I really love how this company spins numbers on this game. this response soley on what funcom posted.
as many have pointed out REGISTERED boxes means absolutely nothing, except to maybe the poor stockholders that are still praying...........lol
700k registered boxes once the free time is up will thin down to nearly nothing in terms of numbers that really matter, say a quarter mill even, that being generous.
Funcom can subtract my brothers and his buddies which makes it actually 698k registered users, they didnt sub.
can you smell that?!!...............there is nothing quite like it.....................the smell of troll in the morning............i love that smell.
By the way the first billing from aoc is june 20th. This annoucements is posted on june 30th 2008. What now funcom haters?
There is a reason they did not specificly mention ACTIVE subscribtion nerd. All their press release says is they have sold over 700k boxes and people have activated, but NO mention of how many have a ACVITE subscribtion.
WoW has 9 million ACTIVE subscribtions, you can underestamate and say Blizzard has SOLD 2-3 times that many boxes.
You guys really need to understand PR people are no diffrent then used car salesmen. As most of the fanboi's posts show it seems they did a good job making people believe their numbers meant something they were not.
I really love how this company spins numbers on this game. this response soley on what funcom posted. as many have pointed out REGISTERED boxes means absolutely nothing, except to maybe the poor stockholders that are still praying...........lol 700k registered boxes once the free time is up will thin down to nearly nothing in terms of numbers that really matter, say a quarter mill even, that being generous. Funcom can subtract my brothers and his buddies which makes it actually 698k registered users, they didnt sub.
it does mean something, its just sales numbers but presented in a different way, its funny to see how many ppl are screaming that fc is "lying" and hyping... every company does it, have u ever seen a press release stating they lost a lot of subs and that the game stinks? - get over it
MMOs currently playing: - About to play: Lord of the Rings Online Played: Anarchy Online (alltime favorite) and lots of f2p titles (honorable mentions: 9Dragons, Martial Heroes, Dekaron, Atlantica Online)
I'm sure if Funcom has sold 700 thousand copies then they would have said "700k copies sold". Saying 700k accounts created is about as concrete as when Turbine said LOTRO reached the milestone of 4 million characters created.
4 million and 700 thousand are both impressive numbers, but neither of which paints the truth of the matter.
I think I recall Fucom saying they originally shipped 500k units and currently updated that they shipped 1 million. If that is the truth I would expect the number of servers to have at least doubled.
With numbers Funcom boasts there is NO EXCUSE now for not getting the bugs and issues fixed IMMEDIATLY. They got the cash now. They better sort things out or that subscription number is going to plummet.
Game is the most buggy product I've every purchased. Worse then anything I've ever played from SOE - I boycot SOE games!
I've tried a lot of video drivers lately in attempt to see if anything would reduce the Funcom induced graphical glitches to no avail. The game has gotten less stable and I'm recieving more critical errors now then I had when it launched.
Before someone asks, XP 32bit, e8400, 2x 1gb ddr3 1600, evga 8800gt akimbo sc; 177.40 drivers.
Out of all the driver changes I've done over the last week I've determined that the 177.40's rock, but they only do so on anything other then AoC. In fact, nothing is availble, not even from Funcom, to resolve this issue: http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mindspatpicture006tw3.png
it does mean something, its just sales numbers but presented in a different way, its funny to see how many ppl are screaming that fc is "lying" and hyping... every company does it, have u ever seen a press release stating they lost a lot of subs and that the game stinks? - get over it
You want a 14764th FunCOM lie ?
Here it is: stats of TODAY (June 30th). on amazon.com
it does mean something, its just sales numbers but presented in a different way, its funny to see how many ppl are screaming that fc is "lying" and hyping... every company does it, have u ever seen a press release stating they lost a lot of subs and that the game stinks? - get over it
You want a 14764th FunCOM lie ?
Here it is: stats of TODAY (June 30th). on amazon.com
Age of Conan was also the top-selling PC game in May across all categories.
New to the chart this week is Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, which debuted at number three behind Mass Effect. Sins Of A Solar Empire, meanwhile, dropped out of the Top Ten even as BioShock moves to number eight.
As with last week, three World Of Warcraft and three Sims 2 titles remain in the Top Ten.
The Top Ten best-selling PC games in the US for the week ended June 7 were as follows:
9 World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
10 The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack
Here are some examples. I am sure flames are coming for even pointing this out. I am enjoying AOC and so are loads of my friends.
