Remember, a lot of people (including myself) are locked into a 1 year term because of the Dibalo III deal they had. I didn't buy the xpac, and will be unsubscribing when it is up. I wanted it at the time, but not anymore. When the contract expires for the majority, the # of subs will obviously drop.
I do not see any problem with this numbers. Usually first to buy new expansion are players (and fans) that actually have high level alts (I have all of them, 10) but also those that want to start i.e. new class or alike.
Also I know kids of few friends, that also love to play wow and would buy expansion IF would be released not so close at start of school. Many buy before some vacation or alike. This 2,7 are fans that can not resist not to play. I think next big wave could be near christmas time or around new year, school vacations in february in my country, .... etc.
Also does any1 believe ANY game can go only up with sub numbers? Impossible, sooner or later there will be decrease in numbers, maybe at some point later again increase, ... etc etc. Only haters and malevolent persons can marvel at this or be happy with decrease.
Blizzard will be I think getting my money for Wow as long as it will exist. If this will be 20 years from now i guess will still be playing it. My wish to play is still strong, I'm ammazed by every new expansion again and again. Their graphics are "ever-green", never getting old. No other game can compete here, no matter how good graphics may be at release. On the other hand they will getting less sub money from me on long run. Main reason there are also other very good games out there (few years ago there was only wow and nothing else really worth playing for long) and i love to try anything new. I have my preffered dish of food but still wanting to try something new from time to time. :-))
Also I hated so much changes to end game introduced with Cata (for me that was 5man, never got into raiding as to much time consuming) that they lost me I guess permanently for this. Will guess for at least some expansions more level all my alts to max for love of traveling and comparing, but then will go to other games and will be back only short before every new release.
For an 8 y/o game 2.7 millions boxes are not bad at all, decline or not.
I didn't bouight MOP because I don't like Pandas, but kudos to Blizzard for convincing 2.7 Millions the expansion was good enough
I was kinda dissapointed by that too , I mean pandas ? Come on ... But I bought the expansion anyway , and theres a surprise . This is the best expansion ever . I dont ever remember having this much fun . And dont mistake me for a fanboy or anything , after diablo 3 and pandas , I was thinking thats it for Blizzard , no more quality games from them . But Mop is almost perfect from a casual players point of view . Quests are well designed , humorous and in line with pandarien lore , caught myself laughing hard lots of times , kudos to the quest writers . The world never felt this alive , its is extremely well designed . Add the critter fights , the cooking quests and farm mini games , brilliant . After bashing them so hard for what I didnt yet experience , I feel obligated to say this , good work ....
I loved idea of pandas since first seconds into preview what will be about new expansions. Awesome idea, they look great and cute at same time. Of course many still do not know pandas existed in wow much before cartoon Kung fu Panda.
As for MOP, love them, how they look, move, ... etc. And as you noted maybe have one of the best designed areas so far from all expansions (not that other were bad). I do not care if they wanted to appeal to China players, areas are great. And love China, Thai, ... architecture.
As for finding my best expansion of wow have hard times to decide. In every loved something and disliked something else. They were all great.
Blizzard sold 4.7+ million Cata. Blizzard sold 2.7 million MoP. That is a 2 million copy difference. It is an absolutely massive drop. Almost as massive as how many copies of the expansion they sold.
See, that's just not true. Cataclysm sold 3.3 million in first week and 4.7 overall. So yes, it's a drop, but not that massive considering the already known drop in subscribers and the general state of the industry.
and anyone who paid for 1 hour is a player in eyes of blizzard
these numbers are way way too high
In your eyes, these people are not players?
How so?
By the way, you only assume such people exist. Why would someone log in for only 1 hour each month? Can you imagine such a player? Can you possibly be so incredibly and completely ignorant?
Seriously, though, seriously, is that what you're saying?
Or are you saying that each month there's millions upon millions of NEW players in Asia, who only try WoW for an hour and decide it's not for them?
BECAUSE THOSE ARE THE ONLY OPTIONS. Because, you know, BASIC MATH.
I guess that's difficult to understand, since so many of you keep bringing it up!
Blizzard sold 4.7+ million Cata. Blizzard sold 2.7 million MoP. That is a 2 million copy difference. It is an absolutely massive drop. Almost as massive as how many copies of the expansion they sold.
