AFAIK WoW still doesnt have bards, still doesnt have housing.
The main reason why WoW won was because they had low hardware requirements at a time when everybody else had high hardware requirements.
The other was that they watered the game down so hard that after a time even people with an one digit age could successfully play it.
There might be more, sure. But those have been the two main factors why the game could gain over 10 million players.
Other than that, they've been pretty lazy. They didnt reinvest much of all their income into the game (no bards, no housing, very few expansions), nor did they invest that money into making good new games either. In fact ever since WoW Blizzard hasnt been doing much at all.
AFAIK WoW still doesnt have bards, still doesnt have housing.
The main reason why WoW won was because they had low hardware requirements at a time when everybody else had high hardware requirements.
The other was that they watered the game down so hard that after a time even people with an one digit age could successfully play it.
There might be more, sure. But those have been the two main factors why the game could gain over 10 million players.
Other than that, they've been pretty lazy. They didnt reinvest much of all their income into the game (no bards, no housing, very few expansions), nor did they invest that money into making good new games either. In fact ever since WoW Blizzard hasnt been doing much at all.
Watered down as compared to first generation mmorpgs, YES,
Now with this, watered down percentage is always arguable.
My opinion Vanilla was watered down to a very smart level, where abilities and their timing mattered. You also had to pick your fight and think about what your doing. Slip up's were definitely costly no matter who you are. You can play safe or dangerous depending on your choice, again no matter who you are, you could find hard challenge.
THIS was a key point in making WoW excel above the rest.
Now going to capture the 5 year olds like retail now was a huge mistake, they lost a lot ! Again other games followed down the rabbit hole and this was a competitors mistake. WoW can afford mistakes, their #1
Other than that, they've been pretty lazy. They didnt reinvest much of all their income into the game (no bards, no housing, very few expansions), nor did they invest that money into making good new] games either. In fact ever since WoW Blizzard hasnt been doing much at all.
Wait, wut? Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, featured in not one, but two Southpark episodes, released a movie loved in China, launching a successful eSport league where owners are building $50M arenas isn't doing much?
Well I suppose they did fail to resolve world hunger so I'll grant you that.
No Bards I might agree as lazy, (probably is "Fancy's fault) but housing sux so am glad to see that idea killed off. Must be a Barbie simulator out there somewhere for such nonsense
Few expansions....did you really want to pay Blizzard $60 every six months since 2004? Oh, you expected it for free.....I see.
BTW, I dislike all things Blizzard, haven't purchased a product of theirs in many years, but I have to acknowledge their great success, even if it's from delivering games I don't like.
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
Now I play Albion and I noticed something - some of the new players, when they face the open world PvP, they are in shock. They ask where are the quests. Why other players could kill them. They do not understand the risk/reward ratio and the risk in general.
So what WoW did? Lineage 2 was obviously better MMO. But WoW gave to the players a game much closer to Warcraft and Diablo. So all these guys who just got the internet then, found a game they understood. A game that was not very different from their solo games, but with multiplayer elements that made it much more immersive.
"My" thought is they didn't do their research and they shouldn't have purchased until they understood what they were getting into.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Blizzard did get lucky with the timing, but it's always a game of chance when you launch. Nobody expected LoL to do as well as it did, it just happened to water down the MOBA formula more than Heroes of Newerth and the original Dota did. Nobody expected Fortnite to do as well as it did with the BR mode, but here we are.
It's a mix of luck and finding the right amount of accessibility in a genre. With WoW they made it just accessible enough (at the time, now it's a different story) that people who were into the genre could get friends to try it, and people who just liked Warcraft gave it a try. That was enough to shoot it into the spotlight, and caused TONS of people to try a genre that was thought of as niche prior.
Wow is no longer "King of the hill". ESO and FF14 have taken that crown.
You are clueless. WoW, by itself, did over a BILLION dollars the last fiscal year. Blizzard did over $2 Billion as a company. Activision/Blizzard which owns Blizzard did over $4 Billion. Understand, that means Blizzard did more than Activision/Blizzard's six other companies combined. ESO and FF14 don't do that much revenue annually combined. The only way Blizzard will no longer be "king of the hill" is if they get out of the MMORPG space, period. It's been said over and over, yet some people just don't get it. The only thing that can kill WoW is Blizzard itself.
To which they've been hard at work for years now trying to do.
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
eq2 as a game was far superior. Its too bad WOW destroyed prelaunch
Actually WoW had a horrendous launch -- Getting it to PLAY at the beginning was really frustrating. This potentially left an opening for EQ2 BUT...
