Subsequent to the story breaking, Blizzard has asked various sites who have posted the slides to take them down, citing copyright concerns. I want to make it clear that the material was obtained lawfully by me, that no confidentiality was violated, and that such usage by the media is also protected under the doctrine of fair use. The presentation is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Comission, and is made available freely to EVERYONE So if you want to see the ENTIRE PRESENTATION yourself, including the slides relevant to Blizzard, simply go here.
And shame on Blizzard for trying to bully the media.
I was not at the conference, so I don't know what was actually SAID. But based on the SLIDES, I don't doubt they MEANT that they WERE looking at making MMOG versions for the Starcraft and Diablo franchises. Just not, you know, Blackthorne Online or Lost Vikings Online. (Although those are certainly possible too...)
I was surprised to learn that women flirt SO much more than men do online. And on the depressing side, I haven't really seen it, which either means they aren't flirting that much with ME, or they are and I'm too much of a clueless male to see it.
Then again, maybe the difference is explained by gender-biased definitions of "flirting". Maybe most guys think saying, "Wow, you've got a nice rack!" doesn't count as flirting, whereas maybe women think simply typing a winky-smiley-face counts as flirting.
Well, my current data shows 12 - 13 million in the MMOGs I track, and there's probably that many again playing many Asian MMOGs that I don't track, so 24 - 26 million worldwide is in good agreement with their estimate of 25-30 million.
It took me a while to figure out what the writer meant. He doesn't mean including PS2 hardware in the PS3 now would make the price come down; he meant that in the future, when they can REMOVE the PS2 hardware from the PS3, THAT would make the price come down.
I'm surprised this was made into a news story. It's something that people were talking about for a while now. The physics in Second Life are on all the time, even when no one is using that piece of land, so there's a large amount of overhead. I'm sure Linden can still turn a profit, but they're going to need to do some server optimization at some point. Something like a physics co-processor (Ageia or ATI or whomever) might actually be helpful...
Computer Gaming World is still my favorite, but I'm a big fan of Computer Games Magazine as well, which the reviewer couldn't even find a copy of. I admit that I don't read PC Gamer as often, but they were nice enough to do an interview article with me, so I suppose I owe them some dap!
I've been holding out upgrade from my old pre-MT 2.8 GHz P4 for a while now, and the Intel Conroe was going to by my choice for my new computer. Glad to read that it's actually kicking ass for games like it's supposed to. I still haven't decided if I'm going to go with ATI or Nvidia, though.
Edward Packard seems to have been the best writer of the series. The Cave of Time books were good too. It's nice to see the series being kept alive for a new generation of children.
I think you meant to say that PlayOnline gave out real figures for subscribers BEFORE September 2004, but haven't had anything since then except the census. I got a soft confirmation from a source on the 650K number, but that's still from last year in any case.
Revenue numbers are interesting, but they don't tell the whole picture, either. A game with 1,000 subscribers paying $1,000 month for some amazing virtual experience would clock in at $1,000,000, whereas a game with 100,000 subscribers pay $10 a month would look the same. You wouldn't be able to tell from that that the second game was actually vastly more popular, and the other game seemed to cater to some rich elite with money to burn. Really, ALL of these data points are useful in different ways at different points in time. My subscription charts follow a very limited metric, but a useful one nonetheless.
It gives you and idea how many SUBSCRIPTIONS are out there. It makes little difference to your business plan if it's 2 people subscribing once or one person subscribing twice; you still get the same amount of money. If you want an idea of revenue potential, you can find that in other financial reports.
It also gives you an idea of relative popularity. You may already know that WoW is more popular than anything else, but did you know it's approximately half the market? Did you know RuneScape is more popular than EverQuest? Did you know Eve Online is now more popular than Asheron's Call was at its peak?
It can't account for people with more than one subscription. The game companies themselves can't account for it, either, since you could have a completely different name and credit card associated with the account. Still, you're paying twice, so you're essentially two customers any way you look at it, and deserve to be counted twice.
>So tell me why, in case you enjoy the game. I really wish to know what makes >WoW interesting. What is better than in the "other" MMORPGs? What makes WoW >to something that deserves a 50+% market share.
1. Strong game IP franchies. People like the Warcraft universe. Of course, IP along is no gaurantee of success; look at Star Wars Galaxies or The Matrix Online.
2. Content, content, content. WoW has a ton of content. You can play it for 6 months and there's still new things to do. Every race has it's own feel. You can't say that about, say, DDO.
3. High soloability. You very rarely need to group, until you get into the tougher instances and the raids. This also helps attract casual players to the game.
4. Relatively few bugs. I'm not going to say WoW has no bugs, but compared to the bugged launches and events many other MMOGs had historically, WoW's level of quality was simply superior.
5. Many people credit the RvR as being an essential element in WoW's popularity, particular to retain high-level players. I'm less than convinced that every MMOG needs something like this to gain WoW-like subscription numbers, but it's still a strong element to it success. Not that unrestrained, full open PvP is not as popular; WoW's PvP is very structured.
World of Warcraft's Paying Customer Definition World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players having accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or canceled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.