I remember the WOW launch and it got much of the same rants, now it is praised as the best of the best. Heck, it took, what ,a year to get PVP into it? Don't recall exactly but it seemed like a loooooong time. Anyway, every major MMO launch has been met here with near hate and strong defenders.
Still, worst launch ever was, without a doubt, Vanguard. Any one who says AOC was the worst has either forgotten the pain of that or simply was not around. WOW release was not much better in my opinion.
From what I have read AoC has about a 10% subscription rate on a sold game. So if 700k sold this far they have about 70k subscribers and with Funcom saying they need at least 500k subs to break even its a massive failure.
Originally posted by Acromo Originally posted by 3on1
it does mean something, its just sales numbers but presented in a different way, its funny to see how many ppl are screaming that fc is "lying" and hyping... every company does it, have u ever seen a press release stating they lost a lot of subs and that the game stinks? - get over it
You want a 14764th FunCOM lie ? Here it is: stats of TODAY (June 30th). on amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_8?ie=UTF8&rs=468642&rh=n%3A468642&page=8 In overall video games Age of CON is now at position 90 (yesterday it was still 80) and just for ONE week (first week launch it was at 1). I didn't know "topping the charts" was at position 90 something. Even 3.5 year old Wow outsells the "topping all" game now with a wide margin. It that proof ? Or were the zillion IN game lies not convincing to you ?
As expected, Age of Conan has debuted as the best selling PC game in the US, per the NPD stats: 1. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - Eidos - $49 2. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Vivendi - $43 3. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Collectors Ed - Eidos - $88 4. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts - $29 5. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $19 6. World Of Warcraft - Vivendi - $21 7. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi - $32 8. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision - $47 9. The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $29 10. Crysis - Electronic Arts - $32
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/age-of-conan-still-best-selling-us-pc-game Age of Conan was also the top-selling PC game in May across all categories. New to the chart this week is Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, which debuted at number three behind Mass Effect. Sins Of A Solar Empire, meanwhile, dropped out of the Top Ten even as BioShock moves to number eight. As with last week, three World Of Warcraft and three Sims 2 titles remain in the Top Ten. The Top Ten best-selling PC games in the US for the week ended June 7 were as follows:
[*]1 Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures [*]2 Mass Effect [*]3 Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures [*]4 The Sims 2 Double Deluxe [*]5 World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest 6 The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Expansion Pack
7 World Of Warcraft
8 BioShock
9 World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
10 The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack
Here are some examples. I am sure flames are coming for even pointing this out. I am enjoying AOC and so are loads of my friends. I remember the WOW launch and it got much of the same rants, now it is praised as the best of the best. Heck, it took, what ,a year to get PVP into it? Don't recall exactly but it seemed like a loooooong time. Anyway, every major MMO launch has been met here with near hate and strong defenders. Still, worst launch ever was, without a doubt, Vanguard. Any one who says AOC was the worst has either forgotten the pain of that or simply was not around. WOW release was not much better in my opinion.
you do realize that what you are talking about are the sales of the first 2-3 weeks after launch, until the proper reviews started coming out? It's now two weeks since WoW over took AoC in weekly sales world wide.
I'm sure if Funcom has sold 700 thousand copies then they would have said "700k copies sold". Saying 700k accounts created is about as concrete as when Turbine said LOTRO reached the milestone of 4 million characters created.
4 million and 700 thousand are both impressive numbers, but neither of which paints the truth of the matter.
I think I recall Fucom saying they originally shipped 500k units and currently updated that they shipped 1 million. If that is the truth I would expect the number of servers to have at least doubled.
They said accounts created, because in the MMO world it is all about the number of accounts, not box sales, that determines success.
In this case it is a Marketing visual illusion. You see "Accounts Created" and your brain registers it as "Active Accounts", which is the far more desireable and telling piece of data/ They are celebrating that 700k people paid for a retail box, opened it and loaded the CD. It is doubtful that any real numbers on "Active Accounts" can be garnered yet as that takes 60-90 days to determine.
Regardless by most MMO standards, 700k is a decent launch. Congrats to Funcom if they pulled it off. But to keep things honest, didn't AO do almost 300k in box sales back in the day? Only to suffer a roughly 20% retention rate past the first month?
Didn't even Vanguard sell 500K boxes? Just saying...
