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The mighty have fallen (Blizzard loses 6 million players)

Jul 12, 2009#1

Chazwozel

http://www.gamesbrief.com/2009/07/world ... ion-users/

World of Warcraft may be in imminent danger of losing its crown as the largest massively-multiplayer online role-playing game in the world, as its user numbers fall by 50%.

WoW’s Chinese servers are down, according to blogger Tobold, and have been for a month. And the Chinese market represents about six million Warcraft players.

Of course, these users are not that profitable for Activision Blizzard. Chinese rules mean that they have to operate in partnership with a local company which takes most of the revenue.

The current issue may be political. Activision Blizzard ended its relationship with former WoW operator The9 due, I believe, to EA’s 15.8% stake in The9. But it is also geopolitical: the Chinese General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has to approve the release of “an electronic publication belonging to an overseas copyright holder”. Marbridge Consulting reports that:
“At the 2008 Annual Meeting for China Online Gaming, GAPP said that in order to protect the interests of domestic gaming enterprises, it would suspend review of all games belonging to foreign companies in the event of lawsuits or arbitration between foreign companies and Chinese companies.”

So perhaps unsurprisingly, The9 has brought four lawsuits against Blizzard in Shanghai. And the Warcraft servers stay down. I’m sure that competitors are swarming to attract former WoW players to their own MMORPGs even as we speak.

The financial impact for Activision Blizzard is likely to be small. Chinese players do not spend anywhere near as much per head as Western subscribers. But the prestige impact of no longer being the largest MMORPG in the world is likely to grate on Bobby Kotick.

Oh, and the stigma of “failing” in the Chinese market if they don’t resolve this issue quickly.

I heard from some friends today that the WoW American login servers have been down for two days.

I believe the giant is being toppled.

Jul 12, 2009#2

KCWM

We've had no trouble logging in at all. Nor has anyone else I know.

No other MMO has toppled it...the chinese red tape has. Not much of accomplishment there.

Jul 12, 2009#3

Bowielee

You're friends are lying, i've been playing on the US servers pretty much constantly since I got laid off

Jul 12, 2009#4

Shakey

Wow isn't going to die because of this, just less gold farmers around for a while. Login servers were down for about 20 minutes the other day, but not 2 days.

Jul 12, 2009#5

CynicismKills

Oh no, Jkhsgdfj won't be able to spam Trade chat anymore, what will I do

Also yeah, no login issues for me, either.

Jul 12, 2009#6

Shegokigo

What a load of crap, I play 4-5hrs of WoW a day, and haven't had a single minute of interrupted play. Oh yeah, and WoW was HUGE before China release, it'll stay huge.

Jul 12, 2009#7

Calleja

Gorram it, will they stop calling it "Activision Blizzard", please!?

It's painful

Jul 12, 2009#8

Pojodan

If China's WoW is down, how did a Chinese guild on a Chinese server get the world first kill for Yogg+0?

I call shenanigans!

Jul 12, 2009#9

crono1224

Pojodan said:
If China's WoW is down, how did a Chinese guild on a Chinese server get the world first kill for Yogg+0?

I call shenanigans!

They were actually playing in Taiwan.

Jul 12, 2009#10

Hailey Knight

Some of you must be lucky; there was a 28 page thread yesterday about being unable to login. The game was stuck at Authenticating for a few minutes, and then would disconnect the user. My group who plays experienced it, as did a few thousand others. The servers have not been down exactly, but there's been a clear problem since Friday night for some regions.

I don't really care what the Chinese do though. If WoW doesn't have to kowtow to the Chinese anymore, we can finally get Pandarens.

Jul 12, 2009#11

Shawn

There is no giant being toppled here. In fact any MMO that wants to become bigger than WoW is going to have to stand on WoW's shoulders to accomplish it. The reason WoW is so big is because it does things right.
Class system is well rounded. Boss fights are often challenging and fun. Environments are practically characters themselves. The developers are constantly adding new things. As far as MMOs go it is king and any aspiring usurpers are going to have to take examples from WoW to even have a chance.

Jul 12, 2009#12

Chazwozel

Shegokigo said:
What a load of crap, I play 4-5hrs of WoW a day, and haven't had a single minute of interrupted play. Oh yeah, and WoW was HUGE before China release, it'll stay huge.

11 million to 5 million players....

While 5 million is still a buttton of people, a loss of 6 mil will hurt in the long run.

-- Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:27 am --

escushion said:
Some of you must be lucky; there was a 28 page thread yesterday about being unable to login. The game was stuck at Authenticating for a few minutes, and then would disconnect the user. My group who plays experienced it, as did a few thousand others. The servers have not been down exactly, but there's been a clear problem since Friday night for some regions.

I don't really care what the Chinese do though. If WoW doesn't have to kowtow to the Chinese anymore, we can finally get Pandarens.

This would bring me back to WoW.

Jul 12, 2009#13

@Li3n

Dude, as soon as the red tape clears all those chinese will just log back in... their addiction worse then ever from the withdrawal...

But it's nice to know that it true that more the half of WoW's population is from China...

Jul 12, 2009#14

Covar

Chazwozel said:
Shegokigo said:

What a load of crap, I play 4-5hrs of WoW a day, and haven't had a single minute of interrupted play. Oh yeah, and WoW was HUGE before China release, it'll stay huge.

Click to expand...

11 million to 5 million players....

While 5 million is still a buttton of people, a loss of 6 mil will hurt in the long run.

considering the following quote from the article I don't think it will hurt them that much.

Chinese rules mean that they have to operate in partnership with a local company which takes most of the revenue.

Jul 12, 2009#15

@Li3n

Not to mention that 5 million is a number other MMO's have never reached....

Jul 12, 2009#16

SpecialKO

Can Chinese players still log into non-Chinese servers?

'Cause the thought of fewer gold farmers, fewer raid-jumping ninjas, fewer trade chat spammers...well, it brings tears to my eyes.

Next, blizzard should require a spelling test to be able to log in.

Jul 12, 2009#17

DarkAudit

TeKeo said:
Next, blizzard should require a spelling test to be able to log in.

Thus was WoW shut down for good 15 seconds later.

Jul 12, 2009#18

R

Raemon777

Does anyone know what the new "biggest MMO" would be if the Chinese thing became permanent?

Jul 12, 2009#19

CynicismKills

TeKeo said:
Can Chinese players still log into non-Chinese servers?

'Cause the thought of fewer gold farmers, fewer raid-jumping ninjas, fewer trade chat spammers...well, it brings tears to my eyes.

Next, blizzard should require a spelling test to be able to log in.

Technically you can still use other server shards. For example, in my last guild we had a Warlock who played from England, even though they have a different set of servers entirely. What they'd have to do is buy the American/Australian version of the game, or (I think) you can change the server group you connect to in one of the Notepad files in your WoW directory.

However, it's possible to get busted for this. I had another friend who was living in China for a few months (normally lived in the US), playing his US characters. He was banned for a week or so for selling something on the AH, accused of abusing the market or something.

Raemon777 said:
Does anyone know what the new "biggest MMO" would be if the Chinese thing became permanent?

WoW is still bigger than any other MMO. There's no contest yet, at least not from US-based MMO's. No other MMO has such worldwide playability, and WoW is being localized to new places every few months. I think it just hit Russia not long ago.

Jul 12, 2009#20

@Li3n

Lineage 2 supposedly sold like 14 million cds... but how many accounts there are on legit servers i have no idea...

Jul 12, 2009#21

SpecialKO

http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html

A year out of date, but that's the idea. Standard data disclaimers apply.

Jul 12, 2009#22

@Li3n

LotRO reached 3 mil?! Nice...

Jul 12, 2009#23

SpecialKO

@Li3n said:
LotRO reached 3 mil?! Nice...

No, that's lineage. LOTRO can barely be seen underneath most of the others. Looks like around 250k.

Jul 12, 2009#24

@Li3n

C'mon... there are like a gazillion colours... damn tricksy chart.

Jul 12, 2009#25

SpecialKO

No, I know it's darn hard to see.

I wish he had interactive charts.

Jul 12, 2009#26

@Li3n

Oh, i was complaining about the colours being so close to each other... it's not like they didn't have plenty of alternate options...

Jul 12, 2009#27

Shegokigo

escushion said:
Some of you must be lucky; there was a 28 page thread yesterday about being unable to login. The game was stuck at Authenticating for a few minutes, and then would disconnect the user. My group who plays experienced it, as did a few thousand others. The servers have not been down exactly, but there's been a clear problem since Friday night for some regions.

I don't really care what the Chinese do though. If WoW doesn't have to kowtow to the Chinese anymore, we can finally get Pandarens.

According to a very scarily accurate "leaked" .txt file about expansions about 2 years ago, Panderans and Worgen are about 2 xpacs away.

Jul 12, 2009#28

Koko

The only thing that would bring me back is some kind of veteran's reward system.
Some recognition for the original players just seems like a no-brainer, everyone benefits.

