QuoteSubscribers to the online adventure game World of Warcraft have dropped dramatically this year, publisher Activision Blizzard has said.
The company said 14% of users left the game between January and March - a fall of 1.3 million.
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The California-based company blamed the rise of free-to-play games.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22464058 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22464058)
Nothing to do with being over priced, limited game play, often so overpopulated you can't get in, and repeatedly dominated by groups who seem more interested in racing through so they can sell the account and start another.
=EVE=
Online
I do not play world of wankkraft.
To be fair, WoW has been fighting against the FtP model for a long time, now. It was a losing battle, and always has. LOTRO proved that one could implement a successful FtP Model that would make as much, if not more money than your old monthly subscription model. Korean MMOs had known that fora long, long time, but LOTRO was really the first European/American MMO to move over to the new model. Since then it was only a matter of time before this happened.
I've always said that WoW was going to be the WoW killer. As MMOs continued to evolve and become more diverse, you never were going to get the one that was going to kill it. It's just that there's so many to choose from, it's easy to find one that suits your interests/budget, which means that you're going to see people moving from WoW, which is so busy trying to be everything for everybody that it kind of falls flat, to one that they like better.
To quote T.S. Eliot, "This is the way the World (of Warcraft) ends. Not with a bang, but with a 'Meh.'"
Those are good points Shodan.
I got into WoW largely because of a niece who is really sociable. She likes the social atmosphere on WoW. With the guild she belongs to she is really well known.
I moved over to LOTRO because of the reduced cost. Personally, after 2 year on WoW, I find LORTO so much more interesting. But more, the agressive competitiveness just doesn't seem to have taken over there.
I get a slightly different impression. I get the impression that WoW has created for itself, a market identity as the premier online game. Such that having a high level character has become a point of discussion in itself, rather like the number business types claiming to be black belts in Karate. Being able to boast a high level position in a WoW guild is a bonus.
I don't really think the makers of WoW were in the least bit concerned about game play, or the online bullying.
They issued occasioanl upgrades, hoping for a favourable press to encourage yet more sales. But while previous updates had often incorporated re-writes to utilise newer graphics technologies and faster computers and net connections, I get the impression they chose to issue the latest, with the kung fu pandas along with raising the limit to 90, in a silly attempt to seem to be doing something. And I think they made a serious mistake.
Firstly, raising the max level to 90 meant that owners of the lev 85 characters would need to actually play or be seen to have second rate characters. Secondly, the Kung fu panda idea is insulting, patronising, possible racist and frankly, 30 years out of date! Added to that, the characters look stupid and childish.
I think the makers of WoW have just run out of steam and made a mistake.
That's a cynical view though. :embarrassed:
I am still playing my nitendo64 "Tank," "Mario Kart," "starfox," and "SuperMario" LOL
Not to mention that the panderans was started out as an April Fools joke that somehow managed to get into lore due to fanservice.
I think what they've done for WoW with Mists of Pandaria is great. It's the best expansion to date. But I fear the upgrades and overhauls have come too late. I think one of the biggest reasons for the dwindling subscribers is because the veteran players are simply getting tired of Azeroth. I love the game's current state, but I log in to my 90 that I've had for so many years and just have no desire to play anymore. It's nothing wrong with the game, it's just me being an old fart I guess. :)
Maybe I'll get more interest in the game when they put in more planets.
Good riddance I say...
Tera is way more fun! (in my opinion ^_^)