Curse

provoko · Jul 23, 2005, 06:30 PM // 18:30

3.5 million players and 1.5 just in China playing World of Worldcraft, WTF?!

http://www.blizzard.com/press/050720.shtml

Thats insane, thats more players than every MMO put together. How is this possible when all I see on blizzard forums are complaints.

EchoSex · Jul 23, 2005, 06:35 PM // 18:35

The one question: why? I didn't see a thing in WOW that was worth paying for, to be completely honest. Atleast with AO you had content comin' out of the butt, even if the engine LOVED to eat up your system's resources.

ManadartheHealer · Jul 23, 2005, 06:44 PM // 18:44

Blizzard is probably embellishing. I sincerely doubt that many people are currently playing (and paying

)

Spike · Jul 23, 2005, 06:58 PM // 18:58

I think the number is out by at least 2 million if not more. I also see very little reason to play wow.

Aloren · Jul 23, 2005, 07:59 PM // 19:59

I dunno.. It seems reasonable to me. I played on a medium pop server and during non-peak hours, you could easily find 2000 people per side on the server. Take that number and multiple it by roughly 85 or so servers and it adds up pretty quickly.

This is only a rough estimate, so it's hard to tell exactly, but I do agree that I found it hard to do things to keep me occupied.

Haloknight9 · Jul 23, 2005, 08:35 PM // 20:35

Come on now.... I doubt theres that many playing.

Im thinking they are showing the number of people that have joined over time since day 1, and not subtracting all the people that have left.

Companies do that alot.

Kiiron · Jul 23, 2005, 08:47 PM // 20:47

Meh, I'm not suprised. I know plenty of people who are still as addicted to WoW as they were a month after it's release. Also:

Quote:

World of Warcraft's Customer Base Definition
World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players having accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or canceled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.

So apparently they really do have 3.5 million active accounts at this time. I'm willing to believe that. WoW has been one of the top selling video games ever since it's release (though I found it pretty shallow and grind-intensive, and that's after coming from SWG!)

ktadie · Jul 23, 2005, 09:07 PM // 21:07

WoW thats many!

Drakharran Zealot · Jul 23, 2005, 09:12 PM // 21:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by ktadie

WoW thats many!

No pun intended?

PieXags · Jul 23, 2005, 09:16 PM // 21:16

I believe it, it's a popular game. I would play it...if it weren't for the fact that everything in the game looked like something out of a retarded bugs bunny cartoon. It's almost worse than mario 64 when it comes to everything looking stupid.

Nick The Nicker · Jul 23, 2005, 09:25 PM // 21:25

i believe WoW has that many b/c blizzard is a good company and WoW is a every popular game and i think the people who use to play games like diablo 2 starcaft and etc. went to WoW because they like blizzard and have played some of there games. so i believe it and i know i would play if i didnt have to pay money

Spike · Jul 23, 2005, 11:07 PM // 23:07

So this game is more popular than lineage 2 and for that matter every single OTHER mmorpg on the market COMBINED. Not a chance. I very much doubt that they have had that many players IN TOTAL EVER. Unless of course they count all the game cards sold EVER all be sold to different players. even then that would be pushing it A LOT

Blow_Holez · Jul 23, 2005, 11:58 PM // 23:58

The reason I belive the game is so popular is because it appeals to the large base of mmorpg players, and it is the best mmorpg out there. If I were to pay to play an mmorpg, WoW would be my only choice, and from what I read, most people's only choice.

Drakron · Jul 24, 2005, 12:05 AM // 00:05

Actually I think its because of being made by Blizzard, I bet if BioWare made a MMORPG it would also be very popular.

I doubt those numbers, companies love to throw numbers around since ...

high numbers=success

AceSnyp3r · Jul 24, 2005, 12:13 AM // 00:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blow_Holez

The reason I belive the game is so popular is because it appeals to the large base of mmorpg players, and it is the best mmorpg out there. If I were to pay to play an mmorpg, WoW would be my only choice, and from what I read, most people's only choice.

Yeah, WoW appeals to tons of people, casual, serious, and hardcore gamers alike, PvErs, PvPers and RPers (I believe it actually beat out The Sims 2 in raw sales a few months ago)

Master Oria · Jul 24, 2005, 05:37 AM // 05:37

Possible that a lot of Diablo 2 fanatics moved to WoW without
thinking if it was any good. But also keep in mind that a large
company like Blizzard can shed enough money to create advertising
campains saying that they have that many players when they truly
dont.

Like Drakron posted above. It is true that high numbers = success
and if they want to bring up their sales they will find a way to say
that they have more players and better this or better that.

Think of it of a TV commercial. the local fast food restaurent will
show on TV this nice jucy burger with the largest meat. but when
you go to the actual restaurent, you're mighty burger is just as tiny
as any other fast food burger. TV commercial can pull a lie without
people seeing it, trust me, game companys can to.

Chief · Jul 24, 2005, 06:08 AM // 06:08

Read the fine Print.

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://www.blizzard.com/press/050720.shtml

World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players having accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or canceled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards.

No MMORPG company releases actual "ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTION" customers numbers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by www.mmogchart.com

there’s no universal consensus on what constitutes an active subscriber. Some companies may count players currently on their traditional first “free month” as a current subscriber, whereas others might not start counting them until after that period and the customer actually chooses to subscribe. Although the accounts that don’t subscribe get “subtracted’ a month later, such accounting could create a continuous effect of inflating the overall subscription total. Most MMOGs probably do this, but some may not, and this may make them appear slightly larger than they actually are. Still, after the initial launch of a game or an expansion, the actual monthly effect of such accounts should be relatively minor… perhaps on the order of 10%.

Finally, a “subscriber” is generally counted as an individually numbered account currently in a company’s billing system. In some instances, one person may maintain multiple accounts, and thus be double or even triple-counted. Some MMOGs may even encourage this behavior more than others. There isn’t much I can do about this fact; again, the effect is probably minor compared to the overall population of a given MMOG, and in any case it’s certainly valid to count such multiple subscriptions if your goal is to evaluate the relative market share of each MMOG.