Warhammer Online is going to launch soon in China and who does EA owns 15% stock in? Yep, thats right, The9.
This will most likely be the last we hear of this. Yeah Aion fans may blow this out of proportion in a chance to further promote it as a "WoW killer" but thats about it.
I dont think Aion will kill WoW, but it will do very well for itself. Personally I'm hoping it will exceed the launch subs of WAR and AoC. As long as it can maintain that in the EU/NA I'm happy. Theres a good chance that it may, but the economy isn't quite in its favor. We're all guessing NCSoft will stick with the usual monthly subscription. However, now may be an interesting point in time to start using the business model they are using in asia in the west. I really think offering this option would appeal to a LOT of westerners.
Currently waiting for the MMO industry to put out something good.
When we talk about a WoW killer, I don't think we meant that it will kill WoW. I think everyone meant that it will take the #1 spot from WoW.
You are underestimate this change in the game operators. NetEase really pushed hard on The9. They want to buy off all WoW servers from The9 for less than 1/3 cost. They want to buy off the whole crew operating WoW for only 1 million USD. They are openly recruiting The9 employees. And arcording to the The9 CEO letter, they broke the law to sign this contract with Blizzard.
Of couse the players gonna react to all that. It's not just a simple change operator. It's a war between them now.
And how does this involve players? If they can still play the game for the same price it shouldn't effect them. If SoE bought the rights to Blizzard from Activision would there be a major change in subscription numbers? Probably not, just like there wasn't a major change when the rights were switched from Vivendi to Activision. Players don't really care who owns the product as long as the product remains unchanged and the same price.
"There-is-a-chance-to-loose-5.5million-subs-but-it's-worth-it-reason!". It's not common to see Blizzard doing misstakes, maybe they actually were losing money in the Asian market and this is the way to make profit again... Who knows?
"There-is-a-chance-to-loose-5.5million-subs-but-it's-worth-it-reason!". It's not common to see Blizzard doing misstakes, maybe they actually were losing money in the Asian market and this is the way to make profit again... Who knows?
Yeah, I'm wondering as well about Blizzard's motivation to take this risk. Most of the times it is about money. But I can't imagine Blizz not making enough of that in China and risking this for a slightly bigger slice of the cake.
I'm sure WoW players would be happy to hear that they won't have to put up with gold farmers anymore, but you should probably qualify your king of MMORPG by saying king of subscription MMORPGs, because there are F2P games that are already kicking Blizzard's butt in terms of total users, although there hasn't been any evidence released that the companies are making more money than WoW, despite having anywhere from 4 to 9 times as many registered users as WoW has subscribers.
Registered users that do not pay = zero profit. No matter how many users a game has, if they pay zero, the profit is zero. A million of F2P users may theoretically bring less profit then 1 client paying a monthly fee.
1million times zero = zero
1 player times 14.99 = 14.99
14.99 > zero
Point? Never compare F2P with a subscription based game. Its like comparing a crowds at a rock concert with a crowd on a street.
Aion hasn't released world-wide yet. I doubt it will do amazing in the western market as well, but that doesn't matter to me. I want a good community, and if WoW is "killed" and those players come to Aion the game will be ruined, in my opinion.
Five hundred thousand people just in the west wouldn't be bad, it's more than enough to sustain a healthy community. But I don't think WoW's community is that bad though, it's just larger, and more people means more idiots. The size and anonymity that brings also has a way of removing the last vestiges of social control that an online community might have had.
Yeah, real nice ploy .....by EA. Warhammer Online is going to launch soon in China and who does EA owns 15% stock in? Yep, thats right, The9. This will most likely be the last we hear of this. Yeah Aion fans may blow this out of proportion in a chance to further promote it as a "WoW killer" but thats about it.
Heheh, I am a Warhammer fan as much as the next guy but sadly, I don't think WAR can do better than AION. The time is also pretty critical here. Where else all those WoW players go right now? What is the closest thing to WoW overthere? Crap, it's AION. Heheh.
"PARIS, France. – 22 January, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide. Interest in the game has remained high in all regions, with thousands of new and returning players signing up through the holiday season.World of Warcraft now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia"
Also Frostbite05, Aion is not in any way an asian grinder and its gameplay is VERY different from Lineage 2. I suggest you do a bit more research on a game before you post misinformed comments about it.
