Curse

Keithark · Feb 26, 2008, 10:05 PM // 22:05

Love it when people use wiki pages as a source ... makes me lol. But as far as the 5 million, grats now do another skill balance and get rid of sinsplit

Esan · Feb 26, 2008, 10:11 PM // 22:11

5 million does not put it among the top sellers even in the MMORPG genre. Lineage still makes the most money for NCSoft, and it's almost as old as some GW gamers. Better luck next with GW2, Anet.

Antheus · Feb 26, 2008, 10:28 PM // 22:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esan

5 million does not put it among the top sellers even in the MMORPG genre. Lineage still makes the most money for NCSoft, and it's almost as old as some GW gamers. Better luck next with GW2, Anet.

Ok, a better comparison: Diablo 2, 4 million copies over lifetime.

Many people don't realize what 5 million means.

Approximately half the titles game publishers launch will never break even, or cover development cost.

Most titles will sell downwards of 100k copies. Indie titles sell thousands or less.

Then, each publisher has 1 flagship product which covers for all those losses (see Auto Assault). For x-box, that remains Halo series.

But, given the start-up nature of Anet, the success is notable.

Then again, why are people playing GW if Lineage so much better? Better yet, why settle for low-ballers. WoW is where it's at, right? 10 million and all that.

Sales are earnings, they don't directly reflect success. I hear that author of Tetris got a few hundred dollars, although the game was played by millions, or even tens of millions world-wide.

Red Sonya · Feb 26, 2008, 11:55 PM // 23:55

Diablo 2 sold 6 million copies in less than 2 years. WOW's expansion sold 2-1/2 million copies the FIRST DAY! lol This isn't much of a milestone taking this long to sell this many copies is merely meager compared to others. Even Neverwinter Nights and Oblivion/Morrowind have sold more.

HawkofStorms · Feb 27, 2008, 12:16 AM // 00:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Sonya

Diablo 2 sold 6 million copies in less than 2 years. WOW's expansion sold 2-1/2 million copies the FIRST DAY! lol This isn't much of a milestone taking this long to sell this many copies is merely meager compared to others. Even Neverwinter Nights and Oblivion/Morrowind have sold more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...puter_games#PC

Double check your facts people. GW is a success, especially for a computer game (which always sells a smaller share then consoles) and especially for a brand new company.

bosstweed · Feb 27, 2008, 01:29 AM // 01:29

Thats 4 million and a half mending wammos!

Hooray!

MrGuildBoi · Feb 27, 2008, 01:31 AM // 01:31

Nice 5 million. Yet most towns are blank.

Zinger314 · Feb 27, 2008, 01:48 AM // 01:48

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.

arsie · Feb 27, 2008, 01:55 AM // 01:55

The earlier zones of each campaign are feeling more crowded, thats always an indication of more new players. (The fact that they as newbie questions are also a clue...)

This increase could be a combined effect of server barriers lowering and the campaigns selling at a lower price. Good job GW.

Not a bad time to start playing GW. Its now real cheap to get all campaigns and they still have a year and more to fill their HoM. No problem.

SerenitySilverstar · Feb 27, 2008, 01:59 AM // 01:59

Zinger, I'd imagine the best census would be the daily Anet logs. I know units sold is the easiest indication on the health of a company, but purely from a player's perspective I'd wonder if they'd release an average of current players.

Zinger314 · Feb 27, 2008, 02:01 AM // 02:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by SerenitySilverstar

Zinger, I'd imagine the best census would be the daily Anet logs. I know units sold is the easiest indication on the health of a company, but purely from a player's perspective I'd wonder if they'd release an average of current players.

They will never release it because it would be suicide. (Hmm, 300k to 9+ mil, OMG GW SUCKS!)

Snow Bunny · Feb 27, 2008, 02:03 AM // 02:03

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.

Who cares?

It's 5 million units SOLD

They can always get back players who quit/took a break with GW2.

How many people play Starcraft still? 6302 I believe was the number battlenet posted when I logged on several days ago. I can't believe much more play it offline.

And Zinger, no offense mate, your math is bad. I can show you why it is, if you wish.

Commander Ryker · Feb 27, 2008, 02:08 AM // 02:08

WTG Anet! Grats!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solange

5 million x $40 = 200 million or 2 billion dollars

So, how many ecto would that be?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snow Bunny

And Zinger, no offense mate, your math is bad. I can show you why it is, if you wish.

Let's don't. Just stay on topic please.

HawkofStorms · Feb 27, 2008, 02:08 AM // 02:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snow Bunny

Who cares?

It's 5 million units SOLD

They can always get back players who quit/took a break with GW2.

How many people play Starcraft still? 6302 I believe was the number battlenet posted when I logged on several days ago. I can't believe much more play it offline.

Exactly.
Number of people playing doesn't matter in a game where you are limited to 8 man parties and a guild of 100 people. 300k plays just like 5 million.

Who cares how many people are actually playing of those who bought the game? The casual player who only played for 40 miniutes when he first got it and never touched the game again pays for the server upkeep to feed my adiction

Lady Yuna · Feb 27, 2008, 02:09 AM // 02:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commander Ryker

So, how many ecto is that?

not much,

2,000,000,000/5000 = 400,000 ectos. Not as much as I imagined

*Darcy* · Feb 27, 2008, 02:17 AM // 02:17

Congratulations to ANet.

Considering the lack of marketing over the first two years, you are doing great.

Snow Bunny · Feb 27, 2008, 02:18 AM // 02:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commander Ryker

Let's don't. Just stay on topic please.

It's on topic. I won't show it, but 5million copies =/= 300k players.

Antheus · Feb 27, 2008, 02:23 AM // 02:23

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.

That would make it 1/3rd of Lineage that got mentioned before, and more than majority of AAA MMORPGs.

That's a big number.

Winterclaw · Feb 27, 2008, 02:26 AM // 02:26

I'd be more happy for them if they fixed some of the problems in GW or decided to do another expansion.

Gattocheese · Feb 27, 2008, 02:30 AM // 02:30

Yeah, grats on reaching the 5 million milestone. Thats great for any company to sell that much.

But Diablo 2 selling 4 million is a success IMO over Guild Wars 5 million. Because the fact still remains that the average GW player owns 3-4 purchases of GW. People like me own 2 accounts. I know some people whom own 15+ accounts. And there are bots and bot storage holders that own legit copies.

Guild Wars will triumph eventually over D2. When Guild Wars is around as long as Diablo 2 is, GW will surpass them.

And as far as success in a business model for money, I am sure GW had outdone Diablo a long time ago.