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Does SIGIL release Vanguard subscription figures?
Agricola1
Member UncommonPosts: 4,977
I was wondering if SIGIL is planning on releasing the amount of subscribers Vanguard has by the first quarterly since release. If they do already then I'd be interested to know, however they are working with SOE so I'd guess if they do well they'll release numbers. Otherwise they'll swear blind they had no intention of ever releasing subscription figures.
I believe the biggest problem for Vanguard is the system requirements, also after doing that massive download I think many people would expect alot more than Brads' vision delivers.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
Comments
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Life sucks, buy a helmet.
I voted for soso, because the potential is deff there and you can easily see it, but it just isn't polished enough yet.
Also, the info was already released somewhere and they are around 150k-200k subscribers.
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Thanks to Gervaise1 from our message forums for finding this tidbit over on MMORPG.com:
There you have it, from the mouth of the horse himself.
http://vanguardvault.ign.com/fullstory.php?id=27325
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm?thread=118629&page=4&bhcp=1
-- -Rosethorn- @ Sunday, 11 Mar, 2007'Registered users' is anyone who's ever created an account through any means. So anyone's who has bought a box, used their station access, or received a trial key and decided to use it is apart of that 150,000 or so registered users. Releasing numbers like that is akin to the Lineage 2 mess you can find in the tagline of stores about '14 million subscribers have paid to date.' Except the Lineage II figure one-ups 'registered users' in that those folks were at least paying subscribers at some point.
Either way, Brad danced as diligently as he could around giving out subscriber numbers. Don't automatically assume unless a developer says it, and defines their definition of a customer, that they mean recurring paying subscribers on an active account.
The only clue towards a subscriber count he gave us was that it's doing similar to EQ1 at a comparable time period. It took Everquest 1 over half a year if not a full year to get near a number like 150,000. So barely two months in, I doubt Vanguard has many more than 50,000 or so active subscribers. Whether or not it can really follow Everquest 1 or any other MMO depends on whether or not boxes continue to move off shelves and the retention rate becomes something comparable.
Once Sigil gains some bravado, or rather reasons to have some, I imagine we'll see State of the Game posts or other press releases addressing all the good stuff of subscriber numbers, retention rates and peak simultaneous users. Probably not though.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
The first clue that there is a problem is that he talks about registered users not subscribers or
subscription numbers. Registered users are box sales, buddy keys, or station access.
The second clue is when he mentions the people who bought the game right away (not those who
bought at release). You really have to watch the words used by marketing types closely.
The third clue is when he mentions that they needed more time and the timing of the launch.
Finally the statement that very few people have cancelled can mean one of a couple of things :
1. Most of the registered users were buddy keys so they didn't cancel
2. Many of the people cancelled their station pass and not the game
3. When your box sales are small, a few could mean anything from a small number
to a significant percentage.
Until he really talks about actual subscription numbers and not registered users, his statements are
meaningless.
I gotta say, I'm skeptical of the 150,000 + numbers.... but until they decide to define what a customer is and how many of those they actually have....the world will never know...
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
John Lennon
We have now gone through billing cycles for the people who bought the game right away and very few people have cancelled.
Yeah ok... very few have cancelled ? That is such PR bs.
Alot of cancelled.. and wait till the end of this month.
-Allegria
(and does not include the initial 30 day trial). If Brad had meant 120K subscriptions, he would NOT
have said registered users.
Most people seem to think that just because a few dozen post-happy folks here at MMORPG.COM like to post how they canceled and then revile the game, that automatically means "everyone" has canceled. MMORPG.COM's readers are not typical MMO players. Most MMO players do not read any forums at all. They just log in and play. If they do read forums, most Vanguard players are reading (a) their guild's forums, or (b) a site like SilkyVenom. They are not here, reading about Vanguard in this forum. So you can't take what is going on in this forum to be "representative" of what is happening in the larger game. I mean, after all if you read the WOW or General forum here the WOW-hate is astronomically high, and from just reading these forums (if WOW didn't release subs numbers) I'd think WOW was a disaster of a game. But clearly, the forum here is not telling the whole story for WOW. So why would you think it is telling the whole story for any other game, including Vanguard?
I'm not trying to argue that lots of subscriptions have not been canceled. Maybe they have. But you can't say it from the data available to us, as players -- which is all entirely anecdotal. Like Brad's statements or not, they are the most accurate representation of subscriber numbers you're going to get. A survey of the fanatics here at MMORPG.COM sure isn't going to get you better numbers. Nor is a poll of your guild, or the neighbors on the block.... and what other data do you all have? None, that I can see.
C
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
The only reason that people are interested in subscription numbers here is either to bash or show off that they were right/they were wrong in arguments on these boards. I'm sure Sigil's interest in throwing fuel on the MMORPG.com website to generate game interest on these forums is very far from they're #1 things to do list.
As a gamer, I'm not really interested in how many people play it or whether user: JimBob9696 from MMORPG.com enjoys the game.
I do play VG part time and enjoy it but the game needs more time to fill out in both content and performance issues which is why some people have left or they just don't enjoy the game.
Not really sure...
I bought the Collector's edition as soon as it became available at Best Buy, when BB wasn't even selling the single packed game yet.
I played...rather attempted to play the game for one week, then cancelled.
Somewhere along the line, my "special rewards" were redeemed, yet I didn't receive them. Petition said to use the web-site support,Web-site Support said to use in-game petiton...Both ended up saying there was nothing they could do for me...
So, I cancelled. Pity really, I have an $80box now. The game had some interesting mechanics, but overall,the card playing with NPC's might of been enough to keep me, but the poopy Customer Service wasn't.
Hey, if anyone lives in Apache Junction,Arizona....they can have it.
After GameSpot bought EB, EB no longer buys PC games from customers.
"Good gaming to all and to all a good game."
Can only speak of my experience with VG on the european server and the current guild I am in.
I have not heard of many people say they are leaving the game or are going to cancel, only had one friend cancel cos he didn't like the game. The guild is pretty boyant, with regularly amounts on in the evening and large amounts at the weekend.
As far as population goes, the new bie areas are still 40+ (/who does first 40) and the 30th ish areas I am in are always 40+ except very late at night.
The stats page says I am 539,464 position for some things (56,170 on the server) so thats half a million characters created and around 50k on the European server.
Sure there was folks during the open beta who didn't like it.
So taking into account all the stats stuff and what Brad has said, seems pretty realistic.
As for Brads words, I trust him a damn sight more than I trust anyone on this site, he has been open and honest about the state of the game.
If you don't agree with what I have said, I really don't give a monkeys, just relayed what I have seen.
Now playing: VG (after a long break from MMORPGS)
Played for more than a month: Darkfall online, Vanguard SOH, Everquest, Horizons, WoW, SWG, Everquest II, Eve
How many subscribers does VG really have? Just like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie-pop...the world may never know...
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon