Cataclysm wont kill wow, but what it has done is create a lot of apathy amongst players. One question that bugs me about blizzards numbers is this They claim 12 million active accounts and yet, how many copies of Cata have sold? Surely no one playing wow in the areas where Cata is released would be without it?
You havent' seen the news? Catalysm is the FASTEST selling PC games and sold MUCH better than WOTLK, or BC. It sold 4.3M copies in the first month, and it is not even released in China yet.
One time sales of xpacs do not translate into guaranteed recurring subscriptions.
Selling large numbers of copies of an xpac is a double-edged sword - that could 4.3 million happy customers or 4.3 million angry as heck customer who cancel after 6 weeks.
Blizzard just deleted a massive thread titled "Why Cacaclysm is a failure" or something of the sort. There are countless threads on the forums by players as to why they are quitting.
The desperation of the Blizzard can do no wrong folks has reached the point of making an "I'm not quitting thread" that just hit a whopping 3 pages after 24 hrs. The last big thread (locked now) that pointed out player displeasure with Cataclysm hit 100 pages in under a day and was locked at 200 plus - i honestly don't remember how big it was - pushing 300 pages i'm pretty sure.
Point being - people are not happy with Cataclysm just because they bought it.
4.3M copies at $40 a pop .. works out to be roughly $160M. Do you think they are really short of money and in "trouble"?
300 pages? so? 300 pages with 100 different poster on each page (and that is assuming not the same two dozen people posting) works out to be 30k people
That is less than 1/4 of a percentage point of the WOW population. Yeah, i am sure that is really important.
People were saying the same thing when TBC was released. A lot of wow people were saying tehy were going to quit. And a lot of them did. Most of thsoe subs either came back or were replaced with new subs.
Cataclysm wont kill wow, but what it has done is create a lot of apathy amongst players. One question that bugs me about blizzards numbers is this They claim 12 million active accounts and yet, how many copies of Cata have sold? Surely no one playing wow in the areas where Cata is released would be without it?
You havent' seen the news? Catalysm is the FASTEST selling PC games and sold MUCH better than WOTLK, or BC. It sold 4.3M copies in the first month, and it is not even released in China yet.
One time sales of xpacs do not translate into guaranteed recurring subscriptions.
Selling large numbers of copies of an xpac is a double-edged sword - that could 4.3 million happy customers or 4.3 million angry as heck customer who cancel after 6 weeks.
Blizzard just deleted a massive thread titled "Why Cacaclysm is a failure" or something of the sort. There are countless threads on the forums by players as to why they are quitting.
The desperation of the Blizzard can do no wrong folks has reached the point of making an "I'm not quitting thread" that just hit a whopping 3 pages after 24 hrs. The last big thread (locked now) that pointed out player displeasure with Cataclysm hit 100 pages in under a day and was locked at 200 plus - i honestly don't remember how big it was - pushing 300 pages i'm pretty sure.
Point being - people are not happy with Cataclysm just because they bought it.
4.3M copies at $40 a pop .. works out to be roughly $160M. Do you think they are really short of money and in "trouble"?
300 pages? so? 300 pages with 100 different poster on each page (and that is assuming not the same two dozen people posting) works out to be 30k people
That is less than 1/4 of a percentage point of the WOW population. Yeah, i am sure that is really important.
Calm down buddy. Nobody is taking your Warcraft from you. No need to throw out numbers that mean nothing.
While I agree that WoW's sub numbers will be tough to beat, I'm now longer of the opinion that it simply can't be done by anyone other than Blizzard. There is a HUGE untapped market for the console MMORPG that games like DCUO and FFXIV are trying to tap into.
All it will take is an extremely solid MMO that's available on PC, Wii, 360, and PS3. Think something like Runescape, with improved graphics and control, with aspects of Gaia Online and Second Life.
No WOW is not in trouble. It would have to lose a ton of players to be in trouble. Its not going to happen. They have people that are happy with the game and solid playerbase. Just look at blizzcon and you'll have your answer.
I think they are getting new small kids as they become of age to play ( 7 and 8 years old ). BUT if they did not mess with the old world the way that they did ( wow on rails ) and 80-85 content ( short and hard ) they would keep vets along with adding the new kids !
I would guess it will stay about even..........loose some, gain some.............DiD they make money?........YES, lot's on sales of the expantion.............Did they loose out ?........no, they won because of the sales.
