
Since when did it matter whatever someone is from China? Does it mean he knows less about MMOs? Does it mean his opinion about it is less worth it? Really I do not see whatever it matter if they had the 7.5 million in China or in Europa. I am sure you did not meant it racist, but really I would like to see an explanation why it matter.
Besides Conman has no source for the number of Asian vs World break down the last WoW press release in march 07 stated 3.6million active subs on EU/NA servers.. supported by the fact TBC sold over 3.5million copies (was only avaliable to EU/NA players at the time), to think WoW's player base in NA/EU dropped by over 60% in 4 months is dumb.. id notice if their were 60% less players on my server, 2 guild members have quit in that time not 30 (which would be 60% of my guild).
until there is accurate numberspost by blizzard , they don't have 3.5 million NA/EU players
3,5 million copies Distributed is a lot different then 3.5 copies at final sales. Distributers just sell units to stores, and they are relying on the Distributed numbers, not final cash sales. So again , with someone who duals and triples boxes 3/5 easily turns into 1.5 users .
IRVINE, Calif. – March 7, 2007 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade™ sold through approximately 3.5 million copies within one month following its mid-January launch in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.* This includes more than 1.9 million sold in regions that play on North American realms, including more than 100,000 copies in Australasia, and nearly 1.6 million in Europe. World of Warcraft's worldwide subscriber base now numbers more than 8.5 million and is continuing to grow as new and returning players join existing players in the game.
Key word here being sold.
It realy drains me having to correct the idiots who think they know it all but know nothing but whats in their tiny little brains.
1000 copies = 1 unit . Those are distribution figures .
Um 3.5 million COPIES. (see red)
Ok now he just spurting out random stuff.. I think the amount of facts have broken his brain.. another hater dies.. chuck him on the pile.
heh i agree with almost 99.9% of everything thats been discussed here heh i still enjoy WoW but what kills that game the most is the new generation of gamers that play it people who play it still dont grasp the concept of a true online rpg all they care about the little online egos which in the long term destroys the old school gamers appeal too the game.
It is really neat to see WoW players reaction to this thread. For the most part ,this what I get from it so far. If you don't like WoW then your veiws are wrong no matter how much evidence you show to support your opinion.
3.5 million B.C means nothing , when you don't have and excact number of dual boxers / cafe owners / and ebayers .. ?
Really see the WoW bunch rolling around and trying to make "the9's" quarterly report disappear but it is there , in plain english. Why can't the WoW crew expect Blizzard is Full of @#$% ? O yes , and how many people bouthg the expansion for private server usage ?
It is really neat to see WoW players reaction to this thread. For the most part ,this what I get from it so far. If you don't like WoW then your veiws are wrong no matter how much evidence you show to support your opinion. Really it is simple math. 7.5 Chinese player minus 9 million total players equal 1.5 million World players .............................................................. 3.5 million B.C means nothing , when you don't have and excact number of dual boxers / cafe owners / and ebayers .. ? Really see the WoW bunch rolling around and trying to may "the9's" quarterly report disappear but it is there , in plain english. Why can't the WoW crew expect Blizzard is Full of @#$% ?
You read the quarterly report wrong. Read it again. This is not fanboism, you have simply misinterpreted what an account activiation is and an 'active subscriber is'.
Now do you feel silly?
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to The9 Limited’s First Quarter 2007 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Camay, and I'll be your coordinator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session towards the end of the conference call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes (Operator Instructions).
I would now like to turn the presentation over to your host for today's conference, Ms. Dahlia Wei, Senior Investor Relations Manager of The9 Limited. Please proceed, ma'am.
Dahlia Wei
Thank you operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for The9’s first quarter 2007 financial results conference call. The management with me today are Mr. Jun Zhu, Chairman and CEO and Ms. Hannah Lee, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Before we start, I would like to read you the Safe Harbor statement. During the course of today’s call, certain projections or forward-looking statements may be made regarding The9’s future financial performance or future events. We wish to caution you that such statements or predictions are based on our current information and expectations, and actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
We would also like to refer you to documents that the company files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Those documents contain additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in management’s projections or forward-looking statements.
Let me now turn the call over to Mr. Zhu, our CEO, who will provide you with an overview of our business for the quarter.
TRANSCRIPT SPONSOR
China Direct (ticker: CHND.OB) is a diversified management and consulting company. Our mission is to create a platform to empower medium sized Chinese entities to effectively compete in the global economy. As your direct link to China, our organization serves as a vehicle to allow investors to participate directly in the rapid growth of the Chinese economy.
