Blizzard offers free copies of WoW, removes demo time limit

[Zecias]

artix said:
And time one and time out we seen that F2P MMO's "fail" as well. Honestly define "fail", lack of subscriptions? not making the money back? boring? all the above?

If you can't play monthly fee or simply don't like the time that you have to put in to most MMO's this isn't the genre for you. I am happily to pay monthly fee for a MMO that is quality.

Sure Blizzard is making alot of money and they could cut back on price but this is a COMPANY in for the money, just like anything else in this world.

The server upkeek is around $120,000 to $140,000 A DAY! Now on top of that resources for creating new content it all ads up...

If WoW was F2P id think it wouldn't be as big or maybe it would... I don't know but honestly they wouldn't survive with JUST vanity items on sale... they would have to offer more.

Blizzard said they spent 200M on WoW between 2004 and 2008(this is for everything, not just server maintenance). They currently make 171M a month based on this article. I would bet you the money they made of the sales of the game alone(not including subscriptions or expansions) is much more than the money put into WoW. Lets say everyone plays wow for 4 years then quits, they have maintained 8M players for 8 years, and each game is $30. 8*2*30=480M. And this is probably under representing the amount of players.
Blizzard has become fithly rich off of WoW. End of story.

ramonsterns said:
Any and all MMOs that are just like WoW and have a monthly fee will fail. This law has been proven true time and time again, so I hope that for all the crap it has brought it, that it will help SWTOR fail. If it doesn't, Bioware is lost to us.

I dont think WoW was a failure. Blizzard makes alot of money off of it. People enjoy it for a while, then it gets boring like any other MMO or game for that matter. Most of the people say WoW is crappy and boring because it was their last impression of the game. They can't remember how they enjoyed it when they first started.
I don't really know because i've never played the game(too expensive for my taste), but this is what i've experienced with other MMOs. After all why would you pay so much money for a boring game? You must have enjoyed it at some point.

milwaukeemike said:

Guest said:
12 million X ~$15.00/month = $180,000,000/month
$180 million X 12 months = $2,160,000,000 annually

Yes that's 2+ freakin BILLION dollars per year in subscriptions alone!

Do you think you are getting good value for your money WoW players?
and they have the nerve to charge for each expansion on top of that!

not quite... they have 12 million names in their database of people who have signed up for WoW at one time or another. It's why their ad says '12 million have experienced the intensity' not 12 mil ARE experiencing the intensity. I'm not sure they release the current subscriber numbers. They probably go up and down a lot, but i'd guess that this new promotion is here because the numbers are now going down more than they're going up. I heard Rift was a flash in the pan, so I can't speculate to what is taking WoW's players besides people not caring about it anymore.

" During a shareholder's call last month, Blizzard co-founder and president Mike Morhaime said subscriptions fell by 600,000 to 11.4 million between October 2010 and March 2011."
how does the the number of all recorded subscriptions FALL??? it can only go up or stay flat, it will never decrease. It must be the current number of subscribers or it doesn't make any sense at all.

ithryl said:

wardogz said:
I can see plenty of these sub based games losing custom over the next year or so, the whole world is in a DEEP recession, about time these companies realised that. Everyone and his dog are having to tighten their belts and cut out non essential items like this, and as a vast amount of these online subs are paid for by the players parents, although 'little timmy' might not like it and indeed regard it as essential, i'm guessing his parents will not see it that way and it'll be one of the first things to be cut from the budget.

WoW is actually a money saver in many cases. Not talking about the little kids whose parents want to save the 13€ for sub(although once you cut 'little timmy' off he's gonna demand other things which are very likely more costly than the subscription). I know (not only) from my past experience that you actually spend time playing the game instead of going out and spending more than the subscription costs during one night. A friend of mine even stops smoking whenever he comes back to WoW. First of all though they should finish D3 already.

Anyways, good move from Blizzard. Even if just a small fraction of those who will be given the free account upgrade to full and start playing/paying. I just hope they're really working on the 'other' MMO and that they do something like a dual subcription.

this is so true. Its amazing how many people complain that WoW is expensive but they go out to eat everyday, go to the movies, have $60/month internet, cable, unlimited cell phone plans, buy clothes on a weekly basis, etc.

 

[treetops]

They should port it to ps3 and xbox 360, they would be rich.

 

[Guest]

My understanding is that the 11.4 million subscriber number is the current number of subscribers, not the total figure of people who have ever played the game -- that figure is bound to be far larger.

However, this figure is misleading because WoW has different subscription models for different countries. In places such as Europe and NA the game is based on a monthly subscription so the count for those countries would be accurate for ACTIVE subscribers. However the figure is misleading because they include "subscribers" from places with a pay by the hour model such as China. In China they pay to buy the game and then pay hourly to "subscribe" to the game. The question is whether they count people who either have zero time left or have time left but will never play again as "subscribers".

