The rumor is that Wow has lost a mountain of players. That the game has gone from over eleven million players to perhaps a few million. I don’t know, this is what the rumor is.
Since Wow is a subscription based mmorpg, that would imply, if the rumor is true. That Wow is losing money by the barrel full. A new way to generate money needs to be found, so that Wow can continue existing.
Is subscriptions enough for Wow to survive? Well, perhaps. But a sure sign of possible financial issues was visible and indicative of concern when Blizzard created the Wow Token. Which can be bought with real world money, put in the Auction House and sold for in-game Gold. And along with this, In-game cosmetic items, mounts, in-game services, etc. Are also sold in the Wow Store for real world money. So apparently Wow has already begun that path to financial gains.
Is the possibility that Wow will eventually start taking a hint from the Mobile Games Gacha system? And go down the path of Loot-Boxes which randomize loot with the chance to get a powerful item? Even go as far as selling gear, weapons, items that actually have better stats then those found in-game? Giving those players who can lay out real world cash a substantial advantage?
I don’t have an answer. Just making an inquiry. So what do you think about this issue?
Technically this isn’t a “rumor”. World wide there were 12 million players in 2010 and Blizzard stopped reporting number of active accounts in 2015, about when tokens were released and subscription numbers were no longer then necessary accounting of how many active wow players there were.
Mobile game activity probably from 2018.
Probably not, they usually don’t sell wow power items for cash, but I guess never say never. Most likely just flavor and appearance items, like the head gear.
Really the worst you could accuse WoW of (in the pay to blank catagory I mean) is pay to skip with the lvl boost, but even that just drops you at level 60 with no other resources or training. Congrats your lvl 1 is now lvl 60. You have no trained professions and 30 gold to your name. congrats!
No one actually buy gold with real money and gear with gold.
That is impossible right ?
BoP ? No one actually buy gold with money and boosts with gold, or skip the middle mand entirely and buy boosts with money.
Leveling ? No one buys level boosts straight from blizzard right ?
people pay $15 a month to see what a boss drops 4 times a month.
some do this 2 or more months. for jsut 1 item. and for months on end…they get nothing.
see in a single player game…boss X is usually coded for 100% drop. Like skyrim. you can plan out a tour de “boss” to get wanted items. when MOb x dies…they will drop that item with the enchant you wanted. disenchant that and put it on your crafted weapon. and…done.
or you pay for the game once and then play rng games after for “free”. Free in this case defined by the ye old rule of gaming. $1 per hour.
if a game costs $60, you get 60 hours of play out of it. its now paid off. the unofficial $1 per hour metric of gaming.
I paid for diablo’s, borderlands long ago. $1 per hour was met long ago. That farm run now at 100+ hours is for a game “paid off”.
MMORPGs are a big gamble for anyone to make and WoW is more or less kept online for little more than nostalgia at this point. I’d be surprised if it makes any real money that Blizzard and their overlords at Activision really care about.
That being said WoW has declined in quantitive and quality content though this could be as much of a symptom of its age and Blizzards glacial pace at changing tracks when it comes to keeping a product fresh and appealing.
You don’t have to look much further than the Warcraft 3 Refunded debacle to know which way the wind is blowing.
Actually, WoW had just over 5 million players when they stopped publishing sub stats. Graph for proof.
As for the pay to win question I do not believe the WoW is pay to win.
A “pay-to-win” game is a type of video game in which players can gain advantages over their competitors by spending real-world money. In pay-to-win games, players who spend money on in-game purchases, such as special weapons, power-ups, or upgrades, can gain a significant advantage over players who don’t spend money.
The term “pay-to-win” implies that success in the game is not primarily determined by skill or strategy, but by the amount of money a player is willing to spend. This can create a game experience that feels unfair or unbalanced, especially for players who cannot or choose not to spend money on in-game purchases.
Some examples of pay-to-win games include mobile games with microtransactions, such as Clash of Clans or Candy Crush Saga, as well as some free-to-play online games like Warframe or Fortnite, where players can purchase cosmetic items that may give them a slight gameplay advantage.
By definition alone, the fact that “free players” can only get to a certain less than cap level, that by itself already makes it PAY TO WIN.
But then you have tokens, boosts, and other things that DO BRING ADVANTAGES to those spending more than others, to the point there is a accountable correlation between paying more and a larger probability of success level in activities in World of Warcraft.
i do think there has to be some kind of trouble, which is why there is all these deals for dragonflight and free trials and all this crap even though it was released pretty recently. sometimes the obvious answer is the answer. I think blizzard might be sweating a bit because a huge chunk of their playerbase is going to quit when wrath is done. I don’t think WoW is going to die or anything like that but it’s not like the classic playerbase is a tiny portion, that is going to be a huge blow & I don’t think there is any way to retain those players + retail probably isn’t too healthy right now
Subscriptions on top of box prices on top of an in-game cash shop for real money; yes it is more than enough to sustain World of Warcraft - many games have less revenues streams and are doing just fine.
Sure, 12 mil down to a few mil over the last 10 years or so. But Blizzard has added more sources of income, like tokens. Don’t know what the total profits are in comparison but I would not be surprised if tokens make just as much if not more then the 12 mil subs. The only one wining from tokens is Blizzard, there is no need to add more MTX type content, but it don’t mean they won’t, why, because players want it.