Good morning and good evening ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank you for participating in our discussion of The9's first quarter 2007 earnings.
First, I would like to present a quick overview of the key financial highlights for the first quarter of 2007.
Net revenues for the first quarter of 2007 were US$35 million. Net income was US$8.6 million or earnings of US$0.34 per ADS for the quarter.
Now let me discuss some highlights of our game operations. First of all, World of Warcraft, in the first quarter of 2007, although we experienced some seasonality impact from Chinese New Year and the winter holiday, we maintained the concurrent users for WoW at a relatively stable level.
In the first quarter of 2007, WoW PCU was over 680,000 and ACU was approximately 330,000. As of March 31, 2007, over 7.5 million accounts have been registered and activated for the WoW game in Mainland China.
With respect to the much-anticipated expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, we will first launch the upgrade version 2.0 Before The Storm. The last upgrade version for the expansion pack in late June, and soon after in the third quarter we will launch The Burning Crusade Expansion Pack, so far the version is on schedule.
This late April, we have started upgrading the existing WoW server sites. In addition, we are also appealing the eighth WoW server sites to accompany the launch of The Burning Crusade, which standalone with the existing server sites. Seven server sites will provide a full total capacity of close to 1 million peak concurrent users, paving a way for the user growth anticipated based on market responses in other parts of the world.
Yes. It says over 7.5 million accounts have been REGISTERED and ACTIVATED. That's everyone that made an account, but not everyone would have continued playing.
Blizzards subscriber definition for it's 9 million players is ACTIVE players. There are not 7.5 million ACTIVE players in china.
So your math of 9 - 7.5 million is wrong because SUBSCRIBERS is different to REGISTERED ACCOUNTS.
Jesus christ this isn't rocket science. READ!
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
ooo wait , this is getting good, so on top of the 9 million, you are going to slap the 7.5, that is brilliant thinking, can't wait to see the next quarter
looks like NA/ EU get the shaft, in my continuing dig i found this little dagger in the back, Blizzard practically welcoming Gold Sellers with this one..ready ...
"June 7, 2007 ? Shanghai, China ————
In appreciation of the ongoing support and enthusiasm of the Chinese World of Warcraft audience, The9 and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. are pleased to announce that World of Warcraft players in China will not need to purchase a new CD key to play Blizzard Entertainment 's upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade . Per this plan, everyone in China who has ever purchased a CD key for World of Warcraft will be able to install the expansion content as well without paying for an extra CD key.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will add a tremendous amount of new content to Blizzard Entertainment's award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Exciting new features that World of Warcraft players will be able to enjoy after installing the expansion include the entire new continent of Outland , two new playable races -- the Blood Elves and the Draenei -- flying mounts, the new jewelcrafting profession, advancement to the new level cap of 70 -- complete with powerful new talents and abilities -- new battlegrounds, dungeons, quests, and rewards, a revamped PvP system, and much more.
Further details on the availability of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in China will be announced in the near future. Please stay tuned to http://www.wowchina.com for more information."
This remiinds of when Wc2 came ourt and how blizzard didnt care about the core audience of wc1 , and sold out for the cash. This is a clear sign that gold sellers are the top profitable income for Blizzard, and for all MMo comapnies usually get a peice of that 1 billion doallar a year revenue that god sellers produce, which is untaxed and illegal.
looks like NA/ EU get the shaft, in my continuing dig i found this little dagger in the back, Blizzard practically welcoming Gold Sellers with this one..ready ... "June 7, 2007 ? Shanghai, China ———— In appreciation of the ongoing support and enthusiasm of the Chinese World of Warcraft audience, The9 and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. are pleased to announce that World of Warcraft players in China will not need to purchase a new CD key to play Blizzard Entertainment 's upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade . Per this plan, everyone in China who has ever purchased a CD key for World of Warcraft will be able to install the expansion content as well without paying for an extra CD key. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will add a tremendous amount of new content to Blizzard Entertainment's award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Exciting new features that World of Warcraft players will be able to enjoy after installing the expansion include the entire new continent of Outland , two new playable races -- the Blood Elves and the Draenei -- flying mounts, the new jewelcrafting profession, advancement to the new level cap of 70 -- complete with powerful new talents and abilities -- new battlegrounds, dungeons, quests, and rewards, a revamped PvP system, and much more. Further details on the availability of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in China will be announced in the near future. Please stay tuned to http://www.wowchina.com for more information."
This remiinds of when Wc2 came ourt and how blizzard didnt care about the core audience of wc1 , and sold out for the cash. This is a clear sign that gold sellers are the top profitable income for Blizzard, and for all MMo comapnies usually get a peice of that 1 billion doallar a year revenue that god sellers produce, which is untaxed and illegal.
Once again, logic escapes you. You rant is full of opinion and supposition.
"This is a clear sign that gold sellers are the top profitable income for Blizzard." This is no such thing. You do not have numbers to show how many gold sellars there are, how many are from china, and how many of the chinese players are gold sellers. So once again, light and fact, heavy on supposition.
We can't even say for sure that it is illegal, as there are no laws yet crafted for online reselling. But that will change sometime.
The only thing we can say for sure with this, (which we knew about months ago, so this is nothing new) is that Chinese players get the expansion for free. Anything is pure speculation. Once again you showing your preference to moan and groan, and not provide reason.
Venge Sunsoar
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
looks like NA/ EU get the shaft, in my continuing dig i found this little dagger in the back, Blizzard practically welcoming Gold Sellers with this one..ready ... "June 7, 2007 ? Shanghai, China ———— In appreciation of the ongoing support and enthusiasm of the Chinese World of Warcraft audience, The9 and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. are pleased to announce that World of Warcraft players in China will not need to purchase a new CD key to play Blizzard Entertainment 's upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade . Per this plan, everyone in China who has ever purchased a CD key for World of Warcraft will be able to install the expansion content as well without paying for an extra CD key. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will add a tremendous amount of new content to Blizzard Entertainment's award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Exciting new features that World of Warcraft players will be able to enjoy after installing the expansion include the entire new continent of Outland , two new playable races -- the Blood Elves and the Draenei -- flying mounts, the new jewelcrafting profession, advancement to the new level cap of 70 -- complete with powerful new talents and abilities -- new battlegrounds, dungeons, quests, and rewards, a revamped PvP system, and much more. Further details on the availability of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in China will be announced in the near future. Please stay tuned to http://www.wowchina.com for more information."
This remiinds of when Wc2 came ourt and how blizzard didnt care about the core audience of wc1 , and sold out for the cash. This is a clear sign that gold sellers are the top profitable income for Blizzard, and for all MMo comapnies usually get a peice of that 1 billion doallar a year revenue that god sellers produce, which is untaxed and illegal.
CognetoJoe give it up, I see you ignored me when I shoot down your post about subscriber numbers and retention, I even got a warning from MMORPG about my reply... lol, if all fails report me eh
All your numbers are wrong and/or twisted to fit your argument, why do you ignore real sources in favour of wiki links and 3rd party links?
To summerise there are NO real sources for Asia vs World subscriber numbers, the last time we got actual evidence was from blizzards press release in march in 2007 www.blizzard.com/press/070307.shtml , which showed 3.6million EU/NA active subs, your saying that in 4 months EU/NA subs have dropped by 60% to 1.5 million... lol, any 1 else notice 60% of their server dissapear, or 60% of their guild quit.
Originally posted by CognetoJoe What posts ? Please pick them out. 1. Wc3 3d engine is almost 7 years old now. It was modded to formulate an mmo world.
Sources? 2. WoW Success rests souly on the Asian market.
7.5 million accounts ACTIVATED. Not ACTIVE. You don't seem to realise the difference. 3. Blizzards entire success is in Korea an the Asain market.
See above. 4. The numbers from China are 7.5 million registered users. How hard is that to understand
See above. 5. Out of the 9 million Total users 1.5 million are from NA/EU regions.
Why so many points on the same thing? 6. I provided links as well as images of the WC3 3d from the game WC3
Actually, I provided the images, which could be said about any game. You haven't provided the sources. 7. The Marketing and distribution was the only reason why the game succeeded.
*facepalm* You're just moody over Vanguard failing miserably, aren't you? 8. The game brought nothing new to the mmo genre but people who would of never played an mmo and wouldn't even be on this website if Blizzard didn't do the marketing like they did.
And? Your point being? Are you suggesting you wouldn't be such a whiny uptight git if Blizzard hadn't made WoW? Because I highly doubt that. 9. With out the game WoW, what do you or anyone else have to say about the direction of online gaming, mmo gaming, the direction of future mmo's and the technologies that go into creating games as a whole ?