Regarding subscription numbers they will never be in trouble. It's the changes to the gameplay that will hurt them the most. They have enough people playing who will either adjust their playstyle and learn the game or just put up with it. Rage quitters don't stay away very long, they always come back. It's a win situation for Blizzard no matter what they do.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
No WOW is not in trouble. It would have to lose a ton of players to be in trouble. Its not going to happen. They have people that are happy with the game and solid playerbase. Just look at blizzcon and you'll have your answer.
It will happen, probably just not now.
But if Wow have the same number of Western players the 3rd of february 2016 as it have today I will eat my hat (and it is a large leather hat). Of course in China anything can happen and it is possible that Wow havn't peaked there yet but instead might become a lot larger there.
Let's assume that because of the foretold reasons WoW looses 50% of his active subs. 50% is a huge number yes? Guess what... it will still be the most successful MMO subscription wise, light years ahead from the #2. So, no WoW isn't and won't be in trouble.
And in case someone draws the "fanboy" card, i wrote "..most sccussful MMO subscription wise". I didn't mention anything about quality or features. Although i am an active subscriber since 2005.
what if that 50% was NA/EU players then blizzard would be in trouble, tor and gw2 will effect blizzards subscriber numbers in the west, the rest are in china and pay per hour.
I believe that WoW is seeing a 7% year on year shrinkage.
does that mean it's in trouble? lol no... Blizz have a long LONG way to go before they see this game struggle.
Going on that 7% figure though, assuming no acceleration or even reversal, they might be down to 1,000,000 subs in a decade or so
1 million subs in a decade or so, you must be joking if you think wow will still be running in 2021. The new technology that will be available by then will make games like wow laughable,
I believe that WoW is seeing a 7% year on year shrinkage.
does that mean it's in trouble? lol no... Blizz have a long LONG way to go before they see this game struggle.
Going on that 7% figure though, assuming no acceleration or even reversal, they might be down to 1,000,000 subs in a decade or so
1 million subs in a decade or so, you must be joking if you think wow will still be running in 2021. The new technology that will be available by then will make games like wow laughable,
i dont think technology matters that much, even with 6 year old game engine and cartoony graphics, no else is doing anything to WoW.
I believe that WoW is seeing a 7% year on year shrinkage.
does that mean it's in trouble? lol no... Blizz have a long LONG way to go before they see this game struggle.
Going on that 7% figure though, assuming no acceleration or even reversal, they might be down to 1,000,000 subs in a decade or so
1 million subs in a decade or so, you must be joking if you think wow will still be running in 2021. The new technology that will be available by then will make games like wow laughable,
your right, these games die so quickly... right?
12 years in and EQ is still selling expansions, has a very stable playerbase, has recently introduced housing and is opening a new server...
imo you underestimate these games. I think it is VERY viable that wow will still be here in a decade, and still doing bigger numbers that most of it's rivals.
WoW will be fine I think. Besides, they even got rid of the Off-topic section on their forums, so ppl can talk only about wow.. lol.
Removing off-topic section sounds to me that 10mil+ sub base is heavily over estimated these days Also Blizz is locking a lot, and removing quite a few of posts in the general forums that are in negative tone. There must be something going on behind the curtains...
Anyway, I came back to WoW for Cata and quit after few weeks. Not because the difficulti raise which seems to be the achilles for many, but because Cata didnt introduce anything that we havent seen in that game already. Very weak execution of an expansion. You'd think with such high revenues they'd hire more people to actually add something else than a handful of maps and textures to a game.
But yeah, WoW's not going to die because of other titles just because it has got so big that people who dont understand anything about gaming or let alone mmorpgs, are still joining WoW for the community where a lot of their friends/family/etc spend time. They dont even want to join another title because it is not what they are looking for or why they joined the first place, and that's a huge comfort for Blizzard.
I believe that WoW is seeing a 7% year on year shrinkage.
does that mean it's in trouble? lol no... Blizz have a long LONG way to go before they see this game struggle.
Going on that 7% figure though, assuming no acceleration or even reversal, they might be down to 1,000,000 subs in a decade or so
1 million subs in a decade or so, you must be joking if you think wow will still be running in 2021. The new technology that will be available by then will make games like wow laughable,
i dont think technology matters that much, even with 6 year old game engine and cartoony graphics, no else is doing anything to WoW.