Jul 12, 2009#29

Shegokigo

Koko said:
The only thing that would bring me back is some kind of veteran's reward system.
Some recognition for the original players just seems like a no-brainer, everyone benefits.

So you'd come back if they gave you a bunch of free stuff? :bush:

If they ever do, I hope it's like the CoH system and you have to have had your account active for the entire time of your reward tier. :uhhuh:

Jul 12, 2009#30

R

Raemon777

Shegokigo said:
escushion said:

According to a very scarily accurate "leaked" .txt file about expansions about 2 years ago, Panderans and Worgen are about 2 xpacs away.

Click to expand...

Sweet.

Jul 12, 2009#31

Hailey Knight

Shegokigo said:
escushion said:

Some of you must be lucky; there was a 28 page thread yesterday about being unable to login. The game was stuck at Authenticating for a few minutes, and then would disconnect the user. My group who plays experienced it, as did a few thousand others. The servers have not been down exactly, but there's been a clear problem since Friday night for some regions.

I don't really care what the Chinese do though. If WoW doesn't have to kowtow to the Chinese anymore, we can finally get Pandarens.

Click to expand...

According to a very scarily accurate "leaked" .txt file about expansions about 2 years ago, Panderans and Worgen are about 2 xpacs away.

Two? I thought the next set of new races was going to be the next expansion, with the islands and the Maelstrom. And then Eternal Dream and then Twisting Nether.

Jul 12, 2009#32

Shegokigo

From what I can see, it'll either be released WITH or AFTER the "Planes" xpac. Which is after Maelstrom/Cataclysm.

Jul 12, 2009#33

AshburnerX

Shegokigo said:
Koko said:

The only thing that would bring me back is some kind of veteran's reward system.
Some recognition for the original players just seems like a no-brainer, everyone benefits.

Click to expand...

So you'd come back if they gave you a bunch of free stuff? :bush:

If they ever do, I hope it's like the CoH system and you have to have had your account active for the entire time of your reward tier. :uhhuh:

Ditto that. Those veteran reward badges are basically the only way to tell if somebody your adding to your team is going to be any good. Also, some of those rewards (like the Sands of Muu/Ghost Slaying Axe, Base Teleporter, and Blackwand/Nemesis Staff) are REALLY fucking useful.

I DO think the 60 month reward is game breakingly good though... it basically guarantees you'll have a free power slot on your build unless you need to go Super Jump for Acrobatics. That makes anybody who has it have a distinct advantage in PvP.

Jul 12, 2009#34

CynicismKills

Shegokigo said:
Koko said:

The only thing that would bring me back is some kind of veteran's reward system.
Some recognition for the original players just seems like a no-brainer, everyone benefits.

Click to expand...

So you'd come back if they gave you a bunch of free stuff? :bush:

If they ever do, I hope it's like the CoH system and you have to have had your account active for the entire time of your reward tier. :uhhuh:

Yeah, I've been active since just after Dire Maul was patched, I'd love even some cosmetic stuff, like the chance to get that Albino Raptor.

aranoid:

Jul 12, 2009#35

@Li3n

Shegokigo said:
From what I can see, it'll either be released WITH or AFTER the "Planes" xpac. Which is after Maelstrom/Cataclysm.

I require some sort of proof about this .txt file... lets say in amPle forM...

Jul 12, 2009#36

KCWM said:
We've had no trouble logging in at all. Nor has anyone else I know.

Same here.

Calleja said:
Gorram it, will they stop calling it "Activision Blizzard", please!?

It's painful

It looks pretty damn sweet on Mr. ZM's checks and on my health insurance card, so I'm fine with it.

Jul 12, 2009#37

ScytheRexx

This is not really Blizzard losing the players, just postponing the playtime. Most of that 6 million moved to the Taiwan servers, and the rest are just waiting for the red tape to be cleared. I am sure Blizzard will lose a few players out of this as other competitors come running to try and fill the void, but I would bet most will be back once the servers go back up. (More so since that would mean they finally get WOTLK, which has yet to go live on the official china servers)

Even in the very rare chance that none of those players return once the servers come back online, Blizzard would still be the largest western MMO by a couple million, just not the worldwide standard. I don't think most players care if they are the largest, just that they have enough interest in the franchise to keep giving us updates.

Also, no idea how your friend was unable to log on. I have been getting on consistently all week. He might have had his own faulty internet issues. I think the last time I have problems logging in was a month ago, and that was a few seconds of authentication being down.