See, that's just not true. Cataclysm sold 3.3 million in first week and 4.7 overall. So yes, it's a drop, but not that massive considering the already known drop in subscribers and the general state of the industry.
About 18%((3.3-2.7)/3.3) which is about one fift drop in first week sales... Isn't that quite a lot?
Blizzard sold 4.7+ million Cata. Blizzard sold 2.7 million MoP. That is a 2 million copy difference. It is an absolutely massive drop. Almost as massive as how many copies of the expansion they sold.
See, that's just not true. Cataclysm sold 3.3 million in first week and 4.7 overall. So yes, it's a drop, but not that massive considering the already known drop in subscribers and the general state of the industry.
About 18%((3.3-2.7)/3.3) which is about one fift drop in first week sales... Isn't that quite a lot?
Relative to the amount of subscribers the drop is nowhere near as much as you say.
In basic numbers, less people bought it, but since the population was 12+ million when cata hit and now its 10 million or just below it makes it around the same % of players buying and playing the expansion.
So yes, less people in hard numbers bought the expansion but by now it's probably sold upwards of 3 million copies in the west, that's better performance than any other MMO on the market. I don't think Blizz need to be too worried about the competition, this expansion is far better than the last one so as long as they keep producing decent content people will keep playing.
Also don't forget the player demographic has changed over the last few years. The eastern player percentage has increased significanlty, whilst the west has decreased.
Do these sales figures reflect total global salea? I read that the Chinese/Asian market accounts for just under 50% of the player base now.
Also don't forget the player demographic has changed over the last few years. The eastern player percentage has increased significanlty, whilst the west has decreased.
Do these sales figures reflect total global salea? I read that the Chinese/Asian market accounts for just under 50% of the player base now.
Actually in the last announcement that Vivendi made about the decline in numbers (the drop to 9.1Mill in August) they put it down to majority of the loss of Asian player base, not Western players;
"We ended Q2 at about 9.1 million subscribers worldwide," Michael Morhaime president of Blizzard Entertainment told analysts."
"This figure is down from the 10.2 million we reported at the end of Q1, with the majority of declines at the quarter coming from the East."
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Blizzard sold 4.7+ million Cata. Blizzard sold 2.7 million MoP. That is a 2 million copy difference. It is an absolutely massive drop. Almost as massive as how many copies of the expansion they sold.
See, that's just not true. Cataclysm sold 3.3 million in first week and 4.7 overall. So yes, it's a drop, but not that massive considering the already known drop in subscribers and the general state of the industry.
About 18%((3.3-2.7)/3.3) which is about one fift drop in first week sales... Isn't that quite a lot?
That number (18%) is wrong as well, since (already pointed out) sub count is lower. You can look at this from different angles, of course, so you are technically correct - it did sell less. But it had less people to sell to as well. Granted, it brought some players back - but so did Cata (11,4 - 12 million).
Assuming the loss in playerbase was in the west, of course, but let's take that as a given since any WoW hater will tell you subs only rise in China. Only Blizzard knows the actual numbers, but looking at MoP sales we can safely assume it's true (less players in the west).
Some more raw numbers that don't mean anything, since most of the ~10 million don't need to buy expansions (get them free):
27,5% of active players bought Cata (first day) from a base of 12 million
27% of active players bought MoP (first week) fro ma base of 10 million.
That's just one way of looking at the numbers, but I believe as far as MoP success goes, it's the most accurate. If you want to talk about how WoW is doing as a whole, obviously 2.7 is less than 3.3.
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I do not see any problem with this numbers. Usually first to buy new expansion are players (and fans) that actually have high level alts (I have all of them, 10) but also those that want to start i.e. new class or alike.
Also I know kids of few friends, that also love to play wow and would buy expansion IF would be released not so close at start of school. Many buy before some vacation or alike. This 2,7 are fans that can not resist not to play. I think next big wave could be near christmas time or around new year, school vacations in february in my country, .... etc.
Also does any1 believe ANY game can go only up with sub numbers? Impossible, sooner or later there will be decrease in numbers, maybe at some point later again increase, ... etc etc. Only haters and malevolent persons can marvel at this or be happy with decrease.
