Originally posted by BitterClingerLet's see... 9.6 million active accounts times $12 per month (let's say EVERYONE buys 6 months at a time):
$115.2 million per month$1.4 billion per year
That's just subscription fees alone! That doesn't include mounts, pets, transfers, name changes, faction changes, and other paid services they offer.No amount of non-contributing F2P gamers are going to turn ANY game into a billion dollar per year franchise.
This 100 x this
Why would they when they are sitting on an astonishing amount of subs? Granted around 50-60% will be from the east and the revenue is less from them but thats still over 4 million active subscribers in the west, which is a lot of chaching!
Originally posted by BitterClingerLet's see... 9.6 million active accounts times $12 per month (let's say EVERYONE buys 6 months at a time):
$115.2 million per month$1.4 billion per year
That's just subscription fees alone! That doesn't include mounts, pets, transfers, name changes, faction changes, and other paid services they offer.No amount of non-contributing F2P gamers are going to turn ANY game into a billion dollar per year franchise.
Wrong.None of their Chinese player base pays $15 a month.They go to Internet cafes and pay about 6 cents per hour and their government limits their play time.I would love to see their actual subscribers that pay $15 a month. I bet it would surprise a lot of us.
Unless something major has changed its just under half that are western subs
Let's see... 9.6 million active accounts times $12 per month (let's say EVERYONE buys 6 months at a time):
$115.2 million per month
$1.4 billion per year
That's just subscription fees alone! That doesn't include mounts, pets, transfers, name changes, faction changes, and other paid services they offer.
No amount of non-contributing F2P gamers are going to turn ANY game into a billion dollar per year franchise.
Wrong.
None of their Chinese player base pays $15 a month.
They go to Internet cafes and pay about 6 cents per hour and their government limits their play time.
I would love to see their actual subscribers that pay $15 a month. I bet it would surprise a lot of us.
Whatever the Chinese subscribers pay, World of Warcraft is a $1 billion per year franchise. This is confirmed by their financial statements.
But...but...how can that be? The Chines pay less and I've read posts here on the forums that US/EU subs are 1.5M tops! It's not possible those forum posts were full of crap is it????
Why would a game with 700 times more players than most other AAA MMOS out there go FTP, especially when their subscriber numbers are up 600k year over year?
I love the forums on this site, always find a good chuckle
Why would a game with 700 times more players than most other AAA MMOS out there go FTP, especially when their subscriber numbers are up 600k year over year?
I love the forums on this site, always find a good chuckle
I thought they were down from last year? I could have sworn i read 10.2 million this time last year?
Why would a game with 700 times more players than most other AAA MMOS out there go FTP, especially when their subscriber numbers are up 600k year over year?
I love the forums on this site, always find a good chuckle
I thought they were down from last year? I could have sworn i read 10.2 million this time last year?
It was "over 10 million" at the launch of MoP...it was 9 million this time last year.
The only thing I could possibly see down the road is a lower sub when Titan releases (whenever that may be).
They're chugging along prettyy good,so why take a possible hit in sub cash flow?When Titan releases I could see a reduction to maybe $10 a month or a hybrid sub/ftp like Lotro or EQ2.Maybe a combo price for Titan and WoW for a reduced price (if TiTan is sub based).
Some day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull!
The reason i don't see it happening besides subs is because i believe when titan comes out its gonna be free 2 play from start. I think its gonna be a game built from ground up to be a free 2 play title.
They will keep sub at 15 for wow as long as there subs stay up in the 9 million range, i could see them dropping it or going free 2 play if there subs dropped to under 4 million but not unless something drastic happens to the subs they have now.
Why would a game with 700 times more players than most other AAA MMOS out there go FTP, especially when their subscriber numbers are up 600k year over year?
I love the forums on this site, always find a good chuckle
I thought they were down from last year? I could have sworn i read 10.2 million this time last year?
It was "over 10 million" at the launch of MoP...it was 9 million this time last year.
Why would a game with 700 times more players than most other AAA MMOS out there go FTP, especially when their subscriber numbers are up 600k year over year?
I love the forums on this site, always find a good chuckle
I thought they were down from last year? I could have sworn i read 10.2 million this time last year?
It was "over 10 million" at the launch of MoP...it was 9 million this time last year.
Be careful what you wish for. If WoW were to go F2P it would cause such a huge implosion on the rest of the industry with players old and new flocking back to play that the only time you would see any really huge migrations would be when new games were released. It would be like seasonal migrations of canadian geese. Flying back and forth between WoW and a new mmo and back again.
