Curse

Faer · Feb 27, 2008, 08:40 PM // 20:40

I must admit, I am more than slightly amused at how fast the sales are rising now that the prices are plummeting at certain retailers, even though the figures still fit into the usual brackets. Of course, sales, in this case, does not equal customers, and ArenaNet and/or NCSoft have refused to release the actual player statistics...

Oh well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkWasp

(WoW doesnt count, its a fad)

Without World of Warcraft, there would be no Guild Wars. ;D

Moral55 · Feb 27, 2008, 09:42 PM // 21:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zinger314

I would like to remind you all that 5 mil compies does not equal 5 million players. Not even close to 5 million players. I'd expect it's still at 300,000ish. (I did the math earlier and concluded that about 320,000 accounts purchase GWEN.)

The $10 Prophecies also helped.

I'd just use the marketing rule of thumb that 20% of your users are heavy and 80% are casual/light consumers.

That would give us an estimate of 1,000,000 players that are either active or soon to be returning, of witch 320,000 bought GWEN.

Edit, I'd halve that number, just to make up for the consumers with multiple campaigns .

Eldin · Feb 27, 2008, 10:00 PM // 22:00

Amazing, ArenaNet! Truly this proves how much work and dedication you have put into your games.

5 million...not as big as some other large game names, but still an amazing number.

I only hope GW2 can live up to this.

Keep up the good work ANet!

Red Sonya · Feb 27, 2008, 10:08 PM // 22:08

But, Dialbo 2 is still the #1 RPG of all times.

And you can call GW what you will, but, the developers sure didn't mind ACCEPTING the award for mmoRPG of the year a couple of years ago now did they? If it's not that then they shouldn't have accepted the award and passed it along to those others that are mmorpgs.

Voltaic Annihilator · Feb 27, 2008, 10:40 PM // 22:40

O.o why dont they tell us how much people acutlly play the game

Faer · Feb 27, 2008, 10:45 PM // 22:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voltaic Annihilator

O.o why dont they tell us how much people acutlly play the game

Because five million is a bigger number. There's a bunch of business lingo behind it, but really, it boils down to making the unknowing public think you have more customers than you do, so you will get more customers. People are more likely to buy a product when they hear "Oh hey, this was bought five million times!" than they are when they hear "Oh hey, this was bought five million times... By nine-hundred thousand people".

Bigger Numbers = Better Business.

MithranArkanere · Feb 27, 2008, 10:47 PM // 22:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voltaic Annihilator

O.o why dont they tell us how much people acutlly play the game

There could be a counter or an emote to see that...

Anyways... enough of the chitchat.

Now it's time to ask for free stuff to 'celebrate' the 5 million hit.

bwillcox · Feb 27, 2008, 11:22 PM // 23:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by lacasner

What is the point of getting a population in this game when PvE is done by yourself. There is barely any human interaction at all, barely in PvP as well.

Hmm, making money for Arenanet. They, as all businesses, are in it to make money and support future development. Personally, I prefer playing by myself. I've always been kind of a loner, I guess.

Aerian_Skybane · Feb 27, 2008, 11:27 PM // 23:27

I have already congratulated ANet on making a highmark, but I have one curious, slightly itchy question:

Why do people here desire to belittle a game by minimalizing its merits and accomplishments? Is there a purpose to this confounding practice?

Stormlord Alex · Feb 27, 2008, 11:28 PM // 23:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerian_Skybane

Why do people here desire to belittle a game by minimalizing its merits and accomplishments? Is there a purpose to this confounding practice?

Welcome to the internets.

Aerian_Skybane · Feb 27, 2008, 11:30 PM // 23:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormlord Alex

Welcome to the internets.

I know, I know, but, my head hurts sometimes. This is why I should never place time into online forums. I honestly don't know why I do, its like crack or something. I know its bad for me... but its so easy to get...

I desire to know if this lunacy would exist for a Hello Kitty Online board!

Stormlord Alex · Feb 27, 2008, 11:32 PM // 23:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerian_Skybane

I desire to know if this lunacy would exist for a Hello Kitty Online board!

Imagine /b/ except...

wait, no. Do not imagine /b/. It's bad for your health

HawkofStorms · Feb 27, 2008, 11:37 PM // 23:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tijger

I remember how we had threads a while back saying "Hellgate is going to kill GW" and "TR is going to kill GW" not to mention the failure that was Fury...6 months on GW has sold another million copies. Says it all, doesnt it?

