WoW Classic drives a huge jump in subscribers According to SuperData

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WoW Classic drives a huge jump in subscribers According to SuperData

According to research firm, SuperData, WoW Classic was a major factor in boosting World of Warcraft subscriptions in August.

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Thupli

I haven't subbed since cataclysm. It looks like the numbers say that I am not the only one!

Utinni

Thupli said:

I haven't subbed since cataclysm. It looks like the numbers say that I am not the only one!

Insightful comment!

Kyleran

Utinni said:

Thupli said:

I haven't subbed since cataclysm. It looks like the numbers say that I am not the only one!

Insightful comment!

Just as much as this news, I feel the title should have started out with "Surprising absolutely no one...."

Nilden

I wish we could get some official Blizzard numbers but I saw people saying 3 to 4 million subbed for classic.

Utinni

Nilden said:

I wish we could get some official Blizzard numbers but I saw people saying 3 to 4 million subbed for classic.

I'd say much less than that. My server still has queues but 3-4 million is a lotttttttt of players. I'd probably guess less than 1million subbed for classic.

Siris23

Ah Superdata, selling bs made up numbers to whatever sucker will buy them. Is LoL still topping those "MMO charts"

gervaise1

Nilden said:

I wish we could get some official Blizzard numbers but I saw people saying 3 to 4 million subbed for classic.

So ....

since "people" said WoW had 7M in the run up to Vanilla launching and ....
the same data that "people" used for the 3-4M number indicated that classic had about 300k....

that means - counts on fingers - WoW must have lost 3 to 4M subscibers.

According to "people" of course. 



Alternatively if WoW has 3-4M and Superdata is right and subs jumped 223% then subs pre-launch were only around c. 1.5M. According to "people" + Superdata. I wonder whether they rounded the decimal point up or down?
 

Acalex

"hey lots of people want classic"
"You guys don't want this"
*makes classic, people subscribe*

Celcius

Yup, it is in excess of 3 million more subs from WoW classic.

Kyleran

Celcius said:

Yup, it is in excess of 3 million more subs from WoW classic.

Link from Blizzard or it didn't happen.

  

BruceYee

How can Blizzard now not consider making a WoW 2 based on WoW classic format.
50 mil for them now is a piss in the bucket compared to the 90's when they secured that original funding from Vivendi. If possible vaporware like Ashes of Creation can get 40mil investor funding then who on earth with the money would not invest in a WoW 2 that could possibly see hundreds of millions in return on subs in the first year alone.

JeroKane

BruceYee said:

How can Blizzard now not consider making a WoW 2 based on WoW classic format.

50 mil for them now is a piss in the bucket compared to the 90's when they secured that original funding from Vivendi. If possible vaporware like Ashes of Creation can get 40mil investor funding then who on earth with the money would not invest in a WoW 2 that could possibly see hundreds of millions in return on subs in the first year alone.

Because Blizzard no longer exists. Its 100% ActiVision now.

Why would they risk spending 100-200+ million developing WoW2, while they can just milk players playing WoW Classic.

If they are smart, they just treat it as a very slow progression server and release TBC in two years and then WotLK two years after that. Which is still considered to be the best expac of WoW to date.

That is 6 years easy revenue, just milking classic servers by re-releasing existing content with little effort.

Phry

Superdata pointing out that the Sky is indeed Blue and that Grass is green.

Phry

Kyleran said:

Celcius said:

Yup, it is in excess of 3 million more subs from WoW classic.

Link from Blizzard or it didn't happen.

  

3 million is probably a very conservative estimate, its likely we will never see any real figures put out by Activision because ironically Classic WoW is a competitor for Retail WoW, which might sound crazy but consider this, why would Classic WoW players buy the next Retail WoW expansion? So while Activision is no doubt hoping that the resurgence of Classic will filter players into Retail, the reverse is probably true, Classic is taking the bulk of what remained of Retail, and there were not that many retail players left. This is the likely scenario, Activision will continue to patch Retail WoW, but they will hold off of putting out another expansion until/unless sufficient players are playing Retail to risk it as putting out an expac and it having sales in the 100's or worse in the tens of thousands rather than numbering in the millions would be devastating.

Thomas2006

Well of course the total revenue was lower then BFA. BFA was a paid expansion where you bought an expansion vs just a paid sub. I would hope BFA would have a higher revenue at its release or otherwise WoW would be in a very poor state of affairs.

Now if blizzard charged an expansion style price to get access to Classic then we could really compare the two and get a good view what players wanted. But right now this really means jack when comparing a expansion release month revenue to just another wow month with classic access being added.