The EQ2 people remember as a "far superior" game was not the immediate launch version. The version where you had that stiff death penalty and after the starter zones encountered almost every mob was a ++ group mob that you could barely kill (for great exp if you could do it though) solo if it was the lowest level to give exp.
When EQ2 launched it actually was a true grouping game where you really couldn't do much solo.
It ratcheted things back QUICKLY -- first changing the death penalty then completely reworking on the spur of the moment the monsters across the worldmaps to be solo friendly.
They went too far of course (cough newbie island), but WoW doing well and EQ2 not was what kicked them in the nuts and forced them to rework things or die. Problem was by the time they reworked things it was too late and they were doomed to be the also-ran.
Had they released with the version they had like 3 months or so after launch, things may have been very different.
---
Then again Ultima Online 2 dropping out of the mix was another big enabler for both games.
eq2 as a game was far superior. Its too bad WOW destroyed prelaunch
Actually WoW had a horrendous launch -- Getting it to PLAY at the beginning was really frustrating. This potentially left an opening for EQ2 BUT...
The EQ2 people remember as a "far superior" game was not the immediate launch version. The version where you had that stiff death penalty and after the starter zones encountered almost every mob was a ++ group mob that you could barely kill (for great exp if you could do it though) solo if it was the lowest level to give exp.
When EQ2 launched it actually was a true grouping game where you really couldn't do much solo.
It ratcheted things back QUICKLY -- first changing the death penalty then completely reworking on the spur of the moment the monsters across the worldmaps to be solo friendly.
They went too far of course (cough newbie island), but WoW doing well and EQ2 not was what kicked them in the nuts and forced them to rework things or die. Problem was by the time they reworked things it was too late and they were doomed to be the also-ran.
Had they released with the version they had like 3 months or so after launch, things may have been very different.
---
Then again Ultima Online 2 dropping out of the mix was another big enabler for both games.
EQ2 tech side killed them no matter what. Game ran like crap.
eq2 as a game was far superior. Its too bad WOW destroyed prelaunch
Actually WoW had a horrendous launch -- Getting it to PLAY at the beginning was really frustrating. This potentially left an opening for EQ2 BUT...
The EQ2 people remember as a "far superior" game was not the immediate launch version. The version where you had that stiff death penalty and after the starter zones encountered almost every mob was a ++ group mob that you could barely kill (for great exp if you could do it though) solo if it was the lowest level to give exp.
When EQ2 launched it actually was a true grouping game where you really couldn't do much solo.
It ratcheted things back QUICKLY -- first changing the death penalty then completely reworking on the spur of the moment the monsters across the worldmaps to be solo friendly.
They went too far of course (cough newbie island), but WoW doing well and EQ2 not was what kicked them in the nuts and forced them to rework things or die. Problem was by the time they reworked things it was too late and they were doomed to be the also-ran.
Had they released with the version they had like 3 months or so after launch, things may have been very different.
---
Then again Ultima Online 2 dropping out of the mix was another big enabler for both games.
EQ2 tech side killed them no matter what. Game ran like crap.
Agreed
If memory serves me right, they rushed it out the door so it would release before WoW
I would like to be Brandon Stark for a few minutes to see how things could have been if WoW was never made. Would the classic MMO format still be the norm or would there be something else.
SOE in the top spot was pretty bad though with their attitude toward their customers if you can remember that far back.
No one can deny that WoW coming on the scene permanently changed the MMO genre but whether it was good or bad is a matter of opinion. What WoW did to the MMO genre may have contributed to the success of other games that received large numbers of WoW refugees.
Think we'll have to settle for AA from now on but that's ok with me.
I’m not aware of Brandon Starks ability to see alternate realities.... js
You are clueless. WoW, by itself, did over a BILLION dollars the last fiscal year.
This is simply not true.
I think it is true because there is an expansion last year. I don't have source though. If you find any article or link to it, let me know.
I must be getting really old. When I was a small kid, people used to say a thousand was a lot of money, in my 20's people were using the word million.... Now it's Billions, they say it like nothing.
So !......... If your young and people start saying trillion, you'll understand what I'm talking about.
As you can see Blizzard made 2.3 billions, but WoW made much less than a billion.
Blizzard’s key product franchises include: World of Warcraft®, a subscription-based massive multi-player online
role-playing game for the PC platform; StarCraft®, a real-time strategy franchise for the PC platform; Diablo®, an action
role-playing franchise for the PC and console platforms; Hearthstone®, an online collectible card franchise for the PC and
mobile platforms; and Overwatch®, a team-based first-person shooter for the PC and console platforms. And from these franchises WoW is on fourth place as number of players and revenue.
