The actual "subscriber" numbers in the West and Europe have been stagnant if not declining. The increase is pretty much solely due to than Asian market, particularly since they finally got the WotLK expansion.
Now, the funny thing is, a while back for that month or two that WoW was dropped in Asia due to contract issues, WoW's player numbers more than halved, Blizzard just doesn't talk about it at all, let alone acknowledge it.
The reason why Asia makes up for such a large portion is because of the way accounts are handled there. You don't "subscribe monthly" as you do in NA and Europe. You pay per hour, and you also pay significantly less than in the other markets. If you read Blizzard's metrics for counting players, any of those Internet cafe accounts that has been logged into in the past month is counted. That's why the numbers are so inflated, because they count anyone and everyone has played WoW in Asia for the past month, even if they play for an hour and then never play again -- which is an important point because there is no trial version in this market.
Blizzard can boast they have so many million players. But any analysis of the real data would show that their playerbase claim is nowhere near as impressive as they're trying to pass off. It would look more along the lines of 5 million subscribers and 8 million people intermitantly playing in the east.
It's the same old marketing spin, so don't be gullable any take everything at face value like they want you to.
You can't compare the numbers that way, that's the point.
Which is more impressive to a person that understands growth and mathematics, a 500k gain over 2 years on a game that had 11.5 million players or a 50k gain in the same time frame of a game that had 50k players? The answer is the 50k gain, everytime.
But like I said in my reply to the other guy, it is pointless trying to teach basic mathematics/growth on this forum as people would rather not have a grasp on the actual working of things. You are entitled to go on thinking that a 4-5% (I say this because although they announced 11.5 million 2 years ago we do not know that it did not dip below this, which I believe it did) growth over 2 years with a major expansion allowed into the largest nation on earth with contains 1/6th of the world's population and recently announcing a date for their next major expansion as an utterly amazing number.
Seems your ilk is few and far between, yet you're trying to edumacate the unwilling to accept your way of looking at things. I don't have time to over ANALyze every freakin thing that crosses my screen from Blizzard. And it's obvious that you do. Fair. All I'm saying is that to the average joe, number sizes mean something. You can take from that what you will, but my limited "grasp" on percentiles, gains and mathematics has not stopped me from enjoying a mmo every now and then, nor has it stopped my ability to spot a insidious poster like yourself from thinking you can deflate my impression of a good chunk of players joining the mmo bandwagon either.
You cannot rain on my parade bro, because by the time Cata is released and passes, I'll probably be commenting on another mmo that has reached a new benchmark. Just like I was when EvE reach a new concurrent record of 51,675 over it's previous record of 48, 065. You didn't see me bitchin and moaning that people shouldn't celebrate that because it was only a 7.5% gain over the last announcement.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
I have spent over £400 on WoW (subs and boxes - not retarded horses) and I look forward to investing another £400, as long as it keeps entertaining me I'll keep paying. Knowing it is as popular than ever if just a plus. BLIZZARD FOR PRESIDENT!
I'd like to know how many of the 12 million are NA and EU.
I'd like to know how many of these so called 12 mil player's accounts are actually still active and being payed on.
I still have my account, just in case Blizzard might actually do something great with this game agin, some day. But I stopped using/paying on it about 2 years ago...
All of em... read the OP before commenting.
I think his point was are the numbers counting the people over in asia who 'pay as they go' if you like but have active accounts, even if not playing.
To me it all seems like spin and marketing, but hey ho.. everyones gotta make a mil or so eh! The little fella on my other shoulder tells me that they have so many subscribers here in the EU and the US that they don't need to spin it but my cat just ate him, the little fella had eaten a bad 'shroom so now i'm back to wondering about spin.
Yes it includes those in Asia (as long as they have logged on within the last 30days) - blizzard clearly state this on the press release so as I have said already argue about blizzard definition of a subscriber but not about the 12 million - blizzard are not hiding how they get the 12 million number their is no spin or conspricy here.
Do they? I can't seem to find anywhere in the press release linked to in the OP that states that.
The actual "subscriber" numbers in the West and Europe have been stagnant if not declining. The increase is pretty much solely due to than Asian market, particularly since they finally got the WotLK expansion.
Now, the funny thing is, a while back for that month or two that WoW was dropped in Asia due to contract issues, WoW's player numbers more than halved, Blizzard just doesn't talk about it at all, let alone acknowledge it.
The reason why Asia makes up for such a large portion is because of the way accounts are handled there. You don't "subscribe monthly" as you do in NA and Europe. You pay per hour, and you also pay significantly less than in the other markets. If you read Blizzard's metrics for counting players, any of those Internet cafe accounts that has been logged into in the past month is counted. That's why the numbers are so inflated, because they count anyone and everyone has played WoW in Asia for the past month, even if they play for an hour and then never play again -- which is an important point because there is no trial version in this market.