If you buy multiple game cards, as someone else pointed it, it's still tied to the same individual account, so you still only get counted once. Now, the same individual could set up multiple accounts with different characters, but that's true for any MMOG. They'll be paying double for that. The cards don't expire, but they run in real time, so once activated, you only have that many days to enjoy the game. Then they expire.
People playing in the Internet Game Rooms aren't buying boxes with a free month, either.
It's possible to get double-counted if you logged in via a game room, and then liked the game so much you went out and subscribed or bought a game card. But that would only last for 7 days.
It was called Majestic. "The game that played you." Problem was, nobody really wanted to be called in the middle of the day to play a game when they were busy doing something else. Few people signed up to play it after the first free episode, and EA cancelled it not long thereafter.
The PerplexCity guys are really cool; met them at GDC this year and got some of their cards. But some of these puzzles and codes on them are really hard, and there are far better codebreakers and teams of puzzle solvers that will get to the cash long before I would, so I'm not really into the game. I guess that's their biggest barrier to acceptance -- puzzle freaks will probably love it, but the rest of us won't really feel rewarded for collecting a small number of points.
For those of us who run websites which often disseminate these sorts of trade secrets for the sake of the public good, this is a big win. Just because something is posted in a blog rather than printed on a printing press doesn't make in any less journalism (good OR bad), and just because it's a trade secret doesn't mean we should be forced to reveal our sources. Hopefully, this will encourage more people with inside information to feel comfortable with talking to reporters, without the fear of becoming exposed.
However, in the MMO space, I gave the nod on my website to Tabula Rasa. There are a LOT of good MMO games in the pipeline, though, so the next few years should be very interesting.
>The suggestion of interbreeding was met with skepticism by >paleontologists, who said they had trouble imagining a successful >breeding between early human ancestors, which walked upright, and >the chimpanzee ancestors, which walked on all fours.
Do these scientists not have access to the Internet? I've got some very explicit videos that outline the mechanics of human-animal mating...
New, sleeker look for Enterprise New nonhuman look for Klingons New space pajama uniforms for Starfleet New hairpiece for Kirk New sfx that change the way transporters, warp drive, etc. work Removal of all dramatic tension
Slashdot Mirror
Subsequent to the story breaking, Blizzard has asked various sites who have posted the slides to take them down, citing copyright concerns. I want to make it clear that the material was obtained lawfully by me, that no confidentiality was violated, and that such usage by the media is also protected under the doctrine of fair use. The presentation is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Comission, and is made available freely to EVERYONE So if you want to see the ENTIRE PRESENTATION yourself, including the slides relevant to Blizzard, simply go here.
And shame on Blizzard for trying to bully the media.
Bruce
I was not at the conference, so I don't know what was actually SAID. But based on the SLIDES, I don't doubt they MEANT that they WERE looking at making MMOG versions for the Starcraft and Diablo franchises. Just not, you know, Blackthorne Online or Lost Vikings Online. (Although those are certainly possible too...)
Bruce
Correct quote:
Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice Doggy" while reaching for a very large rock.
Bruce
I was surprised to learn that women flirt SO much more than men do online. And on the depressing side, I haven't really seen it, which either means they aren't flirting that much with ME, or they are and I'm too much of a clueless male to see it.
Then again, maybe the difference is explained by gender-biased definitions of "flirting". Maybe most guys think saying, "Wow, you've got a nice rack!" doesn't count as flirting, whereas maybe women think simply typing a winky-smiley-face counts as flirting.
Bruce
Well, my current data shows 12 - 13 million in the MMOGs I track, and there's probably that many again playing many Asian MMOGs that I don't track, so 24 - 26 million worldwide is in good agreement with their estimate of 25-30 million.
Bruce
Yeah, my girlfriend had a cousin like that, too!
Bruce
Bruce
It took me a while to figure out what the writer meant. He doesn't mean including PS2 hardware in the PS3 now would make the price come down; he meant that in the future, when they can REMOVE the PS2 hardware from the PS3, THAT would make the price come down.
Bruce
I'm sorry to say, but it isn't one of John's best articles. Sorry John. But I did enjoy playing LotRO with you at E3!
Bruce
I'm surprised this was made into a news story. It's something that people were talking about for a while now. The physics in Second Life are on all the time, even when no one is using that piece of land, so there's a large amount of overhead. I'm sure Linden can still turn a profit, but they're going to need to do some server optimization at some point. Something like a physics co-processor (Ageia or ATI or whomever) might actually be helpful...
Bruce
Computer Gaming World is still my favorite, but I'm a big fan of Computer Games Magazine as well, which the reviewer couldn't even find a copy of. I admit that I don't read PC Gamer as often, but they were nice enough to do an interview article with me, so I suppose I owe them some dap!
Bruce
I've been holding out upgrade from my old pre-MT 2.8 GHz P4 for a while now, and the Intel Conroe was going to by my choice for my new computer. Glad to read that it's actually kicking ass for games like it's supposed to. I still haven't decided if I'm going to go with ATI or Nvidia, though.