Sorry but saying wow will have 1 million subs in 10 years time is ridiculous. technology does matter over the course of 10 years. more things will change in the next 10 years than any previous decade, we wont be using pc screens as you know it and i see the mouse and the keyboard becoming obsolete.
I believe that WoW is seeing a 7% year on year shrinkage.
does that mean it's in trouble? lol no... Blizz have a long LONG way to go before they see this game struggle.
Going on that 7% figure though, assuming no acceleration or even reversal, they might be down to 1,000,000 subs in a decade or so
1 million subs in a decade or so, you must be joking if you think wow will still be running in 2021. The new technology that will be available by then will make games like wow laughable,
i dont think technology matters that much, even with 6 year old game engine and cartoony graphics, no else is doing anything to WoW.
Sorry but saying wow will have 1 million subs in 10 years time is ridiculous.
I know, thats why I used the
I thought people that used forums understood what it signifies.
saying that, WoW will still be massively successful in a decade and wil still be very active. Might not be a million, but that won't matter.
we wont be using pc screens as you know it and i see the mouse and the keyboard becoming obsolete.
Yep, they might well do... we may all be using motion based control systems like in the movies.
Oh, btw, have you seen that video of WoW running comnfortably on a motion based control system?
For every Whiney McBitcherton that is there, posting in WoW forums, there are thousands of people that love Cata.
I am one of many I've seen that has subbed to WoW for the first time in YEARS, and like me, they are having a blast.
The biggest negative I've seen from Cata, is that the reworked 1-60 experience has made the Burning Crusade content feel ridiculously grindy. I couldn't wait to get "done" with it and move on to Northrend, and I haven't seen enough of Northrend to determine if it seems dull in comparison, as well.
In case you haven't guessed by now, I haven't yet seen the high level content from Cata, so I have no opinion on that. But if it's done like 1-60 was redone, I'm sure to like it.
I believe that WoW is seeing a 7% year on year shrinkage.
does that mean it's in trouble? lol no... Blizz have a long LONG way to go before they see this game struggle.
Going on that 7% figure though, assuming no acceleration or even reversal, they might be down to 1,000,000 subs in a decade or so
1 million subs in a decade or so, you must be joking if you think wow will still be running in 2021. The new technology that will be available by then will make games like wow laughable,
i dont think technology matters that much, even with 6 year old game engine and cartoony graphics, no else is doing anything to WoW.
Sorry but saying wow will have 1 million subs in 10 years time is ridiculous. technology does matter over the course of 10 years. more things will change in the next 10 years than any previous decade, we wont be using pc screens as you know it and i see the mouse and the keyboard becoming obsolete.
WoW is the only MMO can be played without mouse and keyboard, check the video where Kinect is hacked and playing WoW with it, so that make WoW technologically advanced or atleast got huge opportunity but probably blizzard will make WoW2 rather then redoing graphics/engine updates for current WoW as it has hugeee contents around 26GB.
I've seen a lot of longterm players leaving wow quite fast after Cata release. Most of my friends stoped playing including me. But is WoW loosing it's players? I don't think so. There is still quite a lot new people buying and playing wow, i think a lot of old players stoped playing, because there is not enough inovation, and after years of playing, "more of the same" does just not cut it.
For every Whiney McBitcherton that is there, posting in WoW forums, there are thousands of people that love Cata.
I am one of many I've seen that has subbed to WoW for the first time in YEARS, and like me, they are having a blast.
The biggest negative I've seen from Cata, is that the reworked 1-60 experience has made the Burning Crusade content feel ridiculously grindy. I couldn't wait to get "done" with it and move on to Northrend, and I haven't seen enough of Northrend to determine if it seems dull in comparison, as well.
In case you haven't guessed by now, I haven't yet seen the high level content from Cata, so I have no opinion on that. But if it's done like 1-60 was redone, I'm sure to like it.
Yes there are thousands that love Cata shame theres only thousands when millions are playing though .
I should'nt worry too much about the Burning Crusade Content Blizzard will rework that and streamline it soon so you will be able to go though it in a few hours play .
I guess it depends on what you like . For me going through content that has zero challenge at all to get to an endgame is pretty unsatisfying and boring .
For me personally, I played through cata, hit 85 and ran a few heroics and I just wasn't into anymore. So much so, that I canceled my sub (which I've done before when I've gotten bored and taken some time off from it) AND uninstalled the game. I'm done with it, I had my fun and I'm just not interested in it anymore. (also uninstalling WoW is like getting a new hard drive, so much free space now).
