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xfire shows AoC numbers decreasing :(
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I often correct it when people read numbers wrong and jump on the "game is dying" bandwagon, so for consistency I'll clarify this slightly too positive view of the numbers too; they didn't talk about "subscribers", but "registered accounts".
That is, if I understood correct that you missed that detail. If not, my apologies for being annoying. :-)
I often correct it when people read numbers wrong and jump on the "game is dying" bandwagon, so for consistency I'll clarify this slightly too positive view of the numbers too; they didn't talk about "subscribers", but "registered accounts".
That is, if I understood correct that you missed that detail. If not, my apologies for being annoying. :-)
I was referring to this statement:
"In the second month after release it is also clear that Age of Conan has taken the position as the undisputed #2 subscription MMO in the western world."
The only MMO I can think of that held the last #2 spot is EVE online with approximately 250k subscribers.
Eve online has around 13k Xfire hours at peak.
Right now AoC is still logging 30K hours on weeknights, more on weekends of course. The losses have slowed to about 6K to 8K a week in hours played on XFire. That has been a pretty steady trend now for the last couple of weeks. That will slow to a 4K a week loss, then 2K a week then 1 K a week. But I figure by the end of August it will be down to around 5K or so. By December it will be mostly a forgotten game unless FC drops some serious content in. Good steady box sales are what is really keeping it alive right now, but there is just not enough depth to the game to hold peoples attention for long. People need to have short and long range goals ( gear equipment, housing, etc) to meet to keep them around and FC failed to realize that. The game gets real boring real fast.
I miss DAoC
Jackdog telling it how it is. Hehe I remember you getting flak over your views of Dark & Light. End game there is little to choose between AoC & D&L gameplay wise. Thats bad.
yeah the D& L and Mourning fanbois hated me pretty much. I don't think those games or even vanguard is a good comparison. I really think AoC is a lot of fun for a while. I only played it a couple of weeks but feel as if I got my box price out of it.
Looking at the charts this week will be a bit misleading due to the server downtime of last Thursday, sales are still fairly strong as it is at #20 on Amazon as of this post. Once it drops off the top 100 there you know that 90% of the box sales have been made, hopefully for FC the sub drops will be level at that time. There was a 9k dip in hours between last Tuesday and yesterday. That could be because of downtime for the patch though. Friday and Saturday are the best overall trend indicators in my opinion.
I miss DAoC
Tuesday playtime down 20% since last Tuesday. This game is bleeding subscriptions pretty quickly if you ask me. 50% reduction since 3rd week of release.
Any proof that would have been present in this thread died with the June 30 press release. Jackdog, you are looking like a fool.
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where do you get your Numbers?
I know for a fact that there are a ton of gamers that Dont Use it. Majority of the People in our Guild didnt know a thing about it.
People who play alot of FPS seem to know about it but people who play MMORPG's usualy have no need for it
I know lots and lots of ppl that play games. And not a single one uses it.
The press release that showed they only sold 150K copies since opening day and had nothing to do with current subscriptions?
Gotta read what these things say.
700k have subscribed, 550 had subscribed the first day. 700k - everyone who has canceled is current subscription base.
As a matter of fact, AOC dropped another spot today on xfire and went from # 7 down to # 8. It doesn't even show up on the " today's top 10 games" list anymore.
The press release that showed they only sold 150K copies since opening day and had nothing to do with current subscriptions?
Gotta read what these things say.
700k have subscribed, 550 had subscribed the first day. 700k - everyone who has canceled is current subscription base.
Whatever. The fact is, at launch, the had a press release with 400K. Two weeks later, it was 550K. Now it's 700K. If this is not a steady increase, then I don't know what is.
Anyway, Xfire, as many have stated here and elsewhere, sucks. What does it do for me? It logs hours? Hell, I can guestimate that on my own. There is no need for a service like that, and no need for accuracy. I guess it could be a useful networking tool for some, but why bother if you only play 1-2 games. Maybe if you play 15 games, it is worth it. I don't. Most don't
So, in the end the Xfire pundit has failed, and has been disproven by the June 30 press release. Say what you will about their reporting methods, but it's an increase in overall subs no matter how you try to dissect it.
Maybe the real thing that this decline is showing is that Xfire is finally failing. If so, good riddance. I hate it when companies try to sell something that doesn't have a purpose. It's like those "RAM defrag" programs that eat up your RAM, and then pretend to clean it up. Most of the billion+ gamers out there know that Xfire is garbage, and you should too.
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The press release that showed they only sold 150K copies since opening day and had nothing to do with current subscriptions?
Gotta read what these things say.