I know I would. Long forgotten avatars that sit idle in a mmo I no longer have the desire to pay for would suddenly be top on my list to play. Millions! And I mean MILLIONS of players would flock back just to see their old friends once again. If not to continue where they left off it would be to serve as a common stomping ground. A mmo touchstone if you will.
Wellllll....short term you are probably correct. But of the millions (?) of players that go back how many would actually play it for longer than the nostalgia factor? Most people who quit didn't quit because of a sub. They quit because the game changed so much. So I opine.
I would actually love to see it happen. Can you imagine the server stress on the first day of f2p? Hello queues!
Saw the financials today. They have 9.6 million subscribers. That's more than $1,000,000,000 per year. You're gonna have to buy the cow on this one because they ain't giving away the milk.
Hedonismbot: Your latest performance was as delectable as dipping my bottom over and over into a bath of the silkiest oils and creams.
Honestly can't answer this one, because WoW is one of the only games who registers both east and west subs as one number.
Here's also food for thought...
In the east, WoW has always basically been f2p- all content for free, the game gains it's money from the cyber cafes' 'rental', and each rental is considered a 'sub' on the quarterly reports.
Shortly after this all started is the time Vivendi started to try and sell Blizzard, and still no buyers.
Again it is a huge thing to remind folk, WoW is one of the only games from the west who counts it's subs from the east in it's quarterly reports as a whole. Even games from the east do not share that info regularly here in the west, or if they did, WoW's numbers wouldn't really seem all that much.
Just something to ponder.
Would a F2P WoW gain a huge amount of people, initially yeah, but I really don't think it's strong enough to keep the masses in today's market...In fact if a F2P SWG(v1) was released, I think that would surpass it. just my humble opinion, but since this is all hypothetical, why not!
Originally posted by itgrowls That bunch is entirely too greedy to do something like that for one. Secondly they need to launch another title with a monetization since WoW has been their revenue source for all other projects to continue at Blizzard so no. And third, the Marine Biologist has to go out and buy that summer home before turn that over to F2P
F2P isn't some charity thing devs have started doing. They go F2P to make MORE money not less.
I love how people want to dethrone the king. Thats expected. Personally I thought Bioware might have a chance. But it sems there is nothing in the future worth mentioning that will push to the 10 mill mark. I think Wow is decent but it will take some time to bring a rival that can actually compete.
Originally posted by Skooma2 Saw the financials today. They have 9.6 million subscribers. That's more than $1,000,000,000 per year. You're gonna have to buy the cow on this one because they ain't giving away the milk.
No, it's not.
The sub fee in the east is a rental fee from a cyber cafe, the most expensive being $5, and that's on the very high side. Considering the wages in China, I'm pretty sure most pay considerably less than that. Each rental is considered a 'sub'.
Wait, if you saw the financials today, then you would know the exact figure, wouldn't you?
Most likely it will be a while. WoW still has nostoligia as its greatest weapon. Until titan itself is released or announced, I just doubt WoW will go F2P. Nostologic games often have the advantage of having a very established player base to back them up that consistantly returns. Everquest 2 had a very established player base and its F2P option happened more so out of the fact they could rake in MORE cash then actually NEEDING to change.
Honestly can't answer this one, because WoW is one of the only games who registers both east and west subs as one number.
Here's also food for thought...
In the east, WoW has always basically been f2p- all content for free, the game gains it's money from the cyber cafes' 'rental', and each rental is considered a 'sub' on the quarterly reports.
Shortly after this all started is the time Vivendi started to try and sell Blizzard, and still no buyers.
Again it is a huge thing to remind folk, WoW is one of the only games from the west who counts it's subs from the east in it's quarterly reports as a whole. Even games from the east do not share that info regularly here in the west, or if they did, WoW's numbers wouldn't really seem all that much.
Just something to ponder.
Would a F2P WoW gain a huge amount of people, initially yeah, but I really don't think it's strong enough to keep the masses in today's market...In fact if a F2P SWG(v1) was released, I think that would surpass it. just my humble opinion, but since this is all hypothetical, why not!
Pretty easy to see where you stand when you say somethign as silly as SWG ever generating WoW numbers. In it's prime it wasn't even close and removing the sub wouldn't change it at all.
Honestly can't answer this one, because WoW is one of the only games who registers both east and west subs as one number.
Here's also food for thought...
In the east, WoW has always basically been f2p- all content for free, the game gains it's money from the cyber cafes' 'rental', and each rental is considered a 'sub' on the quarterly reports.
Shortly after this all started is the time Vivendi started to try and sell Blizzard, and still no buyers.
Again it is a huge thing to remind folk, WoW is one of the only games from the west who counts it's subs from the east in it's quarterly reports as a whole. Even games from the east do not share that info regularly here in the west, or if they did, WoW's numbers wouldn't really seem all that much.
