Much like how new presidents are judged by their first 100 days in office, new MMORPGs are judged by their first year post launch — and while some value “fun” more than anything else, usually subscription numbers give the definitive pulse on the game. If a title is doing well, the company will undoubtably release the info as a press coup; if not so much, then steel yourself for buckets of silence and obfuscation on their behalf. Usually people eek out the information from other sources, such as investor reports.
Speaking of which, EA released their latest quarterly report, in which they’ve stated that Warhammer Online’s holding steady at around 300K subscribers. It’s not up, so nobody can make the claim that the game is gaining ground and finding untapped players to revel in its glory; it’s not down, so nobody can claim the game is dead or dying. It’s just… holding steady. 300,000 is a respectable number for any MMO, no doubt, and if they can hold those numbers or even increase them in coming years, then EA is sure to make a nice profit on their multi-million dollar gamble. Yet it’s not hard to imagine there’s disappointment all around — people, including folks at Mythic, were predicting that WAR would bust the 1 million barrier, and that chance has pretty much fled the building, unless something radically wonderful happens, and soon.
Overall, it’s comforting to know that WAR isn’t going anywhere, and that they have enough subs to justify continuing the game and hopefully releasing expansions in coming years. I’d like to know if this 300,000 number includes the new territories (Asia, Russia) that WAR’s launched in, and if so, does that reflect a huge dip in NA and European subs.
Interesting. And also, those of us who took out 6 month subs at the start will find those running out next week. Wonder what effect that might have (I’ve no idea how many people that might be though.)
A continental breakdown would be nice, but I am not going to hold my breath.
Time to do some reasearch WHO is playing WAR and WHY.
What do you think, is 300k enough, the critical mass to sustain development of WAR or will it crumble once other new MMOs show up…?
Pingback: West Karana » Daily Blogroll 5/6 — Tempests and Teapots edition
I know a few people who will immediately turn to Aion once it launches. Same kind of game, just different lore and graphics.
The more I read about it, the more I think Aion will be the biggest direct competition for Warhammer in 2009. It sounds like RvR the way it should be and given all the beta comments it has a polish quality unheard of in the MMO genre.
That said, I’ve learned my lesson and don’t really buy into pre-release hype anymore. I guess time will tell.
300,000 players is definitely a good number. Apparently EVE Online is about to announce they have surpassed 300,000 as well.
300,000 must include the new territories. Which means that NA subscriber numbers are dropping.
This is Mythic…if they had something to spin into good news they would do so.
Snafzg: I’m thinking the look and feel of Aion doesn’t really scream WAR to me. All those anime stylings and angel wings might put off the spikey orc fans, PvP or no PvP.
Or that Russia and Asia just aren’t significant markets for the game and that it doesn’t especially matter.
@Spinks: It definitely has a different look and feel. Personally, I’m looking for an experience rather than a fashion show, so I don’t care what a game looks like. If it plays well and has the concepts I’m looking for, it might as well be Pokemon.
That said, your average Greenskin hooligan is probably going to be turned off by the anime angels look regardless of gameplay.