Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
The silence of Blizzard -1 year since Blizzard released subscription numbers .
This discussion has been closed.
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Comments
You guys do realize this game is ancient already for a MMO right? And it still hasn't had any type of mass exodus (apart from the usual pre-expansion dips).
The fact that it grew for as long as it did till as far as it did already put this game on a scale of success no other MMO has ever seen and maybe no MMO will see in the coming decade.
I'd personally be surprised if even the next expansion pushes it back above the 11.5 million people, even though I do think it'll bring back a lot of people for a few months. Even if it died tomorrow though, it's success was still amazing.
10 months ago, in February 2009,
Blizzard issued this statement
Blizzard On Sales, StarCraft II Beta, Quality, New MMO
ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/44698/Blizzard-On-Sales-StarCraft-II-Beta-Quality-New-MMO
In October (2008), we announced that the game had reached more than 11 million subscribers. By the second week of December, we were at more than 11.5 million subscribers.
For the year (2008), the game grew by over 1.8 million subscribers, which is approximately 18% beyond where it was in December of 2007.
This growth was proportional across all regions, keeping us at a 55-45 split between east and west.
I doubt we will hear about 2009 number until Spring 2010
EQ2 fan sites
Games not out in China anymore = 4 million gone.
300K+ please. Yah, I know, lots of them are multiple subscription accounts, but we did have near record users online again this weekend and you are correct, you don't need "millions" of people playing to have a good time.
I agree, Blizzard will probably release sub numbers again when they go up again, most likely with the new expansion next year.
They'll only release information that paints the company/game in a good light, no law forces them to do otherwise)
He said a few 100k
the game has been back up in china since September
Buy some Vivendi stock if you know how........numbers will follow.
Ive heard mixed
from last month, November
www.gamespot.com/news/6238638.html
After spending much of 2009 offline, the Chinese version of World of Warcraft has found itself in limbo once again.
According to Reuters, the authoritarian nation's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has revoked the permit needed to operate the game from Blizzard Entertainment's localization partner, NetEase.
UPDATE (1 week after)
www.gamespot.com/news/6239334.html
Culture Ministry castigates rival agency for having "overstepped its authority" by revoking World of Warcraft permits;
Blizzard claims MMORPG still "online and operational" in China.
EQ2 fan sites
rofl nvm they shut in down again in November. China's doing a great job in making themselves look like idiots.
300K+ please. Yah, I know, lots of them are multiple subscription accounts, but we did have near record users online again this weekend and you are correct, you don't need "millions" of people playing to have a good time.
I agree, Blizzard will probably release sub numbers again when they go up again, most likely with the new expansion next year.
They'll only release information that paints the company/game in a good light, no law forces them to do otherwise)
He said a few 100k
He did prove Surfrider wrong in one way. People do care about sub numbers.
I agree most companies will stop talking about subs once they go down though, unfortunately, although it makes perfect sense from a business perspective.
In that sense I'd almost give props to Mythic for still reporting their dropping numbers, but then I'm almost 100% sure that was EA just feeling like still reporting 'decent' numbers at the time about one of their gazillion games rather than Mythic having any involvement in it.
Of course Blizzard is not going to talk about subscription numbers anymore. Because they cant use their old numbers anymore, since the game was banned.
WoW population is still growing though. Blizzard did point that out. So no it is not declineing like many people think.
WoW's Population = Former Numbers( Western numbers) - China Number + the everyday Growing population.
So if it hadnt been banded, it would have been even greater
I love how people speculate whether wow has 8 million or 12 million or whatever # of million subscribers when no other mmo in the western hemiphere can even touch 1 million. WoW could lose 90% of subscribers today and STILL be the most successful mmo in North America. And of course numbers won't increase much right now since it's near the end of an expansion cycle. Guess what though? Blizzard will announce another record number within 3 months of Cataclysm - just like they did with every expansion so far.
I think people are just tired of their selective marketing that fudges the truth a bit.
Funny you should make a comment like this when just a few posts earlier you made this comment
"Well Blizzard lost 8 million subs for half a year and didn't mention it with china, of course WoW is on the decline. "-SignusM
There is enough evidence to show the subscriber numbers are roughly a 45-55% split between east/west Example
Care to share where you got you 8 million subscribers in China from? Not to mention the fact to every here seems to think that any subscriber not in Europe or North America must somehow be in China. As if there are not somewhere around a dozen other countries that have localized versions of wow written and marketed to. Even one step further than that is the Taiwan servers are still operational and hosting Chinese players.
Other than that, yes it is going to be next to impossible for blizzard to release a new record subscriber number if even one country takes political action against their business operations. Even if China was still 100% up and running, if the US banned wow the results would be the same. For all we know, wow is still gaining double digits of additional players all over the world, but the loss of china keeps their totals from breaking 11.5 million. Who knows at this point.