At any rate, I'm sure AoC is doing okay but probably not as great as Funcom had hoped is my guess. Simply put, if the game was doing well, there wouldn't be all these questions about active subs. I mean when WoW launched, I didn't hear about how it didn't sell enough copies and how it was losing customers by the droves...
I'm sure if Funcom has sold 700 thousand copies then they would have said "700k copies sold". Saying 700k accounts created is about as concrete as when Turbine said LOTRO reached the milestone of 4 million characters created.
4 million and 700 thousand are both impressive numbers, but neither of which paints the truth of the matter.
I think I recall Fucom saying they originally shipped 500k units and currently updated that they shipped 1 million. If that is the truth I would expect the number of servers to have at least doubled.
They said accounts created, because in the MMO world it is all about the number of accounts, not box sales, that determines success.
In this case it is a Marketing visual illusion. You see "Accounts Created" and your brain registers it as "Active Accounts", which is the far more desireable and telling piece of data/ They are celebrating that 700k people paid for a retail box, opened it and loaded the CD. It is doubtful that any real numbers on "Active Accounts" can be garnered yet as that takes 60-90 days to determine.
Regardless by most MMO standards, 700k is a decent launch. Congrats to Funcom if they pulled it off. But to keep things honest, didn't AO do almost 300k in box sales back in the day? Only to suffer a roughly 20% retention rate past the first month?
You are correct, people will assume it means 700k subscribers and like yourself, others will read that as 700k retail boxes sold. The actual statement just says accounts created. Anyone saying it means subscribers or retail boxes sold is just reading assumptions into the statement.
For all we know it could include trial accounts, open/closed beta accounts, pre orders that were never purchased, $5 early access accounts, etc. It could even include forum accounts in a really pessimistic view. Mind you it is a high watermark to be able to make the type of statement a few weeks after launch and kudos to them.
What a load of misinformation yet again from Funcom PR trying to BS people. A company that's retaining 700k active accounts after its first month of going retail would not have their shares prices devalue to half of what it was a month age if AOC was sustaining accounts sub numbers in to the second month. There's a mass exodus of those 700k accounts created with retail keys not translating in to subs and Funcom know it! This shallow linear POS should head straight to the console kiddie playground for which it was developed.
FC also said they sold a million copies. So either there are 300k boxes sitting in retail or 300k dropped after the first free month or.... If your going to boast, readers would like to see "Retention" numbers.
That one actually makes some sense. The initial reports were from pre orders and units shipped into the channel. So 1 million boxes sold to retail outlets.
What todays announcement is ( in all liklihood, and heavily dependent on how they are jockeying the numbers) most likely a reflection of how many of the key codes in the retail boxes were turned in to create accounts. (assuming they are not counting Beta, pre order, forums etc).
Todays announcement in no way reflects how many people have actually paid for a subscription beyond the 30 days included in the box. But based on FC's stock plunge, and the general negative turn that internet ravings concerning the game have taken, it is safe to assume that FC is on the low side of their desired target window.
FC also said they sold a million copies. So either there are 300k boxes sitting in retail or 300k dropped after the first free month or.... If your going to boast, readers would like to see "Retention" numbers.
That one actually makes some sense. The initial reports were from pre orders and units shipped into the channel. So 1 million boxes sold to retail outlets.
What todays announcement is ( in all liklihood, and heavily dependent on how they are jockeying the numbers) most likely a reflection of how many of the key codes in the retail boxes were turned in to create accounts. (assuming they are not counting Beta, pre order, forums etc).
Todays announcement in no way reflects how many people have actually paid for a subscription beyond the 30 days included in the box. But based on FC's stock plunge, and the general negative turn that internet ravings concerning the game have taken, it is safe to assume that FC is on the low side of their desired target window.
Stock plunge? Their stock rose 23% in the last couple days. You ever here of trends. Stocks go up and stocks go down.
By your reckoning, every time Blizzard stock goes down the company is doomed. The same goes for every other company whose stock goes up and down.
I could care less about stocks, accounts ect. FC can boast how many accounts all they want. They dont tell us what accounts are included as others have said. The truth lies when they (as a public company) start releasing info that they cant sugar coat. If FC really is doing as well as they would have you think, god help the MMO community. All it tells other developers is you can release half finished buggy games AND lie to your player base and get away with it.
Comments
By the way the first billing from aoc is june 20th. This annoucements is posted on june 30th 2008.
What now funcom haters?
Don't encourage them.....
They'll never stop.