Did and played it. Sure there are more quests and a flight system but at its core its an asian grinder later in the game. So make sure you know what your talking about before you talk buddy.
heh been a while since someone completely blew a minor dispute outta proportion like this. First off no nothing is going to happen. At most blizzard will end up apologizing and paying a decent sum of money and that ends that. Secondly, Aion will only do well in Asia because well its an Asian Grinder in the same style as Lineage II.
Minor dispute? I don't think so, consider the timeline of events. The9 is pissed at Blizzard and NetEase. If you read the letter The9 CEO send to her employees, you can see they are mad, real mad. Any mistake from Blizzard will be blew off proportion by The9 themself to get back at Blizzard. WoW was the major income for The9, probably around 80% of it. They have their income source taken from them by what view by them as dirty play, hell anyone would get really pissed.
Now, Shanda and NCSoft know this, and they will do anything in their power to make it worse. If they do not do so, they do not worth to stay in business anymore.
So blizzard change one Chinese provider to another Chinese provider. I dont see how this affects anyone other then those providers. The government wouldn't care less becuase money remained in China. To them, its just an internal corporate politics that does not involve them (the government).
"PARIS, France. – 22 January, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide. Interest in the game has remained high in all regions, with thousands of new and returning players signing up through the holiday season.World of Warcraft now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia"
Also Frostbite05, Aion is not in any way an asian grinder and its gameplay is VERY different from Lineage 2. I suggest you do a bit more research on a game before you post misinformed comments about it.
Did and played it. Sure there are more quests and a flight system but at its core its an asian grinder later in the game. So make sure you know what your talking about before you talk buddy.
No, no , I'm sure Gameloading knows what he's talking about, in fact, sounds like Aion must play just like...... WOW.
All kidding aside, I'm looking forward to playing Aion because i enjoyed many aspects of Lineage 1 and 2 however there were elements to them that drove me away and it sounds like Aion might have gotten in "right" (at least for me)
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
heh been a while since someone completely blew a minor dispute outta proportion like this. First off no nothing is going to happen. At most blizzard will end up apologizing and paying a decent sum of money and that ends that. Secondly, Aion will only do well in Asia because well its an Asian Grinder in the same style as Lineage II.
Minor dispute? I don't think so, consider the timeline of events. The9 is pissed at Blizzard and NetEase. If you read the letter The9 CEO send to her employees, you can see they are mad, real mad. Any mistake from Blizzard will be blew off proportion by The9 themself to get back at Blizzard. WoW was the major income for The9, probably around 80% of it. They have their income source taken from them by what view by them as dirty play, hell anyone would get really pissed.
Now, Shanda and NCSoft know this, and they will do anything in their power to make it worse. If they do not do so, they do not worth to stay in business anymore.
So blizzard change one Chinese provider to another Chinese provider. I dont see how this affects anyone other then those providers. The government wouldn't care less becuase money remained in China. To them, its just an internal corporate politics that does not involve them (the government).
Money remains in China? Then the massive amount of money needed for the publisher right, and even more massive amount of royality fee paying to Blizzard would remain in China? I don't think so my friend.
Money remains in China? Then the massive amount of money needed for the publisher right, and even more massive amount of royality fee paying to Blizzard would remain in China? I don't think so my friend.
So you are saying they pay royalties, publisher fees and all those expenses and they do not earn anything? I guess its a new Chinese business model to work without any profit.
Where do you think money went with old provider?
Where do you think the money would go with the new provider?
"PARIS, France. – 22 January, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide. Interest in the game has remained high in all regions, with thousands of new and returning players signing up through the holiday season.World of Warcraft now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia"
Also Frostbite05, Aion is not in any way an asian grinder and its gameplay is VERY different from Lineage 2. I suggest you do a bit more research on a game before you post misinformed comments about it.
Did and played it. Sure there are more quests and a flight system but at its core its an asian grinder later in the game. So make sure you know what your talking about before you talk buddy.
Grind isnt any more asian than Daoc's. How many asian grinders have you played? Did you even play L2 to compare it with Aion? Cause I got a level 50 (max) sorcerer within a month in Aion questing 80% of the time, and my best in L2 is a level 77 (85 being max) Plains walker after 2 years playing.