Blizzard can boast they have so many million players. But any analysis of the real data would show that their playerbase claim is nowhere near as impressive as they're trying to pass off. It would look more along the lines of 5 million subscribers and 8 million people intermitantly playing in the east.
It's the same old marketing spin, so don't be gullable any take everything at face value like they want you to.
Most of us already know this stuff. What other MMO has 5 million subs? 5 million or 11.5, it's still impressive.
Oh, I know Guild Wars sold 5 million boxes at its peak. But if you're unwilling to count people in Asia playing one hour per month, don't count Guild Wars players who could've not played for a year, but still count in the stats - because they bought the game.
Three more million and they will catch up to the amount of children world wide who die of starvation every year. Can't wait to see that self epean stroking P.R. memo.
If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, riddle 'em with bullets
The actual "subscriber" numbers in the West and Europe have been stagnant if not declining. The increase is pretty much solely due to than Asian market, particularly since they finally got the WotLK expansion.
Now, the funny thing is, a while back for that month or two that WoW was dropped in Asia due to contract issues, WoW's player numbers more than halved, Blizzard just doesn't talk about it at all, let alone acknowledge it.
Woot halfed LOL... link please.
The reason why Asia makes up for such a large portion is because of the way accounts are handled there. You don't "subscribe monthly" as you do in NA and Europe. You pay per hour, and you also pay significantly less than in the other markets. If you read Blizzard's metrics for counting players, any of those Internet cafe accounts that has been logged into in the past month is counted. That's why the numbers are so inflated, because they count anyone and everyone has played WoW in Asia for the past month, even if they play for an hour and then never play again -- which is an important point because there is no trial version in this market.
So the fact China has 1 billion people has nothing to do with it? and comparing the cost of playing in china to the west is wrong as the average income in china is far far less than in the west $1 to some in china is not throw away change as it is in the west.
Blizzard can boast they have so many million players. But any analysis of the real data would show that their playerbase claim is nowhere near as impressive as they're trying to pass off. It would look more along the lines of 5 million subscribers and 8 million people intermitantly playing in the east.
So how much does some one have to play to be considered a subscriber? If I sub for a month and only play for an hour should I discounted?
It's the same old marketing spin, so don't be gullable any take everything at face value like they want you to.
Blizzard clearly explain how they get the 12million number.. no spin here you just need to read the PR.
Three more million and they will catch up to the amount of children world wide who die of starvation every year. Can't wait to see that self epean stroking P.R. memo.
Don't worry we have you here to bring them down to speed....I doubt they or 99% of their player base would even notice your effort though.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Three more million and they will catch up to the amount of children world wide who die of starvation every year. Can't wait to see that self epean stroking P.R. memo.
I'm sure that was said in jest but it stil had an impact.
So if it's only active accounts then you can easily say that the game is best selling PC game of all time since it probably exceeded The Sims...
Not really. Each expansion would count as its own game, and then anyone who does a free trial into a subscription and doesn't buy anything doesn't get added to the sale count.
It could possibly be the most successful video game of all time if you go by profits.
A big city is bigger than belgium, this does not impress me at all...
But if it was australia in the other hand...
Australia is a Continent, Europe is a Continent with Belgium being a very small country within it. Should we only use numbers that encompass the whole of Europe, Asia, America and Australia?
Whether it impresses you or not, it does for some of us, WoW players or not. As i mentioned in a previous post, their subs/players are more than twice what we have in scotland for population.
We can talk about percentages, network cafes and anything else you want to conjure up to try to minimize the numbers. All Blizzard has to do is point to the press release and say 'scoreboard!". The same haters said that WoW was falling, it's subs were half of 11 million, etc, etc, etc. The press release tells them something they dont want to hear, that WoW is still alive and isn't going away anytime soon.
We should go take it over then. I hear it is very nice there in the summer.
I just assume there is not so much to loot. And imagine all the mess when people start to hunt Belgians instead of Murlocks! :O
We really don't want that!
Don't Belgians specialize in making chocolate? If we take it over, we'll get some screwed up Willa Wonka shit.
Edit: Maybe it's Bulgaria, but I doubt that. "Belgian Chocolate" sounds right to me. I get those silly European countries mixed up all the time, though.
We should go take it over then. I hear it is very nice there in the summer.
I just assume there is not so much to loot. And imagine all the mess when people start to hunt Belgians instead of Murlocks! :O
We really don't want that!
I knew this would start the ball rolling with the anti-Belgium crowd. How does it feel to have your country marginalized by a frackin video game?
Looks like the only way they can save their national identity is to annex France, Germany, and the Netherlands. They could take over Luxemborg as well, but I fail to see how eight more people would help.
If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, riddle 'em with bullets
Comments
The actual "subscriber" numbers in the West and Europe have been stagnant if not declining. The increase is pretty much solely due to than Asian market, particularly since they finally got the WotLK expansion.
Now, the funny thing is, a while back for that month or two that WoW was dropped in Asia due to contract issues, WoW's player numbers more than halved, Blizzard just doesn't talk about it at all, let alone acknowledge it.
