Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
WOTLK: Epic Fail?
Wearacup
Member Posts: 161
The other day I posted a message asking why Activision Blizzard stock is doing so abysmally on the tail of record profits last quarter, and a massive new expansion just in time for Thanksgiving shopping and Christmas. Some amateur market followers were quick to point out the global recession as the answer.
Somehow I doubt they have been following the stock recently. Although far from soaring, Activision Blizzard has been hovering at about the same spot with minor gains and losses daily. However, the day of the release it dropped nearly two dollars and many of the $12.50 strike price options terminating in January dropped by 50%! That's nuts considering how much money Blizzard is supposed to be grossing on this expansion, new subscriptions and subscription renewals. Not to mention the "record turnouts" posted in the gaming news.
Also, I played WOW when Burning Crusade came out. Where I live, you simply could not find that box if you didn't line up at midnight at your local Gamestop the night before release. Burning Crusade was on back order everywhere. You couldn't even get it at the most distant ghetto b.f.e. Wal-Mart in the middle of nowhere.
Today I was shopping for a new a/c adapter for my laptop and I went to three different electronics stores and they had piles of WOTLK boxes. I know times are tough, but most people that can afford gaming rigs and 40+ hours of raiding per week can afford a $40 expansion.
So, is it really the market recession, or is the behemoth in death throes? Maybe 10,000,000 divided by fanboys running 36 accounts on their super nerd rig in their mom's basement and 2,000,000 Chinese gold farming slaves is not that high of a number after all.
Trammies need to stop polluting the MMORPG landscape. They already have enough games in which to emote hugs and sell garbage by the banks.
Comments
Send me your stock.
AOL Stock did the exact same thing when AOL was at it's highest subscriber level. Stock price sometimes has very little to do with actual product market performance.
I admit, I am no expert at these things, not by a mile, but if you think the ungodly amount of money Blizzard is going to make off this expansion is somehow a (insert kiddy expession here) failure, then I challenge you to show me a real success from any of the games on this board.
Played (more than a month): SWG, Second Life, Tabula Rasa, Lineage 2, Everquest 2, EvE, MxO, Ryzom.
Tried: WoW, Shadowbane, Anarchy Online, Everquest, WWII Online, Planetside
Beta: Lotro, Tabula Rasa, WAR.
I count success to be dependent on the person using it.
If you were to bring in 6 million sales on an expansion... I think someone, somewhere, out there would count that as a success. You just made a lot of money for the organization you worked for...
If you were to donate all your money to a religious organization, i'm fairly certain someone, many ones, within that organization would consider you a success. Hey you just did something extremely generous and good... you'd be assured a good place in the afterlife.
I'm certain people will point out "There are queues on the server that have not been there since Burning crusade... or WoW's release!"
But they fail to realize that blizzard lowered the population cap on each of the servers to prevent things from getting too bad... be able to analyze the expansion launch effectively... locate problem areas quickly...etc. It was a good trick I hope all MMO dev's/admins learned from WAR.
In any case, success is a matter of opinion... I treat it similarly to how I treat the word "great"
People have a tendency to treat "great" as a good word, but tend to forget it's use in phrases like "great evil", "great destruction", or "great dismay"...
Greatness is obtainable by being Good or Evil...
Blizzard is Great... of that I have no doubt.
Blizzard will be successful, even if they don't sell as many as they hoped, have to lay off employees to cut costs, or have to merge servers... because they sold more than any other MMO out there.
In the eyes of those that see it that way.
Did WotLK fail?
Fail to meet what? Blizzard "Sets" the standard... because no one else has come close.
So no one can really say they "failed" because there was no bar for them to reach or pass...
Is Blizzard in a decline? I say yes... but it looks like that decline will take a LONG time to hit the point where some other game can pass Blizzard... in terms of Blizzards "Greatness" or "Success"
Welcome to the World of Crap Economy! ATVI (the stock symbol for activision blizzard) is just one of those stocks that are feeling the side effects of a golbal cooldown. This new expansion will do gang busters worldwide and bilzz will continue to rake in the cash. Now or pretty soon is the time for investors to get in cheap on a world class company.
However, the day of the release it dropped nearly two dollars and many of the $12.50 strike price options terminating in January dropped by 50%!
ATVI splited at Sep 8, that's why.
That they have enough expansion packs in the stores could just mean that they wised up since the last time. They were selling a lot here, all game stores had midnight open and thousands of people were there.
No, so far Wow is still in the top. I don't think it will be so big in 2 years however when the next expansion hit the shelves, the game is aging and need a total revamp to kepp up with time if they plan to keep the subs for another 2 years.
On the other hand might Blizz new MMO come out then so maybe they will still stay on top for another 5 years.
Nothing last for ever and while Wow don't get many new players anymore (at least not many more than the ones that quits), Blizz still are the big one. Any stock going down so far is probably due to the global economy.
I am also willing to bet a few bucks that Blizz next game will be huge.
Had the biggest launch of any game ever in the UK, according to Eurogamer.com.
If that's a fail, I want to know what a win is
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
Maybe they got more copies out this time? Some companies do learn from their previous supply failures you know. Today I went to a Wal-Mart close to where I work and it was Sold Out,Went to my local Wal-Mart and saw 4 copies in stock.I started to buy my copy,but decided its better to wait a few weeks and let the areas thin out a bit.
A very negative 'game' sales report came out yesterday for the month of October. Both EA and ATVI tanked on it. Something like -16% decrease in game sales compared to last October for the gaming sector. Also there was an article written about the 'music' games not selling very well so far this month, which also hurt ATVI (guitar hero) and EA (rock band).
I own ATVI... i'm not worried. Guitar Hero World Tour, COD5, and Wrath all coming out within a month of each other? ATVI also has 40% more titles being released next year then this year. I don't worry too much about short term stuff. In the long term, fundamentals always win out. ATVI has huge revenue growth, highly profitable, a ton of money in the bank, and they are buying back a billion dollars worth of stock.
Wrath's sold out where I live and I'm looking at a 30-50 minute queue to get my server tonight.
The only failure on Blizzard's part is not anticipating demand. With this genre you've got to make it possible for people to log on and play their main characters when they want to.
My youtube MMO gaming channel
Lol its the complete oposite experience here in montreal .
When BC came out i went to my local EB game and they had a bunch . This time i called EB game/staple/best buy and they were all out only Future shop had some left .
I am assuming you are a PROFESSIONAL market follower and make your living that way?
If so, very cool. High stress, high salary; very nice for you.
If not, get in line with the other amateur market followers, just fit right in with the rest of us no one will hate you. Your opinion carries no more weight than the rest of them. Even if you were a pro, you might be wrong still. Alan Greenspan was. T. Boone Pickens was and a host of others.
Theres always room for one more amateur. Welcome!
"TO MICHAEL!"
The market sucks right now. I lost 18k from my retirement fund, but I know one person that lost 100k and another person that lost 200k. So lot of people are hurting.
Prices will go up though. Either that or when I am too old to work I just shoot myself.
I had to cash out my 401k last year for moving expenses. I hated myself for doing it, but it was an emergency. Now I'm glad I did. At the time I had 100% risk investments. Now I'm only 10% risk and barely lost anything in this fiasco.
I would have lost substantially more then it cost me to cash out my 401k. So what made me sick to my stomach to do at the time, now makes me extremely happy!
Ain't karma grand!
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
That's the spirit. LOL!
Trammies need to stop polluting the MMORPG landscape. They already have enough games in which to emote hugs and sell garbage by the banks.
After the queues showed up, Blizz immediately set up transfers to low population servers. It's been incredibly smooth since WotLK launched.