What? 10. WoW will be at less then 1mil subscribers by the summer 2008.
That's a lie, and we both know it. You're just pushing for WoW to fail, so your games - like Vanguard - don't. imo
Just to make sure you get it...
7.5 MILLION REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED. NOT ACTIVE. ACTIVE = CURRENTLY SUBSCRIBED! OKAY?! IT MEANS THAT THEY'RE PLAYING THE GAME IF THEY'RE ACTIVE. LINEAGE 2 HAS 14 MILLION REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED ACCOUNTS. NOT ACTIVE. GET THAT?!
Originally posted by CognetoJoe
looks like NA/ EU get the shaft, in my continuing dig i found this little dagger in the back, Blizzard practically welcoming Gold Sellers with this one..ready ...
"June 7, 2007 ? Shanghai, China ————
In appreciation of the ongoing support and enthusiasm of the Chinese World of Warcraft audience, The9 and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. are pleased to announce that World of Warcraft players in China will not need to purchase a new CD key to play Blizzard Entertainment 's upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade . Per this plan, everyone in China who has ever purchased a CD key for World of Warcraft will be able to install the expansion content as well without paying for an extra CD key.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will add a tremendous amount of new content to Blizzard Entertainment's award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Exciting new features that World of Warcraft players will be able to enjoy after installing the expansion include the entire new continent of Outland , two new playable races -- the Blood Elves and the Draenei -- flying mounts, the new jewelcrafting profession, advancement to the new level cap of 70 -- complete with powerful new talents and abilities -- new battlegrounds, dungeons, quests, and rewards, a revamped PvP system, and much more.
Further details on the availability of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in China will be announced in the near future. Please stay tuned to http://www.wowchina.com for more information."
This remiinds of when Wc2 came ourt and how blizzard didnt care about the core audience of wc1 , and sold out for the cash. This is a clear sign that gold sellers are the top profitable income for Blizzard, and for all MMo comapnies usually get a peice of that 1 billion doallar a year revenue that god sellers produce, which is untaxed and illegal.
You really don't seem to have ANY reading comprehension. How many goldsellers do you think have THE CD-KEYS ON THEIR ACCOUNTS?!
"Per this plan, everyone in China who has ever purchased a CD key for World of Warcraft will be able to install the expansion content as well without paying for an extra CD key."
Every goldfarmer on WoW has an non-CD key account, made from a trial. Therefore, your logic, and intellect, is flawed.
When you think about it, WoW has really spoiled the MMO community. For a lot of people, WoW is the default game when the current newer game they are trying fails. Now, everyone looks at new games coming out with such a high standard. MMO developers today are pushing their game launches back to polish them up more (look at Warhammer), because there no longer is that 1-3 month buffer after the game comes out where people stick through the tough times and wait for the game to get better. People instantly say "this game sucks" and they all quit, then go back to wow or whatever. Just look at Vanguard. Now, that game might've been doomed just because it did have an exceptionally sloppy launch, but, I think the majority of the player base would've stuck around another few months if it had been before the WoW era of everything being so neat and tidy and comfortable. Just look at all of the other MMO's before WoW that had a really rough first 1-3 months. Nowadays, it's like the community as a whole makes a verdict a week into the games launch and the exodus happens. I'm thinking this might also be the reason MMO developers today are straying away from having official forums, so that people are more disintegrated, and there aren't 500-page threads with tens of thousands of replies saying "screw this game" after the first week. It seems like the insane level of polish that WoW has right now has set the bar so high that companies are pushing back their MMO's until they feel like they have a game that has already been out for a few months and has no major problems. ***EDIT***: Also, as a supplemental to this post, I'd like to say that WoW has also hurt the community in a way that it's given the current-day MMO player the mentality that leveling a character is a job, and every possible shortcut must be taken to max level ASAP. Perhaps it's because end-game raid and pvp has been the only real focus of WoW and their promotions for the majority of the game, but I remember back in the early days of SWG and other games where people were running around at half the level of some other guy and didn't really care. They were just having fun. WoW has made todays gamer feel the fun doesn't start until you're max level, and I think no matter what future MMO developers try to do to change that mentality, it's going to stay set in stone. And that sucks.
Sorry but Everquest is the game that made people realize that leveling a character is a job. Even then people complained about how long it took and how frustrating it was. Maybe you weren't around or don't remember "hell levels" for example.