Blizzard will be I think getting my money for Wow as long as it will exist. If this will be 20 years from now i guess will still be playing it. My wish to play is still strong, I'm ammazed by every new expansion again and again. Their graphics are "ever-green", never getting old. No other game can compete here, no matter how good graphics may be at release. On the other hand they will getting less sub money from me on long run. Main reason there are also other very good games out there (few years ago there was only wow and nothing else really worth playing for long) and i love to try anything new. I have my preffered dish of food but still wanting to try something new from time to time. :-))
Also I hated so much changes to end game introduced with Cata (for me that was 5man, never got into raiding as to much time consuming) that they lost me I guess permanently for this. Will guess for at least some expansions more level all my alts to max for love of traveling and comparing, but then will go to other games and will be back only short before every new release.
I loved idea of pandas since first seconds into preview what will be about new expansions. Awesome idea, they look great and cute at same time. Of course many still do not know pandas existed in wow much before cartoon Kung fu Panda.
As for MOP, love them, how they look, move, ... etc. And as you noted maybe have one of the best designed areas so far from all expansions (not that other were bad). I do not care if they wanted to appeal to China players, areas are great. And love China, Thai, ... architecture.
As for finding my best expansion of wow have hard times to decide. In every loved something and disliked something else. They were all great.
See, that's just not true. Cataclysm sold 3.3 million in first week and 4.7 overall. So yes, it's a drop, but not that massive considering the already known drop in subscribers and the general state of the industry.
In your eyes, these people are not players?
How so?
By the way, you only assume such people exist. Why would someone log in for only 1 hour each month? Can you imagine such a player? Can you possibly be so incredibly and completely ignorant?
Seriously, though, seriously, is that what you're saying?
Or are you saying that each month there's millions upon millions of NEW players in Asia, who only try WoW for an hour and decide it's not for them?
BECAUSE THOSE ARE THE ONLY OPTIONS. Because, you know, BASIC MATH.
I guess that's difficult to understand, since so many of you keep bringing it up!
About 18%((3.3-2.7)/3.3) which is about one fift drop in first week sales... Isn't that quite a lot?
Relative to the amount of subscribers the drop is nowhere near as much as you say.
In basic numbers, less people bought it, but since the population was 12+ million when cata hit and now its 10 million or just below it makes it around the same % of players buying and playing the expansion.
So yes, less people in hard numbers bought the expansion but by now it's probably sold upwards of 3 million copies in the west, that's better performance than any other MMO on the market. I don't think Blizz need to be too worried about the competition, this expansion is far better than the last one so as long as they keep producing decent content people will keep playing.
Are you literally implying that nobody has purchased the expansion in the last 3 weeks?
Also don't forget the player demographic has changed over the last few years. The eastern player percentage has increased significanlty, whilst the west has decreased.
Do these sales figures reflect total global salea? I read that the Chinese/Asian market accounts for just under 50% of the player base now.
Actually in the last announcement that Vivendi made about the decline in numbers (the drop to 9.1Mill in August) they put it down to majority of the loss of Asian player base, not Western players;
"We ended Q2 at about 9.1 million subscribers worldwide," Michael Morhaime president of Blizzard Entertainment told analysts."
"This figure is down from the 10.2 million we reported at the end of Q1, with the majority of declines at the quarter coming from the East."
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
That number (18%) is wrong as well, since (already pointed out) sub count is lower. You can look at this from different angles, of course, so you are technically correct - it did sell less. But it had less people to sell to as well. Granted, it brought some players back - but so did Cata (11,4 - 12 million).
Assuming the loss in playerbase was in the west, of course, but let's take that as a given since any WoW hater will tell you subs only rise in China. Only Blizzard knows the actual numbers, but looking at MoP sales we can safely assume it's true (less players in the west).
Some more raw numbers that don't mean anything, since most of the ~10 million don't need to buy expansions (get them free):
27,5% of active players bought Cata (first day) from a base of 12 million
27% of active players bought MoP (first week) fro ma base of 10 million.
That's just one way of looking at the numbers, but I believe as far as MoP success goes, it's the most accurate. If you want to talk about how WoW is doing as a whole, obviously 2.7 is less than 3.3.