Frankly, when I started this topic, I didn't meant to make it a AION promotion topic. If WoW lost Chinese subscribers, it will be a major impact for them no doubt and with it subscribers number cut by that much, surely there's a chance for a lot of other games to step up. I just think at this time, AION seems more suitable than any other games consider it's already dominate the Korean market and now growing very fast in Chinese market. If Shanda and NCSoft know what they are doing, this event will be like a gift from god to them.
So, AION or not AION, I don't think it matters. If anyone else has a better candidate, I would like to hear it.
what happens in chana really doesn't effect us here. not like WoW is gonna close in NA. the bottom line is probablya bout 90% of WoW players in NA still don't know there are any other mmorpg's in the world
You are looking at this from persective of a single client. You gotta look at it from the global perspective, because the topic of this discussion is not how this affect NA clients, but how this switch affects Blizzard.
Frankly, when I started this topic, I didn't meant to make it a AION promotion topic. If WoW lost Chinese subscribers, it will be a major impact for them no doubt and with it subscribers number cut by that much, surely there's a chance for a lot of other games to step up. I just think at this time, AION seems more suitable than any other games consider it's already dominate the Korean market and now growing very fast in Chinese market. If Shanda and NCSoft know what they are doing, this event will be like a gift from god to them. So, AION or not AION, I don't think it matters. If anyone else has a better candidate, I would like to here it.
I think you over exaggerate here. Bliz changed their provider/reseller or whatever. but the provider does not have control of the intellectual property they are reselling or providing access to. If you live in China, you will still be playing Blizzard's WoW. This will not be like it was with SOE when SOE absorbed VG. Sure, Bliz will lose some people, but not a lot. They will lose those who dont realize that reseller does not have control over the game. as an optimist, I believe people are generally intelligent, most chinese people will realize that nothing changed except for the provider. if the new provider is more or less the same as old, the change will go unnoticed completely.
Money remains in China? Then the massive amount of money needed for the publisher right, and even more massive amount of royality fee paying to Blizzard would remain in China? I don't think so my friend.
So you are saying they pay royalties, publisher fees and all those expenses and they do not earn anything? I guess its a new Chinese business model to work without any profit.
Where do you think money went with old provider?
Where do you think the money would go with the new provider?
But it's still a massive money bleeding is it not?
First off 3/4 of the money Blizzard makes off of Wow comes from the americas and europe. The chinese version is nice for the extra income, but most certainly won't dethrone Wow.
Originally posted by Thachsanh Originally posted by Xiaoki Yeah, real nice ploy .....by EA. Warhammer Online is going to launch soon in China and who does EA owns 15% stock in? Yep, thats right, The9. This will most likely be the last we hear of this. Yeah Aion fans may blow this out of proportion in a chance to further promote it as a "WoW killer" but thats about it.
Heheh, I am a Warhammer fan as much as the next guy but sadly, I don't think WAR can do better than AION. The time is also pretty critical here. Where else all those WoW players go right now? What is the closest thing to WoW overthere? Crap, it's AION. Heheh. Yeah, Warhammer wont do squat but that doesnt change the fact that EA owns 15% of The9.
Where are the Chinese WoW players going? Not Aion. They are all going to WoW Taiwan where WotLK is available. The WoW Chinese players will be back on WoW China when NetEase takes over in June and WotLK is available on their native servers.
Also, Blizzard didnt break any laws when they formed a contract with NetEase. Blizzard waited until their contract with The9 was at an end and didnt renew it. The lawsuit of commercial defamation is crap and the lawsuit of property loss compensation will result in recompensation.
WoW is not going to be banned in China.
Chinese WoW players are not migrating in droves to Aion.
Maybe theres money in China. Lots of dollars (usa money). But maybe are in very few hands (still 100 million guys..) but still.. What if this is a lie, and money in china is in like less than 1 Million hands? What if is in only 14 million guys? Then there will not exist enough filthy rich gamers !!ONEONE.
Money remains in China? Then the massive amount of money needed for the publisher right, and even more massive amount of royality fee paying to Blizzard would remain in China? I don't think so my friend.