It was also Everquest that made people realize that they had to get to max level as fast as possible because thats where the actual content was. The beginning content was boring and the most exciting and interesting areas were the high level areas. That was a pure design decision and many people didn't want to waste their time with the low level stuff so they rushed to get to the end. That continues because the new and interesting stuff continues to be the end game content.
Not of these things were started when World of Warcraft was released. Sorry you can't blame WoW for that. That honor still belongs to Everquest 1.
Comments
Since when did it matter whatever someone is from China? Does it mean he knows less about MMOs? Does it mean his opinion about it is less worth it? Really I do not see whatever it matter if they had the 7.5 million in China or in Europa. I am sure you did not meant it racist, but really I would like to see an explanation why it matter.
Besides Conman has no source for the number of Asian vs World break down the last WoW press release in march 07 stated 3.6million active subs on EU/NA servers.. supported by the fact TBC sold over 3.5million copies (was only avaliable to EU/NA players at the time), to think WoW's player base in NA/EU dropped by over 60% in 4 months is dumb.. id notice if their were 60% less players on my server, 2 guild members have quit in that time not 30 (which would be 60% of my guild).
until there is accurate numberspost by blizzard , they don't have 3.5 million NA/EU players3,5 million copies Distributed is a lot different then 3.5 copies at final sales. Distributers just sell units to stores, and they are relying on the Distributed numbers, not final cash sales. So again , with someone who duals and triples boxes 3/5 easily turns into 1.5 users .
So your saying every WoW player duel boses.. lol
here Ill do some research for you www.blizzard.com/press/070307.shtml
IRVINE, Calif. – March 7, 2007 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade™ sold through approximately 3.5 million copies within one month following its mid-January launch in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.* This includes more than 1.9 million sold in regions that play on North American realms, including more than 100,000 copies in Australasia, and nearly 1.6 million in Europe. World of Warcraft's worldwide subscriber base now numbers more than 8.5 million and is continuing to grow as new and returning players join existing players in the game.
Key word here being sold.
It realy drains me having to correct the idiots who think they know it all but know nothing but whats in their tiny little brains.
1000 copies = 1 unit . Those are distribution figures .
Um 3.5 million COPIES. (see red)
Ok now he just spurting out random stuff.. I think the amount of facts have broken his brain.. another hater dies.. chuck him on the pile.
heh i agree with almost 99.9% of everything thats been discussed here heh i still enjoy WoW but what kills that game the most is the new generation of gamers that play it people who play it still dont grasp the concept of a true online rpg all they care about the little online egos which in the long term destroys the old school gamers appeal too the game.
It is really neat to see WoW players reaction to this thread. For the most part ,this what I get from it so far. If you don't like WoW then your veiws are wrong no matter how much evidence you show to support your opinion.
Really it is simple math.
7.5 Chinese player
minus
9 million total players
equal
1.5 million World players
..............................................................
3.5 million B.C means nothing , when you don't have and excact number of dual boxers / cafe owners / and ebayers .. ?
Really see the WoW bunch rolling around and trying to make "the9's" quarterly report disappear but it is there , in plain english. Why can't the WoW crew expect Blizzard is Full of @#$% ? O yes , and how many people bouthg the expansion for private server usage ?
Sony Online Entertainment Steals Customers Money
You read the quarterly report wrong. Read it again. This is not fanboism, you have simply misinterpreted what an account activiation is and an 'active subscriber is'.
Now do you feel silly?
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
here you read it then:
The9 Limited (NCTY)
Q1 2007 Earnings Call
May 21, 2007 9:00 pm ET
Executives
Dahlia Wei - Senior Manager, IR
Jun Zhu - Chairman & CEO
Hannah Lee - VP & CFO
Analysts
Wallace Cheung - Credit Suisse
Jason Brueschke - Citigroup
Lin Chi - Lehman Brothers
Dick Wei - JP Morgan
Ming Zhao - SIG
Paul Keung - CIBC
James Rhee - Bear Stearns
Presentation
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to The9 Limited’s First Quarter 2007 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Camay, and I'll be your coordinator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session towards the end of the conference call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes (Operator Instructions).
I would now like to turn the presentation over to your host for today's conference, Ms. Dahlia Wei, Senior Investor Relations Manager of The9 Limited. Please proceed, ma'am.