Finally, perhaps you are a bit premature in your accusations that someone else is fudging the truth and you should do a little more research before you make claims about someone else mishandling information, but that is just a suggestion.
^^^^One of the few predictions that I've ever seen on these forums, that I actually BELIEVE. Previous experience tends to make this seem a pretty logical "prediction."
Also...the highlighted part is simply truth, and therefore...I'm not really sure why people obsess over this so much. Why does it even matter? And before someone says (again) that they're tired of Blizz inflating the numbers....I doubt that other companies are "innocent" in that arena either.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
Didn't all Chinese IPs get banned due to a law in China? Wasn't China the country with the most subs? www.mmodata.net
-Computer specs no one cares about: check.
-MMOs played no one cares about: check.
-Xfire stats no one cares about: check.
-Signature no one cares about: check.
------------------------------------------------------------
-Narcissism: check.
Yes, and what we're saying is that even after you take away ALL of the China subs....WoW STILL has many times over what other MMOs do in terms of subs.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
China accounts for 6M subs. Europe/NA accounts for 5.5M. Not exactly the way you're portraying it, but hey the truth is always the first casuality of an agenda.
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
Doesn't matter how much income comes from China, that's the bulk of their subscription numbers. Almost all subscribers to WoW, comparitively, are from Asia.
China accounts for 6M subs. Europe/NA accounts for 5.5M. Not exactly the way you're portraying it, but hey the truth is always the first casuality of an agenda.
Is everyone and their mother forgetting, even if WoW got kicked out of China their subs aren't going to be 6 million less. Probably not even 3 million. WoW China != WoW Asia, WoW Asia includes Taiwan and WoW Korea, each of which probably has at least 1 million subs. Also, most of the Chinese Players will simply move to the Taiwanese Servers. So the reality is that WoW probably has lost 1-2 million tops, if they have even lost that many.
Darzin -- A Gnome in a Night Elf World
five or six million is still success. so is two million. and one. and a half.
if 9/10 wow players just decided to quit right now, it would still be the most popular AAA mmo.
Doesn't matter how much income comes from China, that's the bulk of their subscription numbers. Almost all subscribers to WoW, comparitively, are from Asia.
China accounts for 6M subs. Europe/NA accounts for 5.5M. Not exactly the way you're portraying it, but hey the truth is always the first casuality of an agenda.
For this to be true you are assuming that every single wow player not in North America/Europe must live and play in China. You conclusion means that places like Korea have ZERO players. Japan, no wow players there either. South America, no wow players there either, etc etc. China does not have 6 million players, unless you want to believe the previous sentences.
People seem to confuse China with Asia and ignore that there are many other parts of the world. Sure China is big, but it isn't everything.
I so wish Blizzard would release numbers like 300k worldwide.
Then people can stop harping on stuff that doesn't effect gameplay, and start enjoying the greatest pass times ever created! I am speaking of video games of course.
Really, i'm sure the number of people that heard "11 million subscribers? I gotta get that!" are far smaller then some would lead you to believe.
Its like the fringe music lovers that are always making fun of the popular music and the people who listen to it. News flash, that music is popular because its good, not because its popular...
Nothing excites jaded Grandmasters more than a theoretical novelty
Doesn't matter how much income comes from China, that's the bulk of their subscription numbers. Almost all subscribers to WoW, comparitively, are from Asia.
China accounts for 6M subs. Europe/NA accounts for 5.5M. Not exactly the way you're portraying it, but hey the truth is always the first casuality of an agenda.
For this to be true you are assuming that every single wow player not in North America/Europe must live and play in China. You conclusion means that places like Korea have ZERO players. Japan, no wow players there either. South America, no wow players there either, etc etc. China does not have 6 million players, unless you want to believe the previous sentences.
People seem to confuse China with Asia and ignore that there are many other parts of the world. Sure China is big, but it isn't everything.
You should know by now that things like "logic" and "facts" arent welcome here.
Internet rumors say WoW China has 8 million subscribers and that the other 3 million are just trial accounts so it must be true. I mean, how could it not be true if its backed by WoW trolls?
Does it really matter how many players are playing it now? I'd bet Blizzard could care less..they've already made more money off of WoW then we could understand.
The funny thing is people just won't let go...their still playing it even now with their cartoony out-dated characters. Moving on was the best thing I ever did. I can't ever imagine myself going back to WoW after the MMOs I've played since leaving. I'd feel as if I'm letting my PC down lol
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
And they have every server and support staff to operate those empty stations. There are costs to doing business. While WOW is successful, it may not be as "in the black", accounting-wise, as some folks think.