Network now...NEWS
Blizzard: Conan Stole Our WoW Players
By Kris Graft
July 31, 2008
See also:
Related Articles:
"Any massively multiplayer online game that launches today isn't just competing with the amount and breadth of content that we launched with back in 2004."
You might say that it's an accomplishment in itself to pry a few World of Warcraft players away to try a different MMO.
So Funcom should be commended for apparently drawing some of those WoW players away to play Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, which launched in late May.
Blizzard president Mike Morhaime said during an Activision Blizzard earnings call on Thursday, "Age of Conan released with some initial success a couple of months ago, and we did see some of our players leave to try the game. However, we've seen about 40 percent of those players return to World of Warcraft."
In about a month's worth of time, Funcom's Age of Conan garnered 700,000 subscribers, according to the developer.
Morhaime said that players that leave WoW are often drawn back because of the content and service that Blizzard provides.
"Any massively multiplayer online game that launches today isn't just competing with the amount and breadth of content that we launched with back in 2004," Morhaime stated.
He said that other MMO companies entering the market are also competing with the service and content that Blizzard has been honing within World of Warcraft for nearly four years.
Morhaime expects that when the next WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King launches later this year, more players will be compelled to return to WoW, which currently boasts 10.9 million subscribers.
Morhaime added, "Another competitive advantage is our ability to amortize our development costs across more than 10 million subscribers spread out over three continents."
He also described the userbase as a "sales force" of satisfied customers who spread the WoW gospel.
We can't say for sure how many people Funcom stole and Blizzard got back, but we can at least say that Age of Conan is healthy.
In my guild of +100 people over half of them are ex-wow addicts.
Also in pick up groups I've played in most people are also ex-wow players.
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/30/age-of-conan-reaches-700-000-players/
I see mostly speculation and assumption here, no hard facts or numbers. It's clear to see that Blizzard is playing hardball with the market and they don't intend to give up their players easily. Even if they were losing a good amount of players, they aren't going to admit it.
I seem to remember McDonalds having this ad campaign showing how many burgers they'd served on the front signs but even years afterwards I still don't see Burger King closing their door. The longer Blizzard can try to convince everyone that their "burger" is the best the more players they'll retain. It's time now for the other MMO's to show why they have a better burger and keep things just different enough to give us consumers some choices.
I see mostly speculation and assumption here, no hard facts or numbers. It's clear to see that Blizzard is playing hardball with the market and they don't intend to give up their players easily. Even if they were losing a good amount of players, they aren't going to admit it.
I seem to remember McDonalds having this ad campaign showing how many burgers they'd served on the front signs but even years afterwards I still don't see Burger King closing their door. The longer Blizzard can try to convince everyone that their "burger" is the best the more players they'll retain. It's time now for the other MMO's to show why they have a better burger and keep things just different enough to give us consumers some choices.
Its really telling how many came back, and that Funcom refuses to release subscriber numbers from after the free month ended.
(They're way down, though.)
I can. It's that hair.
Oh that Conan... I honestly couldn't imagine Conan O'Brien stealing WoW players.