Dahlia Wei
Thank you operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for The9’s first quarter 2007 financial results conference call. The management with me today are Mr. Jun Zhu, Chairman and CEO and Ms. Hannah Lee, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Before we start, I would like to read you the Safe Harbor statement. During the course of today’s call, certain projections or forward-looking statements may be made regarding The9’s future financial performance or future events. We wish to caution you that such statements or predictions are based on our current information and expectations, and actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
We would also like to refer you to documents that the company files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Those documents contain additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in management’s projections or forward-looking statements.
Let me now turn the call over to Mr. Zhu, our CEO, who will provide you with an overview of our business for the quarter.
To sponsor a Seeking Alpha transcript click here.
Jun Zhu
Good morning and good evening ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank you for participating in our discussion of The9's first quarter 2007 earnings.
First, I would like to present a quick overview of the key financial highlights for the first quarter of 2007.
Net revenues for the first quarter of 2007 were US$35 million. Net income was US$8.6 million or earnings of US$0.34 per ADS for the quarter.
Now let me discuss some highlights of our game operations. First of all, World of Warcraft, in the first quarter of 2007, although we experienced some seasonality impact from Chinese New Year and the winter holiday, we maintained the concurrent users for WoW at a relatively stable level.
In the first quarter of 2007, WoW PCU was over 680,000 and ACU was approximately 330,000. As of March 31, 2007, over 7.5 million accounts have been registered and activated for the WoW game in Mainland China.
With respect to the much-anticipated expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, we will first launch the upgrade version 2.0 Before The Storm. The last upgrade version for the expansion pack in late June, and soon after in the third quarter we will launch The Burning Crusade Expansion Pack, so far the version is on schedule.
This late April, we have started upgrading the existing WoW server sites. In addition, we are also appealing the eighth WoW server sites to accompany the launch of The Burning Crusade, which standalone with the existing server sites. Seven server sites will provide a full total capacity of close to 1 million peak concurrent users, paving a way for the user growth anticipated based on market responses in other parts of the world.
Sony Online Entertainment Steals Customers Money
Yes. It says over 7.5 million accounts have been REGISTERED and ACTIVATED. That's everyone that made an account, but not everyone would have continued playing.
Blizzards subscriber definition for it's 9 million players is ACTIVE players. There are not 7.5 million ACTIVE players in china.
So your math of 9 - 7.5 million is wrong because SUBSCRIBERS is different to REGISTERED ACCOUNTS.
Jesus christ this isn't rocket science. READ!
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
7.5 million accounts have been registered and activated
can you read it now ?
Sony Online Entertainment Steals Customers Money
ooo wait , this is getting good, so on top of the 9 million, you are going to slap the 7.5, that is brilliant thinking, can't wait to see the next quarter
Sony Online Entertainment Steals Customers Money
Venge Sunsoar
Oh god. I give up.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
LIES ALL OF IT PURE UNADULTERED LIES
NOW LET'S DANCE TO FUNK MUSIC
looks like NA/ EU get the shaft, in my continuing dig i found this little dagger in the back, Blizzard practically welcoming Gold Sellers with this one..ready ...
"June 7, 2007 ? Shanghai, China ————
In appreciation of the ongoing support and enthusiasm of the Chinese World of Warcraft
audience, The9 and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. are pleased to announce that World of Warcraft players in China will not need to purchase a new CD key to play Blizzard Entertainment 
's upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade 
. Per this plan, everyone in China who has ever purchased a CD key for World of Warcraft will be able to install the expansion content as well without paying for an extra CD key.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will add a tremendous amount of new content to Blizzard Entertainment's award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Exciting new features that World of Warcraft players will be able to enjoy after installing the expansion include the entire new continent of Outland , two new playable races -- the Blood Elves and the Draenei -- flying mounts, the new jewelcrafting profession, advancement to the new level cap of 70 -- complete with powerful new talents and abilities -- new battlegrounds, dungeons, quests, and rewards, a revamped PvP system, and much more.
Further details on the availability of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in China will be announced in the near future. Please stay tuned to http://www.wowchina.com for more information."
This remiinds of when Wc2 came ourt and how blizzard didnt care about the core audience of wc1 , and sold out for the cash. This is a clear sign that gold sellers are the top profitable income for Blizzard, and for all MMo comapnies usually get a peice of that 1 billion doallar a year revenue that god sellers produce, which is untaxed and illegal.
