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Blizzard lied about the Sub lost?
MMOExposed
Member RarePosts: 7,387
Did Blizzard lie about the sub lost in the east, and instead had a major lost in the west?
seem like Blizzard is doing well in the east. So maybe they are just making more money off of the east, making up for the lost subs.
what you think the case is?
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Comments
We never have a way of actually knowing, and really in the end it does'nt matter. Personally I have continue to lose respect for Blizzard over the years, to me they are no longer the same company they were when they released games like D2 and WC3 People, however, still greatly enjoy their games and thats fine with me. I never understood the pure need to know exactly how many subscribers a game has, or to look at everything a game company says, as lying.
My Guild Wars 2 Vids
So....is this thread for speculation? Gut feelings? Hyperbole?
Do you have any reason to suspect the numbers are wrong, or is this "post-count-day"?
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
Probably wicked wrong here. But isn't it illegal to hide/misconstrue evidence in an openly traded company to investors?
Not that it would stop them even if it was.
Ya knowing the EXACT nummbers of subs and wether a game lost a few or gained a few was never that important to me. However, unfortunately the popularity of an MMO, unlike other type of games, effects their current playerbase and changes teh direction of the development of that game.
This is totaly unlike console or single player games that dont require constant updating. This is why major changes in MMO subs wether up or down are worthy of looking at. A desparate company thats hemmorging subs will make sweeping changes to their game where as a company thats gaining subs will make changes but keep on the same path they are on.
Due to the things i've witnessed in game (ghosttowns n such) to the long history showing how Blizzard really is about how they manipulate the public, and due to information gathered from other press sites, yes they did lie, and these same sites (not this one) shows us that in order to keep the WoW community in the dark about their success, Blizzard rarely releases anything negative about their REAL numbers and always prevents the public from knowing what's ACTUALLY happening. Since they finally did reveal that they indeed lost 1.9 subs mid last year and most recently did reveal (to a single website mind you) that they did lose 100k subs this year so far, I would speculate that they are on the verge of losing many many more for multiple reasons. A: the horrible mismanagement of the content in Cataclysm B: The age of the title C: The model of the game which is "squeeze as much time as possible from the players by putting in dailies that get you nowhere" complete with long drawn out rep grinds.
And i can only speculate that due to the annual pass for DIII which they failed to launch on time as promised when they put out that deal, is the only reason why many many subscribers are still subscribing tho not necessarily logging into the game.
They only need to report financial and legal information when reporting. Their financials do have to include how much revenue and costs they have but they can hide where both are coming from somewhat.
its been speculated that Blizzard is aiming its next expansion at the Eastern subs since they took the major dive over there in subs.
but Blizzard is making more money from the east after the sub lost, than before they lost it.
fishy. How does this all this blend in with the controversy over this eastern focus that people are speculating Blizzard in taking
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Hold on, wait a second. How did they promise Diablo III to be out by now? I've seen that same argument on another websites forum and it was flat out wrong.
It's illegal to outright lie.
It's also illegal to warp perception if it can be proven to be done in poor faith.
But they've basically been saying "It's okay guys, we only lost 100k subs"... which is the sum change of subscribers. They've lost a hell of a lot more than 100k in NA and EU. The growth in CN and BRL are offsetting the massive losses of the "premium" subscriber base.
They lost around 900k NA/EU, some where made up by the new region releases, bringing them to a 100k decrease overall.
Doesn't matter alot though when most of the playerbase (East) pays 15cents an hour.
Also, it's partially why well over 60% of the servers are ghost towns now.
They make more money from transfers off - and server mergers are a death knell in MMOLand, so by "ignoring" the problem presented by the fuckton of empty servers they get transfers and stave off some of the bleeding subscriptions, as said death knell merger would cause more to leave in disinterest or an unwillingness to play a game they perceive as "dying."
They released the info to a single website? It is on their website for investors. Trust me no investor cares about websites like this or any other MMORPG website.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
if blizzard is lying then bioware is lying about their sub numbers.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
Probably so but they will still be bigger than everyone else. It is still the best mmo on the market as of right now.
Grim Dawn, the next great action rpg!
http://www.grimdawn.com/
When these guys put out statements, they intentionally make them nebulous and dual meaning just so it can sound better than it really is. Just like EA's doublespeak last week, the same sentence could mean half or double of what it sounded like.
The only thing they can't disguise is the money, and even that is all creative accounting. As my partner likes to say while sailing on his 52 foot boat often, how he could qualify for food stamps if we need more shrimp.
As a corporation they have to file honest results or get in big legal trouble with the regulators and tax people. Not advisable for any company, yet alone one the size of ActBlizz that can be torn to shreds by the taxman, I strongly doubt the figures are inaccurate or untrue.
Haha so true.
I'm sure sueing Valve hasn't helped their subs any.
i just don't believe that wow has 11 million active subscriptions...that to me is an outright lie.
I may be mistaken, but I believe they are allowed to include active free trials in those numbers as well.
Yes but they word it to sound like 11 million subscriptions.
Blizzard doesn't include free trials in their figures.
Blizzard didn't only lied about lost subs, they lied about their numbers from ever since.
All these 15cent 1 hour internet-cafe accounts in China that no one needs to cancel. And since no one cancels them, they technically never expire. Therefore they are being counted as "active subs", while they aren't exactly that.
And oh, in before "no, public company must no lie!!". I wonder when folks get that they are being lied to about way bigger things on a daily basis.
What blizzard (and other companies for that matter) count as a subscriber is so vague and loose that it's pretty much pointless to debate these numbers. Every company has their own definition of what a 'subscriber' is, this is how blizzard defines a subscriber:
World of Warcraft’s Subscriber Definition
World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules.
Source: http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?id=2443926
I don't doubt that between the western subscription based mmo's WoW is most likely the most popular and subscribed one, however I don't think that the number of actual people playing WoW is anywhere near 10 million, probably closer to 6 million which would still be quite an impressive number.
It's simple, a lot of people on this site want Blizzard to lose all their subscibers. The fact it isn't happening as fast as their many predictions is obviously distressing to them. Strange obsession. If people still play and enjoy a game who cares. After I leave a game I don't wish it's demise (yes even WoW)
Holy cow, for real?
This thread has a seat reserved in my rocket ship, right alongside the Backstreet Boys and American Idol and Whitney Houston...next stop, the middle of the Sun...
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!