The reason why Asia makes up for such a large portion is because of the way accounts are handled there. You don't "subscribe monthly" as you do in NA and Europe. You pay per hour, and you also pay significantly less than in the other markets. If you read Blizzard's metrics for counting players, any of those Internet cafe accounts that has been logged into in the past month is counted. That's why the numbers are so inflated, because they count anyone and everyone has played WoW in Asia for the past month, even if they play for an hour and then never play again -- which is an important point because there is no trial version in this market.
Blizzard can boast they have so many million players. But any analysis of the real data would show that their playerbase claim is nowhere near as impressive as they're trying to pass off. It would look more along the lines of 5 million subscribers and 8 million people intermitantly playing in the east.
It's the same old marketing spin, so don't be gullable any take everything at face value like they want you to.
Seems your ilk is few and far between, yet you're trying to edumacate the unwilling to accept your way of looking at things. I don't have time to over ANALyze every freakin thing that crosses my screen from Blizzard. And it's obvious that you do. Fair. All I'm saying is that to the average joe, number sizes mean something. You can take from that what you will, but my limited "grasp" on percentiles, gains and mathematics has not stopped me from enjoying a mmo every now and then, nor has it stopped my ability to spot a insidious poster like yourself from thinking you can deflate my impression of a good chunk of players joining the mmo bandwagon either.
You cannot rain on my parade bro, because by the time Cata is released and passes, I'll probably be commenting on another mmo that has reached a new benchmark. Just like I was when EvE reach a new concurrent record of 51,675 over it's previous record of 48, 065. You didn't see me bitchin and moaning that people shouldn't celebrate that because it was only a 7.5% gain over the last announcement.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
I have spent over £400 on WoW (subs and boxes - not retarded horses) and I look forward to investing another £400, as long as it keeps entertaining me I'll keep paying. Knowing it is as popular than ever if just a plus. BLIZZARD FOR PRESIDENT!
Do they? I can't seem to find anywhere in the press release linked to in the OP that states that.
Most of us already know this stuff. What other MMO has 5 million subs? 5 million or 11.5, it's still impressive.
Oh, I know Guild Wars sold 5 million boxes at its peak. But if you're unwilling to count people in Asia playing one hour per month, don't count Guild Wars players who could've not played for a year, but still count in the stats - because they bought the game.
Three more million and they will catch up to the amount of children world wide who die of starvation every year. Can't wait to see that self epean stroking P.R. memo.
If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, riddle 'em with bullets
Don't worry we have you here to bring them down to speed....I doubt they or 99% of their player base would even notice your effort though.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
So if it's only active accounts then you can easily say that the game is best selling PC game of all time since it probably exceeded The Sims...
belgium?
A big city is bigger than belgium, this does not impress me at all...
But if it was australia in the other hand...
"It has potential"
-Second most used phrase on existence
"It sucks"
-Most used phrase on existence
I'm sure that was said in jest but it stil had an impact.
Not really. Each expansion would count as its own game, and then anyone who does a free trial into a subscription and doesn't buy anything doesn't get added to the sale count.
It could possibly be the most successful video game of all time if you go by profits.
Name one
Australia is a Continent, Europe is a Continent with Belgium being a very small country within it. Should we only use numbers that encompass the whole of Europe, Asia, America and Australia?
Whether it impresses you or not, it does for some of us, WoW players or not. As i mentioned in a previous post, their subs/players are more than twice what we have in scotland for population.
Edit - added comma
Name one city that is bigger than Belgium
That puts all the "WoW Killers" and "WoW's slowly dying" people in their place..
Lol you would think but this MMORPG.com.....
Mexico City, São Paulo, Tokyo ....
When I mean bigger, I mean population, not geography
"It has potential"
-Second most used phrase on existence
"It sucks"
-Most used phrase on existence
I just assume there is not so much to loot. And imagine all the mess when people start to hunt Belgians instead of Murlocks! :O
We really don't want that!
No,I'm not a WoW fanboi,I calls it like I sees it and I also see haters hatin.
We can talk about percentages, network cafes and anything else you want to conjure up to try to minimize the numbers. All Blizzard has to do is point to the press release and say 'scoreboard!". The same haters said that WoW was falling, it's subs were half of 11 million, etc, etc, etc. The press release tells them something they dont want to hear, that WoW is still alive and isn't going away anytime soon.
Don't Belgians specialize in making chocolate? If we take it over, we'll get some screwed up Willa Wonka shit.
Edit: Maybe it's Bulgaria, but I doubt that. "Belgian Chocolate" sounds right to me. I get those silly European countries mixed up all the time, though.
I knew this would start the ball rolling with the anti-Belgium crowd. How does it feel to have your country marginalized by a frackin video game?
Looks like the only way they can save their national identity is to annex France, Germany, and the Netherlands. They could take over Luxemborg as well, but I fail to see how eight more people would help.
If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, riddle 'em with bullets