So you are saying they pay royalties, publisher fees and all those expenses and they do not earn anything? I guess its a new Chinese business model to work without any profit.
Where do you think money went with old provider?
Where do you think the money would go with the new provider?
But it's still a massive money bleeding is it not?
For which company? I don't think Bliz lost much, they wouldn't have switched providers otherwise.
I'm sure WoW players would be happy to hear that they won't have to put up with gold farmers anymore, but you should probably qualify your king of MMORPG by saying king of subscription MMORPGs, because there are F2P games that are already kicking Blizzard's butt in terms of total users, although there hasn't been any evidence released that the companies are making more money than WoW, despite having anywhere from 4 to 9 times as many registered users as WoW has subscribers.
What free to play games have 40 to 90 million registered players? Not that it really matters much since it is free to make a "registered account" as many times as one likes. Honestly registered does not mean active and certainly doesn't mean paying.
I'm fairly certain any free to play game with 20 million free players would swap places with blizzard in a heartbeat to get 11.5 million paying players.
On topic:
I've heard rumblings that the change in part had to do with the speed (lack of) that the expansions were rolling out in the asian market. Burning crusade was held up for 6 months or so? and Lich king has still not released in asia yet and was being discussed as a reason for the break up. True or not I don't know.
Frankly, when I started this topic, I didn't meant to make it a AION promotion topic. If WoW lost Chinese subscribers, it will be a major impact for them no doubt and with it subscribers number cut by that much, surely there's a chance for a lot of other games to step up. I just think at this time, AION seems more suitable than any other games consider it's already dominate the Korean market and now growing very fast in Chinese market. If Shanda and NCSoft know what they are doing, this event will be like a gift from god to them. So, AION or not AION, I don't think it matters. If anyone else has a better candidate, I would like to here it.
I think you over exaggerate here. Bliz changed their provider/reseller or whatever. but the provider does not have control of the intellectual property they are reselling or providing access to. If you live in China, you will still be playing Blizzard's WoW. This will not be like it was with SOE when SOE absorbed VG. Sure, Bliz will lose some people, but not a lot. They will lose those who dont realize that reseller does not have control over the game. as an optimist, I believe people are generally intelligent, most chinese people will realize that nothing changed except for the provider. if the new provider is more or less the same as old, the change will go unnoticed completely.
It will go unnoticed if there is noone trying to stab them in the back now does it? The piece of cake that The9 had was too big, it drives every company insane. They will fight like mad dog for it. As far as I know, Chinese law stated that as long as there is dispute between a local company and a foreign company in court, the product will be examine for a termination. You don't think that council or whoever make that decision can be lobbied? It will be a massive fight and it would be very entertaining to watch I asure you.
Also, mind you that each provider in China has a reputation. Much like it is here in the US. So, switching from one operator to another isnt so simple.
Comments
Yeah, real nice ploy .....by EA.
Warhammer Online is going to launch soon in China and who does EA owns 15% stock in? Yep, thats right, The9.
This will most likely be the last we hear of this. Yeah Aion fans may blow this out of proportion in a chance to further promote it as a "WoW killer" but thats about it.
Very interesting news here.
I dont think Aion will kill WoW, but it will do very well for itself. Personally I'm hoping it will exceed the launch subs of WAR and AoC. As long as it can maintain that in the EU/NA I'm happy. Theres a good chance that it may, but the economy isn't quite in its favor. We're all guessing NCSoft will stick with the usual monthly subscription. However, now may be an interesting point in time to start using the business model they are using in asia in the west. I really think offering this option would appeal to a LOT of westerners.
When we talk about a WoW killer, I don't think we meant that it will kill WoW. I think everyone meant that it will take the #1 spot from WoW.
You are underestimate this change in the game operators. NetEase really pushed hard on The9. They want to buy off all WoW servers from The9 for less than 1/3 cost. They want to buy off the whole crew operating WoW for only 1 million USD. They are openly recruiting The9 employees. And arcording to the The9 CEO letter, they broke the law to sign this contract with Blizzard.
Of couse the players gonna react to all that. It's not just a simple change operator. It's a war between them now.