I really love how this company spins numbers on this game. this response soley on what funcom posted.
as many have pointed out REGISTERED boxes means absolutely nothing, except to maybe the poor stockholders that are still praying...........lol
700k registered boxes once the free time is up will thin down to nearly nothing in terms of numbers that really matter, say a quarter mill even, that being generous.
Funcom can subtract my brothers and his buddies which makes it actually 698k registered users, they didnt sub.
can you smell that?!!...............there is nothing quite like it.....................the smell of troll in the morning............i love that smell.
There is a reason they did not specificly mention ACTIVE subscribtion nerd. All their press release says is they have sold over 700k boxes and people have activated, but NO mention of how many have a ACVITE subscribtion.
WoW has 9 million ACTIVE subscribtions, you can underestamate and say Blizzard has SOLD 2-3 times that many boxes.
You guys really need to understand PR people are no diffrent then used car salesmen. As most of the fanboi's posts show it seems they did a good job making people believe their numbers meant something they were not.
<modedit>
it does mean something, its just sales numbers but presented in a different way, its funny to see how many ppl are screaming that fc is "lying" and hyping... every company does it, have u ever seen a press release stating they lost a lot of subs and that the game stinks? - get over it
MMOs currently playing: -
About to play: Lord of the Rings Online
Played: Anarchy Online (alltime favorite) and lots of f2p titles (honorable mentions: 9Dragons, Martial Heroes, Dekaron, Atlantica Online)
I'm sure if Funcom has sold 700 thousand copies then they would have said "700k copies sold". Saying 700k accounts created is about as concrete as when Turbine said LOTRO reached the milestone of 4 million characters created.
4 million and 700 thousand are both impressive numbers, but neither of which paints the truth of the matter.
I think I recall Fucom saying they originally shipped 500k units and currently updated that they shipped 1 million. If that is the truth I would expect the number of servers to have at least doubled.
I wonder how many of those accounts are active today!!
I am sure they are counting alpha, beta, closed beta, tech test, and open beta accounts as well. Ha.
I wonder how many of those accounts are active today!!
i was thinking the same thing
Tere arr noh Ahmerikan droops een Bagdhad...
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Game is the most buggy product I've every purchased. Worse then anything I've ever played from SOE - I boycot SOE games!
I've tried a lot of video drivers lately in attempt to see if anything would reduce the Funcom induced graphical glitches to no avail. The game has gotten less stable and I'm recieving more critical errors now then I had when it launched.
This is what Funcoms Age of Conan looks like: http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mindspatpicture006tw3.png
Before someone asks, XP 32bit, e8400, 2x 1gb ddr3 1600, evga 8800gt akimbo sc; 177.40 drivers.
Out of all the driver changes I've done over the last week I've determined that the 177.40's rock, but they only do so on anything other then AoC. In fact, nothing is availble, not even from Funcom, to resolve this issue: http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mindspatpicture006tw3.png
You want a 14764th FunCOM lie ?
Here it is: stats of TODAY (June 30th). on amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_8?ie=UTF8&rs=468642&rh=n%3A468642&page=8
In overall video games Age of CON is now at position 90 (yesterday it was still 80) and just for ONE week (first week launch it was at 1).
I didn't know "topping the charts" was at position 90 something. Even 3.5 year old Wow outsells the "topping all" game now with a wide margin.
It that proof ?
Or were the zillion IN game lies not convincing to you ?
They probably count the 10 accounts each beta tech tester had to create for the sub creation test in march...
---
Waiting for: GW2
*thumbs up*: GW, Eve(, WoW)
*thumbs down*: MO, GA, FE
You want a 14764th FunCOM lie ?
Here it is: stats of TODAY (June 30th). on amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_8?ie=UTF8&rs=468642&rh=n%3A468642&page=8
In overall video games Age of CON is now at position 90 (yesterday it was still 80) and just for ONE week (first week launch it was at 1).
I didn't know "topping the charts" was at position 90 something. Even 3.5 year old Wow outsells the "topping all" game now with a wide margin.
It that proof ?
Or were the zillion IN game lies not convincing to you ?