This is significant because a significant number of WoW subscribers use this model. This would allow Blizzard to greatly inflate the number of WoW subscribers by including everyone who has ever played WoW through a pay by the hour model (minus special circumstances).

 

[Guest]

@zecias

I don't really know because i've never played the game(too expensive for my taste), but this is what i've experienced with other MMOs. After all why would you pay so much money for a boring game? You must have enjoyed it at some point.

You said that then you said this...

Its amazing how many people complain that WoW is expensive but they go out to eat everyday, go to the movies, have $60/month internet, cable, unlimited cell phone plans, buy clothes on a weekly basis, etc.

Hmm i dont understand whats the deal here. But anyway....

As for WoW's 12 million subscriptions, it was the peak registered users they had since the game was released -- not exactly the current.

"During a shareholder's call last month, Blizzard co-founder and president Mike Morhaime said subscriptions fell by 600,000 to 11.4 million between October 2010 and March 2011."

There are behind-the-scene statistics going on with 12 million subscriptions. This may include trial accounts, or multiple trial accounts by one user. From what I understand Blizzard never fully breakdown these numbers. But from an investor point of view, how would a shareholder react if Activision/Blizzard expose the true numbers. Blizzard works primarily for shareholders not for gamers.

So they lost 600k players...out of what? Well, including Chinese subs, the best guestimate would be somewhere between 4-8 million active paying subscribers.

WoW is dying and the loss of subscription could be worse by the next quarter. Blizzard is fully aware of the life expentancy of WoW and they're just buying time by releasing recycled content and squeezing people's money (with online pet/mount store) before they reveal their upcoming next-gen MMO.

 

[Guest]

During a shareholder's call last month, Blizzard co-founder and president Mike Morhaime said subscriptions fell by 600,000 to 11.4 million between October 2010 and March 2011.

Blizzard never fully break these numbers down to the public for the sake of the shareholders. So this is open for speculations.

There must be a behind-the-scene statistics going on with 12 million subscriptions. This may include trial account, employee accounts, or multiple trial accounts by a single user. Clearly, Blizzard never mentioned 12 million "active paying" subscriptions. So they lost 600k subs this quarter, out of what? Well, the best guestimate would out of 4-8 million paying subscribers. This ofcourse could get worse by the next quarter given that Blizzard is just recycling the content.

Activion/Blizzard works primarily for shareholders not for gamers. How would an investor react if Blizzard expose the real numbers. And i 'd laugh if someone really believe the unemployment rate is 9.1% which in reality is closer to 22%. Well you get the point.... just because they said it is, it must be so.

 

[NZvista]

Agree with those saying WoW is a cheaper alternative to most things, especially for addicted people. The example I always used to justify the costs to my friends was the movies.

I would have played WoW at least 120hours a month when I played, for $18 (NZ currency). The movies, for 2 hours of fun, would have cost me $14 for the ticket, petrol money, and probably $10 for food.

People that think WoW is actually expensive are quite blind, and are probably the people complaining they have no money because they eat out every lunch, or go to the movies/bowling more than once a week.

 

[Guest]

LOL I just gave my account of 6 years away. Getting geared up for BF3.

 

[ramonsterns]

NZvista said:
Agree with those saying WoW is a cheaper alternative to most things, especially for addicted people. The example I always used to justify the costs to my friends was the movies.

I would have played WoW at least 120hours a month when I played, for $18 (NZ currency). The movies, for 2 hours of fun, would have cost me $14 for the ticket, petrol money, and probably $10 for food.

People that think WoW is actually expensive are quite blind, and are probably the people complaining they have no money because they eat out every lunch, or go to the movies/bowling more than once a week.

I paid $30 for the Orange Box and got 1000+ hours of fun out of it. You've been paying half that every month + the original game + the expansions.

WoW is expensive for a game.

Do some simple math. How long have you been playing it? 1 or 2 years? 12 x 15 = $180 per year. You pay twice as much as the suckers who pay for Xbox Live, except this is only for one game which has no offline mode. Sure, it may be cheaper than a social life or an addiction, but it's the dullest, most expensive form of gaming around. You're forking over almost $200 for an over-glorified, over-marketed chat box with a boring button mashing auto-attack side game. It's a proverbial gold mine and the only fuel needed is stupid people.

Go on, go smack something in the face in game by yourself, come back, then tell me if it was fun to auto-attack it to death or press a few buttons. Everyone who enjoys it is simply seeking a way to meet other people or seek attention.

Every crack user will tell you what they do and paid for was worth it until their brain is leaking through their nose.

 

[Zecias]

Guest said:
@zecias

I don't really know because i've never played the game(too expensive for my taste), but this is what i've experienced with other MMOs. After all why would you pay so much money for a boring game? You must have enjoyed it at some point.