Seeing as there is no individual breakdown in your link I doubt your conclusion based on the numbers in the report. Numbers in the report or Net also...not Gross.
As you can see Blizzard made 2.3 billions, but WoW made much less than a billion.
Blizzard’s key product franchises include: World of Warcraft®, a subscription-based massive multi-player online
role-playing game for the PC platform; StarCraft®, a real-time strategy franchise for the PC platform; Diablo®, an action
role-playing franchise for the PC and console platforms; Hearthstone®, an online collectible card franchise for the PC and
mobile platforms; and Overwatch®, a team-based first-person shooter for the PC and console platforms. And from these franchises WoW is on fourth place as number of players and revenue.
Seeing as there is no individual breakdown in your link I doubt your conclusion based on the numbers in the report. Numbers in the report or Net also...not Gross.
hearth stone and over watch is pretty big. And he is probably talking profit not sales.
Facts are your friend, this quoted from the 2018 SEC annual report. WOW is clearly the juggernaut of the Blizzard portfolio.
Top Franchises For the year ended December 31, 2018, our top three franchises—Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and World of Warcraft—collectively accounted for 58% of our net revenues. For the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, our top four franchises—Call of Duty, Candy Crush, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch—collectively accounted for 66% and 69% of our net revenues, respectively. No other franchise comprised 10% or more of our net revenues in the respective periods discussed above
Math can also be your friend, Activision /Blizzards annual revenue for 2018 was US$7.500 billion (from their 2019 10K filing)
58% of 7.5B is $4.35B....so it is not unreasonable to assume WOW is accounting for somewhere near or over a billion of the total.
Being my personal confirmation bias can't fathom why anyone would still play COD or Candy Crush I'd put WOW at over $2.5 B, but that's just me.
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
Blizzard will never have another WoW, it was the perfect storm at the perfect time.
In MMOs, they may never be another WoW at all, no matter the company.
But Blizzard still made Overwatch, and it stormed the FPS world just like WoW did.
They also made Hearthstone, and it did the same with the card games world.
Maybe it's not just luck, but they are also good at what they are doing ?
Keep in mind that all of that was under a different head and J. Allen isn't really the passive type. If we're lucky at this year's blizzcon, we'll get some decent details on WoW's next expansion with some concept art or actual footage of "Diablo IV" (which I'm honestly thinking it'll be mmo-ish) with obvious mobile projects weaved in their. I guess people can continue to overlook the app thing for now as well.
When people buy their games not knowing ANYTHING about them,it is luck and stupidity.When yo see a million or 5 on the every first day,they jumped in blind,obviously just buying in to be a part of the IN CROWD.
If it was as simple as being good at what you do ,Diablo 3 woule still be relevant but POE is imo more popular and HOTS takes a back seat.
If anyone thinks Overwatch is good at what it odes,being a fps pvp pro sport game,i laugh out very loud.Go watch UnrealTorunament players and you'll see all the OW players are complete noobs when comes to fps esports.OW caters to the casual,the HERO identity,UT caters to the GAME/skill/layout and there is a BIG difference.
Does Blizzard ruin it for competitors,pfft i feel it is the exact opposite.Sure maybe 5 years ago before i knew much about Blizzard,i could be lured in but NOW,haha funny,i have a very clear expectation of what Blizzard will deliver and it is not what i want from gaming.So i hardly even pay attention to Blizzard because i know they will release 3 things,cash shop,shallow gameplay and BRAGGING platforms.I do NOT game for any of those three ideals.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Blizzard will never have another WoW, it was the perfect storm at the perfect time.
In MMOs, they may never be another WoW at all, no matter the company.
But Blizzard still made Overwatch, and it stormed the FPS world just like WoW did.
They also made Hearthstone, and it did the same with the card games world.
Maybe it's not just luck, but they are also good at what they are doing ?
Came in with a roar and went out with a whisper. Reality is, it was the existing WoW player base that made that roar for them. Had it not been a Blizzard title, it would not have been enamored by the WoW crowd. This is still just the trickle down affect of WoW at work, not some sort of greatness on Blizzard's part. Anyone with half a brain knows that die hard WoW fans would buy into anything Blizzard threw at them sight unseen. Those days are waning fast for Blizzard so they are less likely to get that sort of response in the future.
As for the next WoW expansion? It will always bring the die hards back in droves... but that fan base isn't what it used to be anymore, so the coffers are running dry a bit fast these days to support such a behemoth of a company. Hence all the downsizing going on.