While WoW is still the top dog, I think it's at it's peak and will start to head downward after the Cata subscription surge subsides. I know alot of my friends are bored with it as well and really considering leaving as well, not for a new game coming out, but just because it's become old hat. This is going to happen no matter what, the game can't last forever.
The WoW community really isn't that great either, I know with that many people you'll get all kinds, but the bad ones really seem to stick out for some reason in that game.
The real question for me is how fast is this going to happen? Will it be a gradual steady decline over the years, surging when a new xpac comes out, then continuing is downward trend, start out slow and gain momentum like a snowball effect, or will everyone just up and leave almost at once?
I don't think Rift, ToR, or GW2 are able to topple WoW on their own, but release them all in the same year or close to it, and I find it hard to believe that all of them together can't take a nice chuck out of WoWs numbers. I haven't heard anyone mention this yet, as everyone is looking for ONE game to do it, well how about three solid games in one year to bring some balance to the market?
For every Whiney McBitcherton that is there, posting in WoW forums, there are thousands of people that love Cata.
Yes there are thousands that love Cata shame theres only thousands when millions are playing though .
erm.. i think you missed what he was saying...
it's a ratio thing.
I think you missed what he was getting at in his reply....
There are 3 types of people in the world. 1.) Those who make things happen 2.) Those who watch things happen 3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
Comments
I disagree, the person who physically turn off the server can kill WoW, other than that, no one can :P
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW?
As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
4.3M copies at $40 a pop .. works out to be roughly $160M. Do you think they are really short of money and in "trouble"?
300 pages? so? 300 pages with 100 different poster on each page (and that is assuming not the same two dozen people posting) works out to be 30k people
That is less than 1/4 of a percentage point of the WOW population. Yeah, i am sure that is really important.
People were saying the same thing when TBC was released. A lot of wow people were saying tehy were going to quit. And a lot of them did. Most of thsoe subs either came back or were replaced with new subs.
I don't think cata will be much different.
New games won't kill WOW. Great games kill themselves. Just ask Mythic or SOE
Calm down buddy. Nobody is taking your Warcraft from you. No need to throw out numbers that mean nothing.
While I agree that WoW's sub numbers will be tough to beat, I'm now longer of the opinion that it simply can't be done by anyone other than Blizzard. There is a HUGE untapped market for the console MMORPG that games like DCUO and FFXIV are trying to tap into.
All it will take is an extremely solid MMO that's available on PC, Wii, 360, and PS3. Think something like Runescape, with improved graphics and control, with aspects of Gaia Online and Second Life.
No WOW is not in trouble. It would have to lose a ton of players to be in trouble. Its not going to happen. They have people that are happy with the game and solid playerbase. Just look at blizzcon and you'll have your answer.
I don't think they would be in trouble.
I think they are getting new small kids as they become of age to play ( 7 and 8 years old ). BUT if they did not mess with the old world the way that they did ( wow on rails ) and 80-85 content ( short and hard ) they would keep vets along with adding the new kids !
I would guess it will stay about even..........loose some, gain some.............DiD they make money?........YES, lot's on sales of the expantion.............Did they loose out ?........no, they won because of the sales.
Regarding subscription numbers they will never be in trouble. It's the changes to the gameplay that will hurt them the most. They have enough people playing who will either adjust their playstyle and learn the game or just put up with it. Rage quitters don't stay away very long, they always come back. It's a win situation for Blizzard no matter what they do.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
It will happen, probably just not now.
But if Wow have the same number of Western players the 3rd of february 2016 as it have today I will eat my hat (and it is a large leather hat). Of course in China anything can happen and it is possible that Wow havn't peaked there yet but instead might become a lot larger there.
what if that 50% was NA/EU players then blizzard would be in trouble, tor and gw2 will effect blizzards subscriber numbers in the west, the rest are in china and pay per hour.
I believe that WoW is seeing a 7% year on year shrinkage.
does that mean it's in trouble? lol no... Blizz have a long LONG way to go before they see this game struggle.
Going on that 7% figure though, assuming no acceleration or even reversal, they might be down to 1,000,000 subs in a decade or so
1 million subs in a decade or so, you must be joking if you think wow will still be running in 2021. The new technology that will be available by then will make games like wow laughable,
i dont think technology matters that much, even with 6 year old game engine and cartoony graphics, no else is doing anything to WoW.
your right, these games die so quickly... right?
