Not to mention the token. A few people said it already but the token is a $20 sub. It makes guessing how much monthly cash they are bringing in even more skewed. Blizzard makes more money if 3 of that 5.5 are subbing with tokens than in a world where all 5.5 are paying normally.
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World of Warcraft at 5.5 million subscribers, will no longer share numbers
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Not to mention the token. A few people said it already but the token is a $20 sub. It makes guessing how much monthly cash they are bringing in even more skewed. Blizzard makes more money if 3 of that 5.5 are subbing with tokens than in a world where all 5.5 are paying normally.
I think that the sub decline was a lot more than 100k. I re-subbed for a short time, after Legion was announced. I played WoD for like 2 months and quit so when I saw the Legion stuff I got nostalgic and re-subbed. It was just as bad as I had remembered it was and pretty much stopped playing before my sub was up. I know this happened with others as well because when I re-subbed there was a whole bunch of people in the guild coming back as well but most also stopped logging in a few weeks after subbing.
I think they got a healthy bump from the legion announcement but since then have lost that bump AND 100k extra.
I think they got a healthy bump from the legion announcement but since then have lost that bump AND 100k extra.
Suzushiiro
Banned
I would imagine that they'll go by total revenue generated by the game, ie subs + services like transfers and level boost + cosmetic cash shop stuff like the sparklepony.
The more interesting question is if they're going to report revenue per game or for all games combined so as to hide which games are performing worse than others, sort of like how MS was combining XBone and 360 sales in their numbers for a while.
lol? FFXIV isn't close to WoW.
fluffydelusions
Member
When did SE give out active sub numbers?
FFXIV has 5.2 million accounts, not active subs. But it's likely that the numbers will be even within the next year or two if current trends continue.
xrayregime
Member
In terms of subscriber numbers they've only ever announced 5 million registered users. Not active subscribers. e: beaten
yes it is lol?
Probably thinking back to that 4 million accounts thing people seem to always confuse with sub numbers.
Got bad news for those people cause if that is our metric it means WoW still blows past FF14 since blizzard said last year WoW has over 100 million accounts.
Interfectum
Member
Vincent Grayson
Member
Yup. At launch, there was no flight in WoD period. They recently added flight in a patch, but you must first earn this achievement: http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=10018/draenor-pathfinder
Earning that achievement requires earning these five:
http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=8935/explore-draenor (explore the entire map of each new zone)
http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=10348/master-treasure-hunter (find 100 treasures in the WoD zones, excluding Tanaan Jungle)
http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=9562/securing-draenor (complete 12 "bonus objectives" in the world, which involves a bunch of killing/collecting)
http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=10349/tanaan-diplomat (earn Revered rep with three factions through kills/dailies)
http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=9923/loremaster-of-draenor (complete all main story quests in each WoD zone).
you mean 5 million accounts.
In fairness, 4 million is way out of date. The latest figure from S-E is 5.2 million registered accounts.
Also in fairness, since XIV is so much newer, it likely has a far lower ratio of active to lapsed accounts than WoW does.
Interfectum
Member
Sure, doesn't change much. 5 million registrations vs 5.5 million active subscriptions are two vastly different things. Don't think they are the same simply because the numbers are close to matching.
Doesn't change his point? WoW has over 100 million accounts.
Well just based on parsing Lodestone records of active players, we already know ~1/5 accounts are active (ish) if there's around 5 million registered.
The funny thing comparing FFXIV to WoW is they also restricted flight until you were pretty much through with each zone. What's worse is most of the new zones were a nightmare on foot.
Being a "newer" game certainly seems to be an excuse with a short shelf life.
Depending on where these subscribers are, Blizzard could probably make a decent profit on 100K subscribers. Obviously the game would be a lot more modest in this scenario, but they'd still make money. Currently, WOW is off its peak, but it's still making money hand over fist.
Nope, not even close.
Hah, more modest? The amount of support they gave Warlords post launch is what you would expect in a mmo with 100k subs. Doubt much would actually change frankly.
I don't agree. I liked that I had to learn the new areas on foot before being able to fly in them, and the only one I struggled with in this regard was Coerthas Western Highlands.
And WoW didn't "restrict" flight, it outright banned it at first. It only copied the XIV model for learning to fly after a huge player outcry.
No, it's just a simple fact that player burnout is lower on a newer game because players have had less time to burn out on it.
Xion_Stellar
People should stop referencing data that makes me feel uncomfortable because games get ported to platforms I don't like
Wow maybe they had a cataclysmic event that started the shrinking of the Playerbase?
Looks like FFXIV might actually surpass them.
Looks like FFXIV might actually surpass them.
HarryDemeanor
Member
Until SE starts reporting active subs I don't think we'll ever know for sure if they have.
Maybe. But FFXIV is currently in a place where most of the "midcore" players are already burnt out. Judging by Reddit and their official forums, the feeling I get is that subs are lapsing until 3.1, which will give most people about a week or two worth of "new" content before they're relegated to the grind again and will be burnt out for at least another few months.
I really think FFXIV's content schedule is too predictable and too small to grow past the suspected million-ish mark. Considering Blizzard's size, to substantially grow to compete at that level they virtually need to double their team.
WoW would need to lose another 4 million active subs, and Heavensward only showed a gain of maybe a few hundred thousand at best, which is pretty small for an expansion which typically see huge spikes. I wouldn't expect FFXIV to grow too far past 1 million unless something real meta happens.
The main problem is and has always been stagnant content releases. For such a huge and successful company like Blizzard, their content output has been comically sub-par compared to other MMO developers, and this type of MMO theme park genre is especially reliant on a constant stream of new content.