Sony Online Entertainment Steals Customers Money
"This is a clear sign that gold sellers are the top profitable income for Blizzard." This is no such thing. You do not have numbers to show how many gold sellars there are, how many are from china, and how many of the chinese players are gold sellers. So once again, light and fact, heavy on supposition.
We can't even say for sure that it is illegal, as there are no laws yet crafted for online reselling. But that will change sometime.
The only thing we can say for sure with this, (which we knew about months ago, so this is nothing new) is that Chinese players get the expansion for free. Anything is pure speculation. Once again you showing your preference to moan and groan, and not provide reason.
Venge Sunsoar
Sony Online Entertainment Steals Customers Money
It's kinda hard to get real numbers on what the current actively-paying subscriber base is for North America and other Non-Asian markets.
I heard there's still 3-4 million active North American subs for WoW.. dunno if that's true though.
CognetoJoe give it up, I see you ignored me when I shoot down your post about subscriber numbers and retention, I even got a warning from MMORPG about my reply... lol, if all fails report me eh
All your numbers are wrong and/or twisted to fit your argument, why do you ignore real sources in favour of wiki links and 3rd party links?
To summerise there are NO real sources for Asia vs World subscriber numbers, the last time we got actual evidence was from blizzards press release in march in 2007 www.blizzard.com/press/070307.shtml , which showed 3.6million EU/NA active subs, your saying that in 4 months EU/NA subs have dropped by 60% to 1.5 million... lol, any 1 else notice 60% of their server dissapear, or 60% of their guild quit.
Just to make sure you get it...
7.5 MILLION REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED. NOT ACTIVE. ACTIVE = CURRENTLY SUBSCRIBED! OKAY?! IT MEANS THAT THEY'RE PLAYING THE GAME IF THEY'RE ACTIVE. LINEAGE 2 HAS 14 MILLION REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED ACCOUNTS. NOT ACTIVE. GET THAT?!
Originally posted by CognetoJoe
looks like NA/ EU get the shaft, in my continuing dig i found this little dagger in the back, Blizzard practically welcoming Gold Sellers with this one..ready ...
"June 7, 2007 ? Shanghai, China ————
In appreciation of the ongoing support and enthusiasm of the Chinese World of Warcraft
audience, The9 and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. are pleased to announce that World of Warcraft players in China will not need to purchase a new CD key to play Blizzard Entertainment 
's upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade 
. Per this plan, everyone in China who has ever purchased a CD key for World of Warcraft will be able to install the expansion content as well without paying for an extra CD key.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will add a tremendous amount of new content to Blizzard Entertainment's award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Exciting new features that World of Warcraft players will be able to enjoy after installing the expansion include the entire new continent of Outland , two new playable races -- the Blood Elves and the Draenei -- flying mounts, the new jewelcrafting profession, advancement to the new level cap of 70 -- complete with powerful new talents and abilities -- new battlegrounds, dungeons, quests, and rewards, a revamped PvP system, and much more.
Further details on the availability of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in China will be announced in the near future. Please stay tuned to http://www.wowchina.com for more information."
This remiinds of when Wc2 came ourt and how blizzard didnt care about the core audience of wc1 , and sold out for the cash. This is a clear sign that gold sellers are the top profitable income for Blizzard, and for all MMo comapnies usually get a peice of that 1 billion doallar a year revenue that god sellers produce, which is untaxed and illegal.
You really don't seem to have ANY reading comprehension. How many goldsellers do you think have THE CD-KEYS ON THEIR ACCOUNTS?!
"Per this plan, everyone in China who has ever purchased a CD key for World of Warcraft will be able to install the expansion content as well without paying for an extra CD key."
Every goldfarmer on WoW has an non-CD key account, made from a trial. Therefore, your logic, and intellect, is flawed.
Sorry but Everquest is the game that made people realize that leveling a character is a job. Even then people complained about how long it took and how frustrating it was. Maybe you weren't around or don't remember "hell levels" for example.
It was also Everquest that made people realize that they had to get to max level as fast as possible because thats where the actual content was. The beginning content was boring and the most exciting and interesting areas were the high level areas. That was a pure design decision and many people didn't want to waste their time with the low level stuff so they rushed to get to the end. That continues because the new and interesting stuff continues to be the end game content.
Not of these things were started when World of Warcraft was released. Sorry you can't blame WoW for that. That honor still belongs to Everquest 1.
People do not want a job to level up.
People want a fun game to play.
When the game is fun, it is not a job to level up.
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WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.