Jul 12, 2009#38

Terrik

The recent xinjiang riots were really caused by the Chinese inability to log on to WoW servers.

Jul 12, 2009#39

Rubicon

I've had 0 issues logging in and my server has had it's usual uptime not counting scheduled maintenance. I of course play on a US server since I live here.

Jul 13, 2009#40

@Li3n

Terrik said:
The recent xinjiang riots were really caused by the Chinese inability to log on to WoW servers.

Uighurs = murlocks?!

Jul 13, 2009#41

Mutiny

Hi Halforum!

Blizzard doesn't charge players in China the same price they charge Americans, but in fact, far less. It's not like they're losing five million $15/month subscriptions.

I did hear the company that was handling the World of Warcraft service in China is building a blatant rip-off of the game entitled World of Fight. I don't know exactly how much truth there is to that.

Jul 13, 2009#42

@Li3n

Nah, but the reason why they charge less (so they can claim 11 mil), aka publicity, is what will hurt them...

and even if they where i doubt that they would still make a huge profit from WoW... if anything they'll just have to make Diablo 3 with some actual goal dates attached, instead of SC2 style of "when we feel like it's finished" lack of caring because WoW is printing them money.

Jul 13, 2009#43

CynicismKills

Mutiny said:
Hi Halforum!

Blizzard doesn't charge players in China the same price they charge Americans, but in fact, far less. It's not like they're losing five million $15/month subscriptions.

I did hear the company that was handling the World of Warcraft service in China is building a blatant rip-off of the game entitled World of Fight. I don't know exactly how much truth there is to that.

Why halo thar!

Yeah, there is a WoF in the works, MMO-Champion had a screenie and link of the webpage.

Jul 13, 2009#44

Bowielee

@Li3n said:
Nah, but the reason why they charge less (so they can claim 11 mil), aka publicity, is what will hurt them...

and even if they where i doubt that they would still make a huge profit from WoW... if anything they'll just have to make Diablo 3 with some actual goal dates attached, instead of SC2 style of "when we feel like it's finished" lack of caring because WoW is printing them money.

So, making sure a game is polished and bug free is LACK of caring?
WoW wasn't "printing money" whey they pushed back Diablo 2 because they actually wanted to put out a quality game.

Jul 13, 2009#45

AshburnerX

Bowielee said:
@Li3n said:

Nah, but the reason why they charge less (so they can claim 11 mil), aka publicity, is what will hurt them...

and even if they where i doubt that they would still make a huge profit from WoW... if anything they'll just have to make Diablo 3 with some actual goal dates attached, instead of SC2 style of "when we feel like it's finished" lack of caring because WoW is printing them money.

Click to expand...

So, making sure a game is polished and bug free is LACK of caring?
WoW wasn't "printing money" whey they pushed back Diablo 2 because they actually wanted to put out a quality game.

Your right... WoW wasn't printing money for them back then. STARCRAFT WAS.

Jul 13, 2009#46

@Li3n

Bowielee said:
@Li3n said:

Nah, but the reason why they charge less (so they can claim 11 mil), aka publicity, is what will hurt them...

and even if they where i doubt that they would still make a huge profit from WoW... if anything they'll just have to make Diablo 3 with some actual goal dates attached, instead of SC2 style of "when we feel like it's finished" lack of caring because WoW is printing them money.

Click to expand...

So, making sure a game is polished and bug free is LACK of caring?
WoW wasn't "printing money" whey they pushed back Diablo 2 because they actually wanted to put out a quality game.

Ok, bad choice of words... i just couldn't think of better ones...

and they pushed back Diablo from it's original date, like all their games before SC2 (google operation cwal, which even made it as a cheat in sc1)... but they actually had release dates, instead of this "whenever" thing they have going on right now... and somehow they managed to polish the previous games pretty well too...

Not to mention how they've been working on it since 2003 according to them... if it wasn't for WoW they would have finished it by now... or at least given us a date they can later break...

Jul 13, 2009#47

Adammon

I kicked the habit back in May and the wife cancelled her account for mid July. Our old guild has pretty much abandoned Wow as kids/wives/real life kicks in.

That said, it was an awesome game and I'm happy with the 2-3 years I got to play! In the end though, I just don't want to sit at my computer that much at home anymore.

Jul 13, 2009#48

CynicismKills

I'm spending less time with the game than I used to, but that's mainly due to having more to do outside the apartment out here. I still enjoy the game and will probably be playing it for some time to come.

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