Xion_Stellar
People should stop referencing data that makes me feel uncomfortable because games get ported to platforms I don't like
I'm not a WoW player but I always found it more perplexing why a company like Activision Blizzard only makes 1 Expansion a year.
1 expansion per year would actually be a significant improvement. At the current rate, 1 year is typically the period of complete content drought between the last patch between 2 expansions.
I wouldn't put too much stock in that. It's true that the way Yoshida and his team designed Heavensward created a situation where there wasn't much for so-called midcores to do once they got to a certain point. But that isn't the same thing as being burned out on the game. I still see a ton of enthusiasm among players for new content, even among ones who let subs lapse until 3.1. And I expect Yoshi-P to learn from the mistakes they made with Heavensward and do things differently in the future.
Acerac
Banned
I've noticed that many people who like video games seem to get upset if a game that is older than 10 years old is being actively enjoyed. Even if it still has a larger playerbase than most console games, people are saying the game should die now.
This seems ridiculous to me. Downright foolish even. You see the same thing in Melee threads.
This seems ridiculous to me. Downright foolish even. You see the same thing in Melee threads.
Because expansions aren't the only content updates they have. Before WoD there was always multiple fairly large content patches each expansion that added new zones, raids, dungeons, and even features (stuff like the Transmog system came in a random patch and it completely changed the way people play the game). They don't do 1 expansion per year anyway, it's always been about 1 every 2 years.
crimzonflame
Member
I'd play this game for $4.99 a month
Xion_Stellar
People should stop referencing data that makes me feel uncomfortable because games get ported to platforms I don't like
Oh so they were not even on a yearly bases? that's even worse than I though than because clearly a company of that size should be able to have that sort of output.
The contents updates we get on FFXIV are not as huge as a WoW Expansion but at least Square-Enix's 3-4 month schedule keeps FFXIV from becoming stale in my opinion and it gives me new content to look forward to that's not over 6 months away and yeah the raiders here might be very vocal about not getting enough end game raids with these updates but I'm satisfied with my experience.
Color me surprised. I thought that subs would continue to drop precipitously until it hit around 3.5 million (so 1-1.5m full-price subs). It looks like the expansion announcement has stemmed the bleeding, though without a breakdown of actual subs to a Chinese dude who logged in for 15 minutes once that month and paid 25 cents, it's hard to tell the financial healthy of World of Warcraft. Actual sub count is going to be 2-3 million, so 200-300% more than FFXIV.
Things are definitely not "fine" in WoW land, though. And deservedly so. Blizzard has released three disastrous expansions in a row. It's a wonder they aren't below 1m subs yet.
Things are definitely not "fine" in WoW land, though. And deservedly so. Blizzard has released three disastrous expansions in a row. It's a wonder they aren't below 1m subs yet.
PleaseBeGentle_
Member
Just wondering, but if you guys would have a guess; what percentage of subs would you say can afford paying the sub with ingame currency?
The last 3 expansions have been utter shit. Such a shame.
I'm a little surprised that it has stayed as long as it has on top. Really with the exception of Eve (which that itself is a bit of an anomaly) all MMORPGs end up going free to play after subscribers drop out. There was no way Blizzard was sustaining 11 million concurrent subscribers forever.
You don't let go something that has 5+ million people paying each month.
Yea I don't get it either. I can understand the want to play the newest, shiniest thing. But at the same time it is still cool to be able to play games like AoE 2, TF2, Melee, and others with a dedicated fanbase. Personally I prefer games that will have longevity for me, not games where it is a quick campaign and goodbye.
I feel like the WoW community is in a cycle, where at launch of an expansion the tone is "This expansion is way better than the last one. Blizz knows what they are doing this time", then later "Oh wait, it was shit just like the last few expansions", repeat.
I felt from the very start Cata was lame, Mists was shit right from the reveal. WoD had some promise but in the end it was just as boring as the other 2. The magic just isn't there any more. WoW peaked 7 years ago.
Mists of Pandaria was the reverse.
I'm very surprised it didn't drop further, and a bit disappointed that this will be the last batch of sub numbers released - I like my armchair speculation!
Things probably aren't going to be so hot in the future though - Legion looks terrible and really quite desperate. Any sense of restraint or cohesion in designing the game is pretty much totally gone by now.
Makes me sad because it used to be the best MMO out there and nothing has really replicated the excitement of its initial launch since.
Things probably aren't going to be so hot in the future though - Legion looks terrible and really quite desperate. Any sense of restraint or cohesion in designing the game is pretty much totally gone by now.
Makes me sad because it used to be the best MMO out there and nothing has really replicated the excitement of its initial launch since.
Malick[AI]
Member
I did the exact same thing. Subbed for 1 month post Legion announcement and felt like I wasted $15. WoD made the world feel so empty.
Acerac
Banned
It's because people expect Blizzard to release content for their expansions.
Unfortunately they rarely ever do.
The lack of updates is what killed the game for me. Just give me fresh raids every few months and I'm happy.
Didn't realize at first that this will be the last announcement of numbers. Yeah, World of Warcraft is in a bad, bad state. And this is no one's fault but Blizzard's. They have managed to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.
Legion looks terrible and desperate, and they are planning more paid expansions after that... not going to work. XIV should pass WoW within 2 years at most.
Legion looks terrible and desperate, and they are planning more paid expansions after that... not going to work. XIV should pass WoW within 2 years at most.
Schweinehund
Member
I know I wouldn't be playing right now if not for the WoW Tokens. Still I'll probably give it a break for a few months waiting for Legion and play SWTOR's new expansion. They really need to push legion soon.
I don't think WoD was bad, I think its support was.
I don't think WoD was bad, I think its support was.
Didn't Jay Wilson join the dev team for WoD?
Are we living a Blizzard storyline right now, where the big bad was in front of us the whole time?