And how does this involve players? If they can still play the game for the same price it shouldn't effect them. If SoE bought the rights to Blizzard from Activision would there be a major change in subscription numbers? Probably not, just like there wasn't a major change when the rights were switched from Vivendi to Activision. Players don't really care who owns the product as long as the product remains unchanged and the same price.
"There-is-a-chance-to-loose-5.5million-subs-but-it's-worth-it-reason!". It's not common to see Blizzard doing misstakes, maybe they actually were losing money in the Asian market and this is the way to make profit again... Who knows?
Yeah, I'm wondering as well about Blizzard's motivation to take this risk. Most of the times it is about money. But I can't imagine Blizz not making enough of that in China and risking this for a slightly bigger slice of the cake.
My brand new bloggity blog.
Registered users that do not pay = zero profit. No matter how many users a game has, if they pay zero, the profit is zero. A million of F2P users may theoretically bring less profit then 1 client paying a monthly fee.
1million times zero = zero
1 player times 14.99 = 14.99
14.99 > zero
Point? Never compare F2P with a subscription based game. Its like comparing a crowds at a rock concert with a crowd on a street.
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
Five hundred thousand people just in the west wouldn't be bad, it's more than enough to sustain a healthy community. But I don't think WoW's community is that bad though, it's just larger, and more people means more idiots. The size and anonymity that brings also has a way of removing the last vestiges of social control that an online community might have had.
Heheh, I am a Warhammer fan as much as the next guy but sadly, I don't think WAR can do better than AION. The time is also pretty critical here. Where else all those WoW players go right now? What is the closest thing to WoW overthere? Crap, it's AION. Heheh.
While Blizzard calls it "Asia", the vast majority are from china.
http://eu.blizzard.com/en/press/080122.html
"PARIS, France. – 22 January, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide. Interest in the game has remained high in all regions, with thousands of new and returning players signing up through the holiday season. World of Warcraft now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia"
Also Frostbite05, Aion is not in any way an asian grinder and its gameplay is VERY different from Lineage 2. I suggest you do a bit more research on a game before you post misinformed comments about it.
Did and played it. Sure there are more quests and a flight system but at its core its an asian grinder later in the game. So make sure you know what your talking about before you talk buddy.
Minor dispute? I don't think so, consider the timeline of events. The9 is pissed at Blizzard and NetEase. If you read the letter The9 CEO send to her employees, you can see they are mad, real mad. Any mistake from Blizzard will be blew off proportion by The9 themself to get back at Blizzard. WoW was the major income for The9, probably around 80% of it. They have their income source taken from them by what view by them as dirty play, hell anyone would get really pissed.
Now, Shanda and NCSoft know this, and they will do anything in their power to make it worse. If they do not do so, they do not worth to stay in business anymore.
So blizzard change one Chinese provider to another Chinese provider. I dont see how this affects anyone other then those providers. The government wouldn't care less becuase money remained in China. To them, its just an internal corporate politics that does not involve them (the government).
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
While Blizzard calls it "Asia", the vast majority are from china.
http://eu.blizzard.com/en/press/080122.html
"PARIS, France. – 22 January, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide. Interest in the game has remained high in all regions, with thousands of new and returning players signing up through the holiday season. World of Warcraft now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia"
Also Frostbite05, Aion is not in any way an asian grinder and its gameplay is VERY different from Lineage 2. I suggest you do a bit more research on a game before you post misinformed comments about it.
Did and played it. Sure there are more quests and a flight system but at its core its an asian grinder later in the game. So make sure you know what your talking about before you talk buddy.
No, no , I'm sure Gameloading knows what he's talking about, in fact, sounds like Aion must play just like...... WOW.
All kidding aside, I'm looking forward to playing Aion because i enjoyed many aspects of Lineage 1 and 2 however there were elements to them that drove me away and it sounds like Aion might have gotten in "right" (at least for me)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Minor dispute? I don't think so, consider the timeline of events. The9 is pissed at Blizzard and NetEase. If you read the letter The9 CEO send to her employees, you can see they are mad, real mad. Any mistake from Blizzard will be blew off proportion by The9 themself to get back at Blizzard. WoW was the major income for The9, probably around 80% of it. They have their income source taken from them by what view by them as dirty play, hell anyone would get really pissed.
Now, Shanda and NCSoft know this, and they will do anything in their power to make it worse. If they do not do so, they do not worth to stay in business anymore.