700k have subscribed, 550 had subscribed the first day. 700k - everyone who has canceled is current subscription base.
No where did they say 700k subscibers nor 700k retail copies sold. They specifically said 700k accounts which could mean anything. That could include any number of factors from beta accounts, free trial accounts, early access accounts, canceled accounts or even stretching it could include forum accounts.
If Funcom had 700k subscribers they would have stated that clearly instead of hoping the reader would imply that the press release meant 700k paying subscribers.
The press release that showed they only sold 150K copies since opening day and had nothing to do with current subscriptions?
Gotta read what these things say.
700k have subscribed, 550 had subscribed the first day. 700k - everyone who has canceled is current subscription base.
No where did they say 700k subscibers nor 700k retail copies sold. They specifically said 700k accounts which could mean anything. That could include any number of factors from beta accounts, free trial accounts, early access accounts, canceled accounts or even stretching it could include forum accounts.
If Funcom had 700k subscribers they would have stated that clearly instead of hoping the reader would imply that the press release meant 700k paying subscribers.
Bad argument is bad.
The have used the same wording for every subscription figure they've released since launch, which means that regardless of how you break it down, it is an increase.
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The press release that showed they only sold 150K copies since opening day and had nothing to do with current subscriptions?
Gotta read what these things say.
700k have subscribed, 550 had subscribed the first day. 700k - everyone who has canceled is current subscription base.
No where did they say 700k subscibers nor 700k retail copies sold. They specifically said 700k accounts which could mean anything. That could include any number of factors from beta accounts, free trial accounts, early access accounts, canceled accounts or even stretching it could include forum accounts.
If Funcom had 700k subscribers they would have stated that clearly instead of hoping the reader would imply that the press release meant 700k paying subscribers.
Bad argument is bad.
The have used the same wording for every subscription figure they've released since launch, which means that regardless of how you break it down, it is an increase.
No that isn't what it means at all. They have basically talked about game purchases and nothing else. When you talk about boxes sold the number only has 1 direction to go. The game probably sits at like 400K subscriptions and it is falling not rising.
The press release that showed they only sold 150K copies since opening day and had nothing to do with current subscriptions?
Gotta read what these things say.
700k have subscribed, 550 had subscribed the first day. 700k - everyone who has canceled is current subscription base.
No where did they say 700k subscibers nor 700k retail copies sold. They specifically said 700k accounts which could mean anything. That could include any number of factors from beta accounts, free trial accounts, early access accounts, canceled accounts or even stretching it could include forum accounts.
If Funcom had 700k subscribers they would have stated that clearly instead of hoping the reader would imply that the press release meant 700k paying subscribers.
Bad argument is bad.
The have used the same wording for every subscription figure they've released since launch, which means that regardless of how you break it down, it is an increase.
No that isn't what it means at all. They have basically talked about game purchases and nothing else. When you talk about boxes sold the number only has 1 direction to go. The game probably sits at like 400K subscriptions and it is falling not rising.
Ok, you are jsut flatly wrong, Their game purchases were announced at over a million shipped several weeks ago, If you're going to try to be a stickler here, please at least know what you're talkign about.
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Yes 1M shipped, not 1M sold.
They have had 700K accounts created which means at most 700K boxes have been sold(depending on what counts as an account). That is 100% true according to Funcom. They shipped 1M copies of the game so far which means 300K boxes are still sitting somewhere waiting to be sold, that is also 100% true according to Funcom.
Some of those at most 700K boxes sold have cancelled at this point so they have fewer than 700K accounts.
Using server census', my guild expierience, xfire trends etc we can assume that between 25%-50% of the playerbase has quit at this point. So at most they have 500ishK players and most likely it is lower than that.
I left because I'm running low on $...
Rich V
WoW has been in the top ten sellers for 3 years now. Do you really think they have had 10 million activated accounts as Funcom puts it? I
Any MMORPG out there could pad its stats by counting activated accounts like Funcom. That 700K number is nearly useless. It's just spin. I am one of the 700K of "Activated Accounts" and AoC isn't even installed on my computer anymore.
Subscriptions at this point is a more important number because it gives you an idea of retention of players. It also gives you an idea of revenue for the company.
Xfire stats can be only used in comparison to itself. Early in June they had listed 17458 players. Now that the free month is up, it list only 8734 as of this posting. That shows a sizable decrease. Does that mean that 50% of players have quit? I can't imagine that. But it's not like there isn't a large group of people that have quit.
Waiting for the next thing
WoW has 10 million active accounts, not activated accounts. If Funcom just gave us active accounts it would be something like 300-500K.