They did not lie. Your post is looking at all games including consoles. Here are some I pulled :
http://www.gamerscircle.net/2008/06/03/top-10-best-selling-pc-games-2/
Top 10 Best Selling PC Games digg_url = 'http://www.gamerscircle.net/2008/06/03/top-10-best-selling-pc-games-2/'; digg_title = 'Top 10 Best Selling PC Games';
As expected, Age of Conan has debuted as the best selling PC game in the US, per the NPD stats:
1. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - Eidos - $49
2. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Vivendi - $43
3. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Collector’s Ed - Eidos - $88
4. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts - $29
5. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $19
6. World Of Warcraft - Vivendi - $21
7. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi - $32
8. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision - $47
9. The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $29
10. Crysis - Electronic Arts - $32
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/age-of-conan-still-best-selling-us-pc-game
Age of Conan was also the top-selling PC game in May across all categories.
New to the chart this week is Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, which debuted at number three behind Mass Effect. Sins Of A Solar Empire, meanwhile, dropped out of the Top Ten even as BioShock moves to number eight.
As with last week, three World Of Warcraft and three Sims 2 titles remain in the Top Ten.
The Top Ten best-selling PC games in the US for the week ended June 7 were as follows:
Here are some examples. I am sure flames are coming for even pointing this out. I am enjoying AOC and so are loads of my friends.
I remember the WOW launch and it got much of the same rants, now it is praised as the best of the best. Heck, it took, what ,a year to get PVP into it? Don't recall exactly but it seemed like a loooooong time. Anyway, every major MMO launch has been met here with near hate and strong defenders.
Still, worst launch ever was, without a doubt, Vanguard. Any one who says AOC was the worst has either forgotten the pain of that or simply was not around. WOW release was not much better in my opinion.
From what I have read AoC has about a 10% subscription rate on a sold game. So if 700k sold this far they have about 70k subscribers and with Funcom saying they need at least 500k subs to break even its a massive failure.
You want a 14764th FunCOM lie ?
Here it is: stats of TODAY (June 30th). on amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_8?ie=UTF8&rs=468642&rh=n%3A468642&page=8
In overall video games Age of CON is now at position 90 (yesterday it was still 80) and just for ONE week (first week launch it was at 1).
I didn't know "topping the charts" was at position 90 something. Even 3.5 year old Wow outsells the "topping all" game now with a wide margin.
It that proof ?
Or were the zillion IN game lies not convincing to you ?
They did not lie. Your post is looking at all games including consoles. Here are some I pulled :
http://www.gamerscircle.net/2008/06/03/top-10-best-selling-pc-games-2/
Top 10 Best Selling PC Games digg_url = 'http://www.gamerscircle.net/2008/06/03/top-10-best-selling-pc-games-2/'; digg_title = 'Top 10 Best Selling PC Games';
As expected, Age of Conan has debuted as the best selling PC game in the US, per the NPD stats:
1. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - Eidos - $49
2. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Vivendi - $43
3. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Collectors Ed - Eidos - $88
4. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts - $29
5. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $19
6. World Of Warcraft - Vivendi - $21
7. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi - $32
8. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision - $47
9. The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $29
10. Crysis - Electronic Arts - $32
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/age-of-conan-still-best-selling-us-pc-game
Age of Conan was also the top-selling PC game in May across all categories.
New to the chart this week is Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, which debuted at number three behind Mass Effect. Sins Of A Solar Empire, meanwhile, dropped out of the Top Ten even as BioShock moves to number eight.
As with last week, three World Of Warcraft and three Sims 2 titles remain in the Top Ten.
The Top Ten best-selling PC games in the US for the week ended June 7 were as follows:
[*]1 Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
[*]2 Mass Effect
[*]3 Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
[*]4 The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
[*]5 World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
6 The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Expansion Pack
7 World Of Warcraft
8 BioShock
9 World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
10 The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack
Here are some examples. I am sure flames are coming for even pointing this out. I am enjoying AOC and so are loads of my friends.
I remember the WOW launch and it got much of the same rants, now it is praised as the best of the best. Heck, it took, what ,a year to get PVP into it? Don't recall exactly but it seemed like a loooooong time. Anyway, every major MMO launch has been met here with near hate and strong defenders.
Still, worst launch ever was, without a doubt, Vanguard. Any one who says AOC was the worst has either forgotten the pain of that or simply was not around. WOW release was not much better in my opinion.
you do realize that what you are talking about are the sales of the first 2-3 weeks after launch, until the proper reviews started coming out? It's now two weeks since WoW over took AoC in weekly sales world wide.
accounts created, I'd asume they mean 'bought the game, created an account.. theres one.' which means accounts created and canceled are still counted.