Bruce
The Third Planet from Altair
Edward Packard seems to have been the best writer of the series. The Cave of Time books were good too. It's nice to see the series being kept alive for a new generation of children.
Bruce
I think you meant to say that PlayOnline gave out real figures for subscribers BEFORE September 2004, but haven't had anything since then except the census. I got a soft confirmation from a source on the 650K number, but that's still from last year in any case.
Bruce
Revenue numbers are interesting, but they don't tell the whole picture, either. A game with 1,000 subscribers paying $1,000 month for some amazing virtual experience would clock in at $1,000,000, whereas a game with 100,000 subscribers pay $10 a month would look the same. You wouldn't be able to tell from that that the second game was actually vastly more popular, and the other game seemed to cater to some rich elite with money to burn. Really, ALL of these data points are useful in different ways at different points in time. My subscription charts follow a very limited metric, but a useful one nonetheless.
Bruce
It gives you and idea how many SUBSCRIPTIONS are out there. It makes little difference to your business plan if it's 2 people subscribing once or one person subscribing twice; you still get the same amount of money. If you want an idea of revenue potential, you can find that in other financial reports.
It also gives you an idea of relative popularity. You may already know that WoW is more popular than anything else, but did you know it's approximately half the market? Did you know RuneScape is more popular than EverQuest? Did you know Eve Online is now more popular than Asheron's Call was at its peak?
Bruce
It can't account for people with more than one subscription. The game companies themselves can't account for it, either, since you could have a completely different name and credit card associated with the account. Still, you're paying twice, so you're essentially two customers any way you look at it, and deserve to be counted twice.
Bruce
>So tell me why, in case you enjoy the game. I really wish to know what makes
>WoW interesting. What is better than in the "other" MMORPGs? What makes WoW
>to something that deserves a 50+% market share.
1. Strong game IP franchies. People like the Warcraft universe. Of course, IP along is no gaurantee of success; look at Star Wars Galaxies or The Matrix Online.
2. Content, content, content. WoW has a ton of content. You can play it for 6 months and there's still new things to do. Every race has it's own feel. You can't say that about, say, DDO.
3. High soloability. You very rarely need to group, until you get into the tougher instances and the raids. This also helps attract casual players to the game.
4. Relatively few bugs. I'm not going to say WoW has no bugs, but compared to the bugged launches and events many other MMOGs had historically, WoW's level of quality was simply superior.
5. Many people credit the RvR as being an essential element in WoW's popularity, particular to retain high-level players. I'm less than convinced that every MMOG needs something like this to gain WoW-like subscription numbers, but it's still a strong element to it success. Not that unrestrained, full open PvP is not as popular; WoW's PvP is very structured.
Bruce
This isn't true.
World of Warcraft's Paying Customer Definition
World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players having accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or canceled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.
If you buy multiple game cards, as someone else pointed it, it's still tied to the same individual account, so you still only get counted once. Now, the same individual could set up multiple accounts with different characters, but that's true for any MMOG. They'll be paying double for that. The cards don't expire, but they run in real time, so once activated, you only have that many days to enjoy the game. Then they expire.
People playing in the Internet Game Rooms aren't buying boxes with a free month, either.
It's possible to get double-counted if you logged in via a game room, and then liked the game so much you went out and subscribed or bought a game card. But that would only last for 7 days.
Bruce
Bruce
It was called Majestic. "The game that played you." Problem was, nobody really wanted to be called in the middle of the day to play a game when they were busy doing something else. Few people signed up to play it after the first free episode, and EA cancelled it not long thereafter.
The PerplexCity guys are really cool; met them at GDC this year and got some of their cards. But some of these puzzles and codes on them are really hard, and there are far better codebreakers and teams of puzzle solvers that will get to the cash long before I would, so I'm not really into the game. I guess that's their biggest barrier to acceptance -- puzzle freaks will probably love it, but the rest of us won't really feel rewarded for collecting a small number of points.
Bruce
For those of us who run websites which often disseminate these sorts of trade secrets for the sake of the public good, this is a big win. Just because something is posted in a blog rather than printed on a printing press doesn't make in any less journalism (good OR bad), and just because it's a trade secret doesn't mean we should be forced to reveal our sources. Hopefully, this will encourage more people with inside information to feel comfortable with talking to reporters, without the fear of becoming exposed.
Bruce
Spore > ALL
However, in the MMO space, I gave the nod on my website to Tabula Rasa. There are a LOT of good MMO games in the pipeline, though, so the next few years should be very interesting.
Bruce
>The suggestion of interbreeding was met with skepticism by
>paleontologists, who said they had trouble imagining a successful
>breeding between early human ancestors, which walked upright, and
>the chimpanzee ancestors, which walked on all fours.
Do these scientists not have access to the Internet? I've got some very explicit videos that outline the mechanics of human-animal mating...
Bruce
Yeah, you missed a lot of things:
New, sleeker look for Enterprise
New nonhuman look for Klingons
New space pajama uniforms for Starfleet
New hairpiece for Kirk
New sfx that change the way transporters, warp drive, etc. work
Removal of all dramatic tension
Bruce