Reality is, players aren't as loyal as they once were because their need for more new things outpaces any one company's ability to meet the demand. As such, once you lose brand loyalty, you also lose customers over time.
Blizzard's days are numbered. As Jeff Bezo's said... even Amazon will fall.
Wasn't Wow the first also to have ads on TV for the game. I don't remember seeing other MMO ads on TV and that had to be a big influence too. That's what made the MMO mainstream.
You guys can't be real... denying the success and talent of a company just because you came to dislike some of its products.
I hate McDonalds, but I can't deny they are immensely successful and that it's not anywhere close to stop. Is it a good or bad thing? Bad in my opinion... but facts are facts, which are different from opinion or mood.
@Kyleran is the only person to submit a post based on fact. Everyone else just has this blind hate thing going on, hoping that their wishes come true. Dunno.
Blizz has a knack for looking at what people like, putting it together and making a buck. Love them or hate them, it is true.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
Blizzard had 35 million MAUsC in the quarter, as Overwatch® and Hearthstone® saw sequential stability and World of Warcraft® saw expected declines post-expansion-launch. Fourth quarter segment revenues grew 15% year-over-year to $686 million and operating income increased 51% year-over-year to $241 million.
It depend if people are talking about sales or profit. (I don't know what people are talking about)
For sales Wow might be able to get 1 billion. For profit obviously not.
Blizzard will never have another WoW, it was the perfect storm at the perfect time.
In MMOs, they may never be another WoW at all, no matter the company.
But Blizzard still made Overwatch, and it stormed the FPS world just like WoW did.
They also made Hearthstone, and it did the same with the card games world.
Maybe it's not just luck, but they are also good at what they are doing ?
Came in with a roar and went out with a whisper. Reality is, it was the existing WoW player base that made that roar for them. Had it not been a Blizzard title, it would not have been enamored by the WoW crowd. This is still just the trickle down affect of WoW at work, not some sort of greatness on Blizzard's part. Anyone with half a brain knows that die hard WoW fans would buy into anything Blizzard threw at them sight unseen. Those days are waning fast for Blizzard so they are less likely to get that sort of response in the future.
As for the next WoW expansion? It will always bring the die hards back in droves... but that fan base isn't what it used to be anymore, so the coffers are running dry a bit fast these days to support such a behemoth of a company. Hence all the downsizing going on.
Reality is, players aren't as loyal as they once were because their need for more new things outpaces any one company's ability to meet the demand. As such, once you lose brand loyalty, you also lose customers over time.
Blizzard's days are numbered. As Jeff Bezo's said... even Amazon will fall.
In order to have trickle down to other products you first have to have products that people like. Thus greatness on Blizzard's part. People flock back to every new product Blizzard makes. They might not stay, but they come back in droves.
Companies always grow and contract with time. Does not mean the company is dying.
Your post then contradicts itself by saying players are not loyal but at the start you say Blizzard is only big because fans are loyal....
Wasn't Wow the first also to have ads on TV for the game. I don't remember seeing other MMO ads on TV and that had to be a big influence too. That's what made the MMO mainstream.
EQ had some ads....not Super Bowl type, but they had quick ads on tv.
Blizzard had 35 million MAUsC in the quarter, as Overwatch® and Hearthstone® saw sequential stability and World of Warcraft® saw expected declines post-expansion-launch. Fourth quarter segment revenues grew 15% year-over-year to $686 million and operating income increased 51% year-over-year to $241 million.
It depend if people are talking about sales or profit. (I don't know what people are talking about)
For sales Wow might be able to get 1 billion. For profit obviously not.
It is net revenue, so the revenue after the gross sales are adjusted with the discounts and refunds.
Counting the quarterly reports and all the data available I will say last year WoW made about 350-400 millions USD as net revenue. And it is still the MMORPG with most sales worldwide. That only shows the fall of the genre.
You just presume people are talking about net revenue and arguing about it. No where have people state they are talking about gross revenue or net revenue.
Comments
Now with this, watered down percentage is always arguable.
My opinion Vanilla was watered down to a very smart level, where abilities and their timing mattered. You also had to pick your fight and think about what your doing. Slip up's were definitely costly no matter who you are. You can play safe or dangerous depending on your choice, again no matter who you are, you could find hard challenge.
THIS was a key point in making WoW excel above the rest.
Now going to capture the 5 year olds like retail now was a huge mistake, they lost a lot !
Again other games followed down the rabbit hole and this was a competitors mistake. WoW can afford mistakes, their #1
Well I suppose they did fail to resolve world hunger so I'll grant you that.