Scot

For all that this is good news, as I mentioned before this will not effect the direction MMOs are travelling in. Gaming companies will simply see this as another product on offer, it won't make them think modern WoW or any other MMORPG needs a rethink on what make for the best gameplay. Indeed even though there have been some comments from developers about a rethink I see that as just expectation management. The new school model sells well, old school would have to out sell new school before they sat up and took notice. I am one of those who would like to see a hybrid approach between old and new, if that's what you are hoping will come out of this don't hold your breathe. 

Lawlmonster

I don't see why they would need to rethink anything at all either, beside what forms of their content they'll continue to allow access. It seems pretty straight forward to me. Launch classic servers, continue updating your currently released retail version, collect the money from both audiences rather than trying to cater to everyone with a single product that ultimately alienates a portion of your player base.

Galadourn

Classic is a solid RPG game in an MMO environment, unlike retail (post Cata) which was an attempt to lobby-ARPG the game. I hope Blizzard takes notice.

Kyleran

Phry said:

Kyleran said:

Celcius said:

Yup, it is in excess of 3 million more subs from WoW classic.

Link from Blizzard or it didn't happen.

  

3 million is probably a very conservative estimate, its likely we will never see any real figures put out by Activision because ironically Classic WoW is a competitor for Retail WoW, which might sound crazy but consider this, why would Classic WoW players buy the next Retail WoW expansion? So while Activision is no doubt hoping that the resurgence of Classic will filter players into Retail, the reverse is probably true, Classic is taking the bulk of what remained of Retail, and there were not that many retail players left. This is the likely scenario, Activision will continue to patch Retail WoW, but they will hold off of putting out another expansion until/unless sufficient players are playing Retail to risk it as putting out an expac and it having sales in the 100's or worse in the tens of thousands rather than numbering in the millions would be devastating.

You say this based on faith, not fact. 

My friends wife plays BFA and loves it. She's in an active guild that lost only a few members, and it remains to be seen what the retention rate will be in the coming months for Classic.

Those who live under the bridge know gamers are a fickle bunch, always chasing rainbows....

  

acidblood

Scot said:

For all that this is good news, as I mentioned before this will not effect the direction MMOs are travelling in. Gaming companies will simply see this as another product on offer, it won't make them think modern WoW or any other MMORPG needs a rethink on what make for the best gameplay. Indeed even though there have been some comments from developers about a rethink I see that as just expectation management. The new school model sells well, old school would have to out sell new school before they sat up and took notice. I am one of those who would like to see a hybrid approach between old and new, if that's what you are hoping will come out of this don't hold your breathe. 

Why does it have to be one or the other (or even a hybrid)?

If nothing else, surely the numbers around Classic WoW prove that there is a large segment of the market that has been starved for a decent MMO for so long that they are willing to show up on-mass for a 15-year-old game.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

blackthornn

Utinni said:

Nilden said:

I wish we could get some official Blizzard numbers but I saw people saying 3 to 4 million subbed for classic.

I'd say much less than that. My server still has queues but 3-4 million is a lotttttttt of players. I'd probably guess less than 1million subbed for classic.

Article says sub/revenue numbers grew 223% with classic. So less then only like 500k ppl play retail?

Phry

Kyleran said:

Phry said:

Kyleran said:

Celcius said:

Yup, it is in excess of 3 million more subs from WoW classic.

Link from Blizzard or it didn't happen.

  

3 million is probably a very conservative estimate, its likely we will never see any real figures put out by Activision because ironically Classic WoW is a competitor for Retail WoW, which might sound crazy but consider this, why would Classic WoW players buy the next Retail WoW expansion? So while Activision is no doubt hoping that the resurgence of Classic will filter players into Retail, the reverse is probably true, Classic is taking the bulk of what remained of Retail, and there were not that many retail players left. This is the likely scenario, Activision will continue to patch Retail WoW, but they will hold off of putting out another expansion until/unless sufficient players are playing Retail to risk it as putting out an expac and it having sales in the 100's or worse in the tens of thousands rather than numbering in the millions would be devastating.

You say this based on faith, not fact. 

My friends wife plays BFA and loves it. She's in an active guild that lost only a few members, and it remains to be seen what the retention rate will be in the coming months for Classic.

Those who live under the bridge know gamers are a fickle bunch, always chasing rainbows....

  

Well its funny you should say that because my Uncles second cousins best friends sister used to play BfA too and all her friends now play Classic 

Mensur

8 million!

Phry

Mensur said:

8 million!

wouldn't surprise me, now, if the subs keep rolling in for the next 6 months then there will probably be a major re-write for Retail.