---
Xen of Onslaught
They said accounts created, because in the MMO world it is all about the number of accounts, not box sales, that determines success.
In this case it is a Marketing visual illusion. You see "Accounts Created" and your brain registers it as "Active Accounts", which is the far more desireable and telling piece of data/ They are celebrating that 700k people paid for a retail box, opened it and loaded the CD. It is doubtful that any real numbers on "Active Accounts" can be garnered yet as that takes 60-90 days to determine.
Regardless by most MMO standards, 700k is a decent launch. Congrats to Funcom if they pulled it off. But to keep things honest, didn't AO do almost 300k in box sales back in the day? Only to suffer a roughly 20% retention rate past the first month?
Didn't even Vanguard sell 500K boxes? Just saying...
At any rate, I'm sure AoC is doing okay but probably not as great as Funcom had hoped is my guess. Simply put, if the game was doing well, there wouldn't be all these questions about active subs. I mean when WoW launched, I didn't hear about how it didn't sell enough copies and how it was losing customers by the droves...
They said accounts created, because in the MMO world it is all about the number of accounts, not box sales, that determines success.
In this case it is a Marketing visual illusion. You see "Accounts Created" and your brain registers it as "Active Accounts", which is the far more desireable and telling piece of data/ They are celebrating that 700k people paid for a retail box, opened it and loaded the CD. It is doubtful that any real numbers on "Active Accounts" can be garnered yet as that takes 60-90 days to determine.
Regardless by most MMO standards, 700k is a decent launch. Congrats to Funcom if they pulled it off. But to keep things honest, didn't AO do almost 300k in box sales back in the day? Only to suffer a roughly 20% retention rate past the first month?
You are correct, people will assume it means 700k subscribers and like yourself, others will read that as 700k retail boxes sold. The actual statement just says accounts created. Anyone saying it means subscribers or retail boxes sold is just reading assumptions into the statement.
For all we know it could include trial accounts, open/closed beta accounts, pre orders that were never purchased, $5 early access accounts, etc. It could even include forum accounts in a really pessimistic view. Mind you it is a high watermark to be able to make the type of statement a few weeks after launch and kudos to them.
What a load of misinformation yet again from Funcom PR trying to BS people. A company that's retaining 700k active accounts after its first month of going retail would not have their shares prices devalue to half of what it was a month age if AOC was sustaining accounts sub numbers in to the second month. There's a mass exodus of those 700k accounts created with retail keys not translating in to subs and Funcom know it! This shallow linear POS should head straight to the console kiddie playground for which it was developed.
FC also said they sold a million copies. So either there are 300k boxes sitting in retail or 300k dropped after the first free month or....
If your going to boast, readers would like to see "Retention" numbers.
That one actually makes some sense. The initial reports were from pre orders and units shipped into the channel. So 1 million boxes sold to retail outlets.
What todays announcement is ( in all liklihood, and heavily dependent on how they are jockeying the numbers) most likely a reflection of how many of the key codes in the retail boxes were turned in to create accounts. (assuming they are not counting Beta, pre order, forums etc).
Todays announcement in no way reflects how many people have actually paid for a subscription beyond the 30 days included in the box. But based on FC's stock plunge, and the general negative turn that internet ravings concerning the game have taken, it is safe to assume that FC is on the low side of their desired target window.
That one actually makes some sense. The initial reports were from pre orders and units shipped into the channel. So 1 million boxes sold to retail outlets.
What todays announcement is ( in all liklihood, and heavily dependent on how they are jockeying the numbers) most likely a reflection of how many of the key codes in the retail boxes were turned in to create accounts. (assuming they are not counting Beta, pre order, forums etc).
Todays announcement in no way reflects how many people have actually paid for a subscription beyond the 30 days included in the box. But based on FC's stock plunge, and the general negative turn that internet ravings concerning the game have taken, it is safe to assume that FC is on the low side of their desired target window.
Stock plunge? Their stock rose 23% in the last couple days. You ever here of trends. Stocks go up and stocks go down.
By your reckoning, every time Blizzard stock goes down the company is doomed. The same goes for every other company whose stock goes up and down.
I could care less about stocks, accounts ect. FC can boast how many accounts all they want. They dont tell us what accounts are included as others have said. The truth lies when they (as a public company) start releasing info that they cant sugar coat. If FC really is doing as well as they would have you think, god help the MMO community. All it tells other developers is you can release half finished buggy games AND lie to your player base and get away with it.