No Bards I might agree as lazy, (probably is "Fancy's fault) but housing sux so am glad to see that idea killed off. Must be a Barbie simulator out there somewhere for such nonsense
Few expansions....did you really want to pay Blizzard $60 every six months since 2004? Oh, you expected it for free.....I see.
BTW, I dislike all things Blizzard, haven't purchased a product of theirs in many years, but I have to acknowledge their great success, even if it's from delivering games I don't like.
Cheers
"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
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
It's a mix of luck and finding the right amount of accessibility in a genre. With WoW they made it just accessible enough (at the time, now it's a different story) that people who were into the genre could get friends to try it, and people who just liked Warcraft gave it a try. That was enough to shoot it into the spotlight, and caused TONS of people to try a genre that was thought of as niche prior.
"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
Actually WoW had a horrendous launch -- Getting it to PLAY at the beginning was really frustrating. This potentially left an opening for EQ2 BUT...
The EQ2 people remember as a "far superior" game was not the immediate launch version. The version where you had that stiff death penalty and after the starter zones encountered almost every mob was a ++ group mob that you could barely kill (for great exp if you could do it though) solo if it was the lowest level to give exp.
When EQ2 launched it actually was a true grouping game where you really couldn't do much solo.
It ratcheted things back QUICKLY -- first changing the death penalty then completely reworking on the spur of the moment the monsters across the worldmaps to be solo friendly.
They went too far of course (cough newbie island), but WoW doing well and EQ2 not was what kicked them in the nuts and forced them to rework things or die. Problem was by the time they reworked things it was too late and they were doomed to be the also-ran.
Had they released with the version they had like 3 months or so after launch, things may have been very different.
---
Then again Ultima Online 2 dropping out of the mix was another big enabler for both games.
If memory serves me right, they rushed it out the door so it would release before WoW
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
So !......... If your young and people start saying trillion, you'll understand what I'm talking about.
Top Franchises
For the year ended December 31, 2018, our top three franchises—Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and World of Warcraft—collectively accounted for 58% of our net revenues. For the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, our top four franchises—Call of Duty, Candy Crush, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch—collectively accounted for 66% and 69% of our net revenues, respectively. No other franchise comprised 10% or more of our net revenues in the respective periods discussed above
Math can also be your friend, Activision /Blizzards annual revenue for 2018 was US$7.500 billion (from their 2019 10K filing)
58% of 7.5B is $4.35B....so it is not unreasonable to assume WOW is accounting for somewhere near or over a billion of the total.
Being my personal confirmation bias can't fathom why anyone would still play COD or Candy Crush I'd put WOW at over $2.5 B, but that's just me.
"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
If it was as simple as being good at what you do ,Diablo 3 woule still be relevant but POE is imo more popular and HOTS takes a back seat.
If anyone thinks Overwatch is good at what it odes,being a fps pvp pro sport game,i laugh out very loud.Go watch UnrealTorunament players and you'll see all the OW players are complete noobs when comes to fps esports.OW caters to the casual,the HERO identity,UT caters to the GAME/skill/layout and there is a BIG difference.
Does Blizzard ruin it for competitors,pfft i feel it is the exact opposite.Sure maybe 5 years ago before i knew much about Blizzard,i could be lured in but NOW,haha funny,i have a very clear expectation of what Blizzard will deliver and it is not what i want from gaming.So i hardly even pay attention to Blizzard because i know they will release 3 things,cash shop,shallow gameplay and BRAGGING platforms.I do NOT game for any of those three ideals.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
As for the next WoW expansion? It will always bring the die hards back in droves... but that fan base isn't what it used to be anymore, so the coffers are running dry a bit fast these days to support such a behemoth of a company. Hence all the downsizing going on.
Reality is, players aren't as loyal as they once were because their need for more new things outpaces any one company's ability to meet the demand. As such, once you lose brand loyalty, you also lose customers over time.
Blizzard's days are numbered. As Jeff Bezo's said... even Amazon will fall.
Blizz has a knack for looking at what people like, putting it together and making a buck. Love them or hate them, it is true.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
- Blizzard had 35 million MAUsC in the quarter, as Overwatch® and Hearthstone® saw sequential stability and World of Warcraft® saw expected declines post-expansion-launch. Fourth quarter segment revenues grew 15% year-over-year to $686 million and operating income increased 51% year-over-year to $241 million.
It depend if people are talking about sales or profit. (I don't know what people are talking about)For sales Wow might be able to get 1 billion. For profit obviously not.
Companies always grow and contract with time. Does not mean the company is dying.
Your post then contradicts itself by saying players are not loyal but at the start you say Blizzard is only big because fans are loyal....