12 years in and EQ is still selling expansions, has a very stable playerbase, has recently introduced housing and is opening a new server...
imo you underestimate these games. I think it is VERY viable that wow will still be here in a decade, and still doing bigger numbers that most of it's rivals.
Removing off-topic section sounds to me that 10mil+ sub base is heavily over estimated these days
Also Blizz is locking a lot, and removing quite a few of posts in the general forums that are in negative tone. There must be something going on behind the curtains...
Anyway, I came back to WoW for Cata and quit after few weeks. Not because the difficulti raise which seems to be the achilles for many, but because Cata didnt introduce anything that we havent seen in that game already. Very weak execution of an expansion. You'd think with such high revenues they'd hire more people to actually add something else than a handful of maps and textures to a game.
But yeah, WoW's not going to die because of other titles just because it has got so big that people who dont understand anything about gaming or let alone mmorpgs, are still joining WoW for the community where a lot of their friends/family/etc spend time. They dont even want to join another title because it is not what they are looking for or why they joined the first place, and that's a huge comfort for Blizzard.
Sorry but saying wow will have 1 million subs in 10 years time is ridiculous. technology does matter over the course of 10 years. more things will change in the next 10 years than any previous decade, we wont be using pc screens as you know it and i see the mouse and the keyboard becoming obsolete.
For every Whiney McBitcherton that is there, posting in WoW forums, there are thousands of people that love Cata.
I am one of many I've seen that has subbed to WoW for the first time in YEARS, and like me, they are having a blast.
The biggest negative I've seen from Cata, is that the reworked 1-60 experience has made the Burning Crusade content feel ridiculously grindy. I couldn't wait to get "done" with it and move on to Northrend, and I haven't seen enough of Northrend to determine if it seems dull in comparison, as well.
In case you haven't guessed by now, I haven't yet seen the high level content from Cata, so I have no opinion on that. But if it's done like 1-60 was redone, I'm sure to like it.
WoW is the only MMO can be played without mouse and keyboard, check the video where Kinect is hacked and playing WoW with it, so that make WoW technologically advanced or atleast got huge opportunity but probably blizzard will make WoW2 rather then redoing graphics/engine updates for current WoW as it has hugeee contents around 26GB.
I've seen a lot of longterm players leaving wow quite fast after Cata release. Most of my friends stoped playing including me. But is WoW loosing it's players? I don't think so. There is still quite a lot new people buying and playing wow, i think a lot of old players stoped playing, because there is not enough inovation, and after years of playing, "more of the same" does just not cut it.
Yes there are thousands that love Cata shame theres only thousands when millions are playing though .
I should'nt worry too much about the Burning Crusade Content Blizzard will rework that and streamline it soon so you will be able to go though it in a few hours play .
I guess it depends on what you like . For me going through content that has zero challenge at all to get to an endgame is pretty unsatisfying and boring .
erm.. i think you missed what he was saying...
it's a ratio thing.
For me personally, I played through cata, hit 85 and ran a few heroics and I just wasn't into anymore. So much so, that I canceled my sub (which I've done before when I've gotten bored and taken some time off from it) AND uninstalled the game. I'm done with it, I had my fun and I'm just not interested in it anymore. (also uninstalling WoW is like getting a new hard drive, so much free space now).
While WoW is still the top dog, I think it's at it's peak and will start to head downward after the Cata subscription surge subsides. I know alot of my friends are bored with it as well and really considering leaving as well, not for a new game coming out, but just because it's become old hat. This is going to happen no matter what, the game can't last forever.
The WoW community really isn't that great either, I know with that many people you'll get all kinds, but the bad ones really seem to stick out for some reason in that game.
The real question for me is how fast is this going to happen? Will it be a gradual steady decline over the years, surging when a new xpac comes out, then continuing is downward trend, start out slow and gain momentum like a snowball effect, or will everyone just up and leave almost at once?
I don't think Rift, ToR, or GW2 are able to topple WoW on their own, but release them all in the same year or close to it, and I find it hard to believe that all of them together can't take a nice chuck out of WoWs numbers. I haven't heard anyone mention this yet, as everyone is looking for ONE game to do it, well how about three solid games in one year to bring some balance to the market?
I think you missed what he was getting at in his reply....
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"