You said that then you said this...

Its amazing how many people complain that WoW is expensive but they go out to eat everyday, go to the movies, have $60/month internet, cable, unlimited cell phone plans, buy clothes on a weekly basis, etc.

Hmm i dont understand whats the deal here.

I'm talking about how people are being hipocrites by saying WoW is expensive, but then paying for some other unecessary things that are even more expensive. I think WoW is expensive, but then i don't go out and pay $100 a month for cable.

Guest said:
As for WoW's 12 million subscriptions, it was the peak registered users they had since the game was released -- not exactly the current.

"During a shareholder's call last month, Blizzard co-founder and president Mike Morhaime said subscriptions fell by 600,000 to 11.4 million between October 2010 and March 2011."

There are behind-the-scene statistics going on with 12 million subscriptions. This may include trial accounts, or multiple trial accounts by one user. From what I understand Blizzard never fully breakdown these numbers. But from an investor point of view, how would a shareholder react if Activision/Blizzard expose the true numbers. Blizzard works primarily for shareholders not for gamers.

So they lost 600k players...out of what? Well, including Chinese subs, the best guestimate would be somewhere between 4-8 million active paying subscribers.

WoW is dying and the loss of subscription could be worse by the next quarter. Blizzard is fully aware of the life expentancy of WoW and they're just buying time by releasing recycled content and squeezing people's money (with online pet/mount store) before they reveal their upcoming next-gen MMO.

..... can you use some common sense?
THE PEAK NUMBER OF REGISTERED USERS WILL NEVER FALL.
If you reach 12 million subscribers at one point, the peak number will be 12 million until you break that point, IT WILL NEVER FALL.
Even if what you say is true(which i highly doubt), blizzard has 4 million subscribers, thats 60 million a month. I would hardy consider that dying. That is still more than COD makes in their yearly releases. I would hardly consider that a dying MMO. If you compare it to any other MMO, WoW would still be one of the most successful(if not the most), at 4 million. WoW is the most successful business model in the history of gaming. Also, based on your logic, they had 12 millions subscribers at october 2010 and 11.4 at march 2011. How did it drop from 11.4 to 4million from march to july(a 5 month period)? If they were old users, then it still means that they had around 8 million subscribers come back for the new expansion. 8 * lets say $40 = 320 million. Maybe its just me, but i think thats alot.

Ok so i did some research, and this is what i found out. Look like we were both wrong =P.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/01/24/how-much-money-blizzard-is-really-making-from-10-million-subscri/
There ARE 10 millions or so subscribers, like i said, but this include the asian players that pay hourly instead of monthly. It think it might also include korean players with subscriptions that are required to play WoW and SC2. Blizzard reports that around 40% of their quarterly revenue(around 300M) comes from WoW. they make around 1 billions a year from WoW(and they probably get huge boost of money from the release of a new expansion).
http://ocunwired.ocregister.com/2010/11/08/blizzards-world-of-warcraft-revenue-down/
http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...21-9c49-02b76652d0b3/Press Release_110310.pdf
i think the pdf includes the costs and revenue of the entire corporation as a whole

 

[Guest]

I am willing to support a company that delivers good things - You go Blizzard, I'm behind you all the way. And no, I'm not a WoW addict - I play whenever I do have a chance.

You could play pirate servers - they're shyt. Some things are worth paying for. And instead of playing crappy games that gives you a couple of hours enjoyment I'd rather support a company that brings out new content all the time. They make the game enjoyable for EVERYONE, not just l33t players.

I will support Blizzard now and in the coming future - I don't care how much money they make. I bet that if any of you had the same company you'd be happy and all the world would complain that you're leeching money off the players. So go ahead and complain - Blizzard you deserve the success!

Thank you

 

[ramonsterns]

Guest said:

You could play pirate servers - they're shyt. Some things are worth paying for.

So basically you're proving me right. You're only paying $15 a month to be able to use the chatbox, because the game itself sucks if you don't have anything to keep your mind off the mindnumbing gameplay.

Here's a cheaper option.

Open Skype
Call your friend
Stream your screen with notepad open
Play hangman
Get bored?
Play hangman using scientific terms and names!

This is bound to be more challenging than any raid.

 

[Guest]

The fact is that WoW is reaching the end of its life. The impending release of Diablo III will see many WoW users switch games. A huge number of WoW players are/were Diablo I/II fans; these are the older players that can afford to throw $15 at a game every month, and they are excited about Diablo III. Blizzard wants to get as much milage out of WoW whilst they still can. Also by attracting new people to WoW with free demos they are helping build a player base for D3.

 

[Guest]

I am a ex WoW player and switched to Rift its a awesome game