Just something to ponder.
Would a F2P WoW gain a huge amount of people, initially yeah, but I really don't think it's strong enough to keep the masses in today's market...In fact if a F2P SWG(v1) was released, I think that would surpass it. just my humble opinion, but since this is all hypothetical, why not!
Pretty easy to see where you stand when you say somethign as silly as SWG ever generating WoW numbers. In it's prime it wasn't even close and removing the sub wouldn't change it at all.
It's actually math. When SWG(v.1) was released it held a significant portion of the entire MMO genre playerbase at that time. If you were there, you would know this. Or if you took your algebra class seriously you could comprehend it.
Comments
This 100 x this
Why would they when they are sitting on an astonishing amount of subs? Granted around 50-60% will be from the east and the revenue is less from them but thats still over 4 million active subscribers in the west, which is a lot of chaching!
Wrong.
None of their Chinese player base pays $15 a month.
They go to Internet cafes and pay about 6 cents per hour and their government limits their play time.
I would love to see their actual subscribers that pay $15 a month. I bet it would surprise a lot of us.
Unless something major has changed its just under half that are western subs
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Whatever the Chinese subscribers pay, World of Warcraft is a $1 billion per year franchise. This is confirmed by their financial statements.
But...but...how can that be? The Chines pay less and I've read posts here on the forums that US/EU subs are 1.5M tops! It's not possible those forum posts were full of crap is it????
Why would a game with 700 times more players than most other AAA MMOS out there go FTP, especially when their subscriber numbers are up 600k year over year?
I love the forums on this site, always find a good chuckle
I thought they were down from last year? I could have sworn i read 10.2 million this time last year?
It was "over 10 million" at the launch of MoP...it was 9 million this time last year.
WoW already has millions of paying customers... F2P is redundent for this game. It has nothing to gain and only money to lose.
The only thing I could possibly see down the road is a lower sub when Titan releases (whenever that may be).
They're chugging along prettyy good,so why take a possible hit in sub cash flow?When Titan releases I could see a reduction to maybe $10 a month or a hybrid sub/ftp like Lotro or EQ2.Maybe a combo price for Titan and WoW for a reduced price (if TiTan is sub based).
Some day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull!
Arya Stark
The reason i don't see it happening besides subs is because i believe when titan comes out its gonna be free 2 play from start. I think its gonna be a game built from ground up to be a free 2 play title.
They will keep sub at 15 for wow as long as there subs stay up in the 9 million range, i could see them dropping it or going free 2 play if there subs dropped to under 4 million but not unless something drastic happens to the subs they have now.
Nope was 10.2 million
link
My Apologies, I was referring to this.
Wellllll....short term you are probably correct. But of the millions (?) of players that go back how many would actually play it for longer than the nostalgia factor? Most people who quit didn't quit because of a sub. They quit because the game changed so much. So I opine.
I would actually love to see it happen. Can you imagine the server stress on the first day of f2p? Hello queues!
Hedonismbot: Your latest performance was as delectable as dipping my bottom over and over into a bath of the silkiest oils and creams.
Honestly can't answer this one, because WoW is one of the only games who registers both east and west subs as one number.
Here's also food for thought...
In the east, WoW has always basically been f2p- all content for free, the game gains it's money from the cyber cafes' 'rental', and each rental is considered a 'sub' on the quarterly reports.
Shortly after this all started is the time Vivendi started to try and sell Blizzard, and still no buyers.
Again it is a huge thing to remind folk, WoW is one of the only games from the west who counts it's subs from the east in it's quarterly reports as a whole. Even games from the east do not share that info regularly here in the west, or if they did, WoW's numbers wouldn't really seem all that much.
Just something to ponder.
Would a F2P WoW gain a huge amount of people, initially yeah, but I really don't think it's strong enough to keep the masses in today's market...In fact if a F2P SWG(v1) was released, I think that would surpass it. just my humble opinion, but since this is all hypothetical, why not!
F2P isn't some charity thing devs have started doing. They go F2P to make MORE money not less.
No, it's not.
The sub fee in the east is a rental fee from a cyber cafe, the most expensive being $5, and that's on the very high side. Considering the wages in China, I'm pretty sure most pay considerably less than that. Each rental is considered a 'sub'.
Wait, if you saw the financials today, then you would know the exact figure, wouldn't you?
Pretty easy to see where you stand when you say somethign as silly as SWG ever generating WoW numbers. In it's prime it wasn't even close and removing the sub wouldn't change it at all.
It's actually math. When SWG(v.1) was released it held a significant portion of the entire MMO genre playerbase at that time. If you were there, you would know this. Or if you took your algebra class seriously you could comprehend it.