That isn't to say that 10M individuals have active WoW accounts. Something like 6M of those are in asia and they count accounts different than in the western world. Out of the remaining 4M in the western world a significant chunk are either free trial accounts or gold sellers. The reality is probably something like 3.5M active paying accounts in the western world. Some of those accounts are not actively played I'm sure but they are still paying to keep them open.
These numbers fit the xfire model pretty closely as well since WoW has roughly 10 times the xfire minutes per day as AoC which would mean roughly 10 times the accounts. 400K vs 4M or something like that.
So, what we're seeing here, is that people argue the difference between account signups and players who entered the world. It's more or less the same type of semantics argument people made when Blizzard announced 10 million WOW subs.
Let me say this about it, there are some interpretations you can make, but they are showing 700K subs as of June 30th. The spin of "lost subs being added in" does not fly, because it has been 5+ weeks since the game launched. That means, they can't be counting free month subs which occurred prior to May 30th.
So, on May 26th they had 400K people in the world, and if a bunch of people cancelled like you say they did, those subs would be locked out prior to June 26th and not counted as subs. These are either active subs or even more people that bought the game, because the only way to have an activated account as of June 30th is to either renew your sub or buy the game after May 30th.
People argue that they are a Euro company and can make up numbers if they want. For one, I think even Europe has laws. Call me crazy. For another thing, the press releases are from their Durham branch. Once again, I am bringing up that they have a USA branch that must abide by USA laws or lose its business in the USA.
Basically, they can either report active subs, or they can lose their American business. Considering that 500K opf their 1 million copies shipped to the USA, I doubt that they are dumb enough to take that risk by frauding their press releases.
People argued in a similar way when Blizzard reported 10 million subs, and Blizzard responded later by saying that if they had reported inactive subs, they'd have gotten into serious trouble. They had to specically put the words "active subs" into their later references, which is absurd when you think about it. Companies cannot report money they are not making as profit, period.
Naysayers, drone on. The dead horse still has some molecules left somewhere in powder form.
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Souldrainer, are you really that dense? I have to give these people credit to even spend that much effort with you to get you to understand some common sense and basic logic.
So, what we're seeing here, is that people argue the difference between account signups and players who entered the world. It's more or less the same type of semantics argument people made when Blizzard announced 10 million WOW subs.Let me say this about it, there are some interpretations you can make, but they are showing 700K subs as of June 30th. The spin of "lost subs being added in" does not fly, because it has been 5+ weeks since the game launched. That means, they can't be counting free month subs which occurred prior to May 30th.
So, on May 26th they had 400K people in the world, and if a bunch of people cancelled like you say they did, those subs would be locked out prior to June 26th and not counted as subs. These are either active subs or even more people that bought the game, because the only way to have an activated account as of June 30th is to either renew your sub or buy the game after May 30th.
People argue that they are a Euro company and can make upnumbers if they want. For one, I think even Europe has laws. Call me crazy. For another thing, the press releases are gron their Durham branch. Once again, I am bringing up that they have a USA branch that must abide by USA laws or lose its business in the USA.
Basically, they can either report active subs, or they can lose their American business. Considering that 500K opf their 1 million copies shipped to the USA, I doubt that they are dumb enough to take that risk by frauding their press releases.
People argued in a similar way when Blizzard reported 10 million subs, and Blizzard responded later by saying that if they had reported inactive subs, they'd have gotten into serious trouble. They had to specically put the words "active subs" into their later references, which is absurd when you think about it. Companies cannot report money they are not making as profit, period.
Naysayers, drone on. The dead horse still has some molecules left somewhere in powder form.
Are you being obtuse on purpose or is this a serious post?
700,000 games have signed up for an Age of Conan account does not mean 700,000 active accounts! If WoW made that type of statement now it would read something like 50 Million gamers have signed up for a WoW account or some ghastly high number. 700K is every single account that has been started and completely ignores the fact that some have cancelled. I don't see how that can be any clearer. As of June 30th they had 700K minus every single player who had quit before June 30th in active accounts.
If you honestly are reading that and it reads they had 700K active subs on June 30th then we might as well stop this thread of discussion because you aren't comprehending what you read.
+1
Rating 0/10
I just proved them wrong, in very plain terms, and the fact that you did not read or understand my post discredits you.
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When WOW made their statement, the wording was VERY similar to FC's press release. Let me dig it up for you.
http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/080122.htmlNowhere in Blizzard's statement does it say active subs, and yes, the press and a lot of gamers around the web did doubt that these were active subs, until it was clarified later.
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"subscribership for World of Warcraft"
my god. you even quoted it yourself, jesus christ.