Well, it helps that both HGL and TR ended up being terrible, bugged games.

Still... starcraft 2... ugghh *drool* It won't kill GW, but I'll sure spend a lot less time on it.

And Red Sonya, just stop trolling. The way you are talking, you'd think GW was like "BIG Mother Trucking" or "Lelo and Stich: The Video Game" or "The Dukes of Hazard: Rebel Yell" or something. It is still a first tier game that's made good profits and broke the mold (by turning away from the modern pay to play model and returning to a set up like Diablo 2).

Zahr Dalsk · Feb 28, 2008, 12:05 AM // 00:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Sonya

But, Dialbo 2 is still the #1 RPG of all times.

Except the part where it's more of an action/combat isometric hack'n'slasher with no real RPG elements. See Baldur's Gate for what a real RPG is.

Bryant Again · Feb 28, 2008, 02:03 AM // 02:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dylananimus

Anyways...why are you here? Go play Diablo 2 if it's better /shoo

I consider Doom to be the greatest FPS of all time. So why am I playing TF2?

arsie · Feb 28, 2008, 02:35 AM // 02:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voltaic Annihilator

O.o why dont they tell us how much people acutlly play the game

Because none of their competitors will as well. So if they are the only ones revealing real player numbers, they would appear to be a really dead game compared to others.

Anyway, for GW it is actually harder to account for this. Since a person who bought Prophesies 3 years ago and played it for 1 day, could actually log in again today (after hours of updates) and play. Would he be considered an actual player? The same can go for subscription based games, just because the account is active does not mean it is being played.

I think NCSoft is already more transparent than Vivendi Games. NCSoft actually publishes profit numbers for Guild Wars, while Vivendi Games only publishes revenue numbers for World of Warcraft.

Of course it is assumed that WoW makes heaps more than GW, but their operations costs could be staggering as well.

strcpy · Feb 28, 2008, 03:05 AM // 03:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by arsie

Because none of their competitors will as well. So if they are the only ones revealing real player numbers, they would appear to be a really dead game compared to others.

Very true.

Every company in question will pick the numbers that make them look the best (within the bounds of the law) - NcSoft is no better than Vivendi which is no better than Ford which is no better than Wal-Mart. It doesn't matter the industry nor the company.

Anyone who believes otherwise is a fool, Vivendi is no different. For some reason many people seem to want to think that Anet is somehow some lying liars while Vivendi is tells it in unadulterated truth. I don't really think the term "fanboy" is correct, but seems to be along the lines of GW is too good to be true so they feel a need to invent the bad parts (WoW has obvious faults - for one thing monthly fees). That also tends to be true for other products outside of gaming - you can actually create *too* good an item at a given price and people start inventing things wrong with it because there just has to be *something*.

Amusingly enough look at Vivendi's revenue numbers and note that it is WELL below 15 dollars a month for the number of millions of active players they claim. Something in there has never remotely added up (given that their SEC filing is required by law to be accurate my guess is that their definition of "active" is fairly loose). Nor, as you say, is revenue near as good an indicator as profit is - which NcSoft tells (but then, my guess is that their revenue isn't very good but due to low costs have a nice profit).

Fril Estelin · Feb 28, 2008, 07:42 AM // 07:42

GZ Anet! Even if forums may give the impression that the situation is not so good, I'm happy to see that it is.

And hopefully the silence around GW2 is simply to keep the edge and control over the information of what, I hope, will be the Next Big Thing (TM) in MMOs.

By the way, did anyone notice that for the first time (well, I think) there was an announcement of a bug fix (Feb 22) on the main GW website? It almost felt like a warning for cheaters

Cacheelma · Feb 28, 2008, 08:06 AM // 08:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fril Estelin

By the way, did anyone notice that for the first time (well, I think) there was an announcement of a bug fix (Feb 22) on the main GW website? It almost felt like a warning for cheaters

What? Where?

RLBadKarma · Feb 28, 2008, 01:56 PM // 13:56

I for one could care less at what rank or where on whatever list GW appears.

I love the game and enjoy every second I play.

Contrats Anet, keep on keepin on.