MMOGChart Update 21 Now Available

SirBruce wrote to mention that the 21st update to MMOGChart.com is now available. From the site: "This version has updated subscriber numbers for several games, most notably World of Warcraft, several of SOE's titles, and the recently launched Auto Assault. I've also expanded the mid-range chart a bit; eventually I'm going to have to implement a dynamic graphing system." The most dramatic information can be seen on the mid-range chart. The cyan, triangled line that represents Everquest made my jaw drop.

Comments

general subscription?

[192939495969798999]

When is the general subscription coming? I want to pay like $10-$20 and be on all the different games, not $x per game. That's just not being managed right -- they'd all share a lot more purchases, customers, etc. if they could just combine user bases through a single subscription model.

Re:general subscription?

[Emetophobe]

When is the general subscription coming? I want to pay like $10-$20 and be on all the different games, not $x per game. That's just not being managed right -- they'd all share a lot more purchases, customers, etc. if they could just combine user bases through a single subscription model.

When is the general car subscription coming? I want to pay like $10-20k and own all the different cars, not $x per car. That's just not being managed right -- they'd all share a lot more purchases, customers, etc. if they could just combine user bases through a single subscription model.

Why is Guild Wars not listed?

[illumin8]

Why is Guild Wars not even covered in this chart? Especially, now that they've just sold 2 million copies. Is it because there is no monthly fee to play? I think that is a very stupid metric.

Not every good MMORPG requires a fee to play, but it looks like even if you create an immensely popular game, unless you're bending your customers over and asking them to take it in the ass every month to the tune of $14.95, you don't get listed.

Re:WoW "Crash"

[0racle]

You can only stay the current favorite for so long, so it's not really surprising. Eventually a lot of people are going to move on to something else.

Re:Ignore It

[Sage Gaspar]

MMOGChart is inaccurate, incomplete and a waste of anyones time. If you think its figures are accurate, or frankly show the whole picture, you're wrong. Ignore it.

Despite the nature of the troll, there actually is a point here. Giving SirBruce the benefit of the doubt about the numbers, there's the question of, well, what exactly does the subscription metric tell you? It tells you something, but certainly not turnover rate, average satisfaction, profits, the number of "deadbeat" accounts, etc. Everytime I see this site pop up I spend a couple minutes wondering how exactly to interpret it -- and then I usually forget about it until next time because it's just not something that catches my interest in the right way :P

Of course, this isn't news to anyone, least of all SirBruce, who actually discusses better metrics and the limited utility of subscribership numbers. It's just that there isn't an easy way to access the information needed for all those other metrics. And to claim that the subscriber numbers are useless is pretty narrow minded.

Looks like SOE is taking a beating

[SmallFurryCreature]

SWG isn't even the worsed performer. Both everquests seem to have lost over half their subscriber base since last year, understandble for the original but it seems people didn't leave it for Everquest 2 but instead went to WoW (or just quit cold turkey).

That SWG NGE lost slightly less then half its subscribers is not that amazing. Even those who like the NGE have to admit that it added a whole new bug fest to an already bugged game. It would be like getting you broken fiat replaced by a lada.

What is intresting is how poorly Everquest 2 is doing. I played it for a bit after escaping from SWG (WoW does not appeal to me neither does Eve so don't bug me about those) and it too seems to have been smedleyed. Before I left EQ2 they removed spirit shards taking a lot of the fun out of the game and increased your running speed so you looked like a characters out of a slapstick movie.

At least it is nice to see I am not the only one who thinks sony is ruining the games. Perhaps once they loose them all they will realize that it is pointless trying to emulate Blizzard by making all their games easy, shallow WoW wannabees. Not that their is anything wrong with WoW by itself. Just that it is a product that already exists.

Or maybe this is just the way live works. SOE once was one of the big MMO companies and then they just lost it. Sierra, Lucasarts, Microprose and countless others have gone before them. You really have to wonder how a company that once got MMO's so right its product was likened to crack now can't keep keep a single product from loosing subscribers.

Let's see, 100.000 lost SWG subscribers. That is 1.5 million dollars of lost revenue a month. Was the NGE worth that? Same with EQ2, removing spirit shards and other easing of the game lost them well of 150.000 subscribers. 2 million dollars a month down the drain. You got to wonder about Sony's management that Smedley is still allowed on the premises without being carved up into sushi.

Oh well, blame piracy, oh wait, mmo's don't have piracy. Guess the only excuse is that Sony this time is itself to blame.

Re:Looks like SOE is taking a beating

[SatanicPuppy]

The only thing I find interesting about the SWG numbers is how well they bear out what everyone said at the time...SoE's huge revamp of the game system was nothing but a knife in the back of their subscriber base, and there has been no corresponding jump in new subscribers to offset it.

In the end, this is only common sense. Even if the idea of a dumbed down SWG appealed to me more than the complicated one which didn't appeal to me enough to actually make me buy the game (played the free trial, and uninstalled it before it ran out. unimpressed.), I really don't want to put a lot of time into a game where the developers have already conclusively proven that they're willing to backstab their loyal customers in an attempt to get new customers.

I play a decent number of mmo's. I put a good bit of time into them, as I am able, and I take satisfaction in my characters. There is no way I'd be willing to put a ton of time into a character on an mmo owned by a company that doesn't give a damn about it's customers. People complain about all companies that run mmo's, but Sony (and maybe EA...E&B ran for what, a year? Pssh.) is the worst for looking at it's customers and seeing nothing but dollar signs.