So blizzard change one Chinese provider to another Chinese provider. I dont see how this affects anyone other then those providers. The government wouldn't care less becuase money remained in China. To them, its just an internal corporate politics that does not involve them (the government).
Money remains in China? Then the massive amount of money needed for the publisher right, and even more massive amount of royality fee paying to Blizzard would remain in China? I don't think so my friend.
what happens in chana really doesn't effect us here. not like WoW is gonna close in NA.
the bottom line is probablya bout 90% of WoW players in NA still don't know there are any other mmorpg's in the world
So you are saying they pay royalties, publisher fees and all those expenses and they do not earn anything? I guess its a new Chinese business model to work without any profit.
Where do you think money went with old provider?
Where do you think the money would go with the new provider?
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
While Blizzard calls it "Asia", the vast majority are from china.
http://eu.blizzard.com/en/press/080122.html
"PARIS, France. – 22 January, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide. Interest in the game has remained high in all regions, with thousands of new and returning players signing up through the holiday season. World of Warcraft now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia"
Also Frostbite05, Aion is not in any way an asian grinder and its gameplay is VERY different from Lineage 2. I suggest you do a bit more research on a game before you post misinformed comments about it.
Did and played it. Sure there are more quests and a flight system but at its core its an asian grinder later in the game. So make sure you know what your talking about before you talk buddy.
Grind isnt any more asian than Daoc's. How many asian grinders have you played? Did you even play L2 to compare it with Aion? Cause I got a level 50 (max) sorcerer within a month in Aion questing 80% of the time, and my best in L2 is a level 77 (85 being max) Plains walker after 2 years playing.
Frankly, when I started this topic, I didn't meant to make it a AION promotion topic. If WoW lost Chinese subscribers, it will be a major impact for them no doubt and with it subscribers number cut by that much, surely there's a chance for a lot of other games to step up. I just think at this time, AION seems more suitable than any other games consider it's already dominate the Korean market and now growing very fast in Chinese market. If Shanda and NCSoft know what they are doing, this event will be like a gift from god to them.
So, AION or not AION, I don't think it matters. If anyone else has a better candidate, I would like to hear it.
You are looking at this from persective of a single client. You gotta look at it from the global perspective, because the topic of this discussion is not how this affect NA clients, but how this switch affects Blizzard.
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
I think you over exaggerate here. Bliz changed their provider/reseller or whatever. but the provider does not have control of the intellectual property they are reselling or providing access to. If you live in China, you will still be playing Blizzard's WoW. This will not be like it was with SOE when SOE absorbed VG. Sure, Bliz will lose some people, but not a lot. They will lose those who dont realize that reseller does not have control over the game. as an optimist, I believe people are generally intelligent, most chinese people will realize that nothing changed except for the provider. if the new provider is more or less the same as old, the change will go unnoticed completely.
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
So you are saying they pay royalties, publisher fees and all those expenses and they do not earn anything? I guess its a new Chinese business model to work without any profit.
Where do you think money went with old provider?
Where do you think the money would go with the new provider?
But it's still a massive money bleeding is it not?
First off 3/4 of the money Blizzard makes off of Wow comes from the americas and europe. The chinese version is nice for the extra income, but most certainly won't dethrone Wow.
Aion is ok but has a long way to go to beat Wow.
So basically your argument is very hollow.
Heheh, I am a Warhammer fan as much as the next guy but sadly, I don't think WAR can do better than AION. The time is also pretty critical here. Where else all those WoW players go right now? What is the closest thing to WoW overthere? Crap, it's AION. Heheh.
Yeah, Warhammer wont do squat but that doesnt change the fact that EA owns 15% of The9.
Where are the Chinese WoW players going? Not Aion. They are all going to WoW Taiwan where WotLK is available. The WoW Chinese players will be back on WoW China when NetEase takes over in June and WotLK is available on their native servers.
Also, Blizzard didnt break any laws when they formed a contract with NetEase. Blizzard waited until their contract with The9 was at an end and didnt renew it. The lawsuit of commercial defamation is crap and the lawsuit of property loss compensation will result in recompensation.
WoW is not going to be banned in China.
Chinese WoW players are not migrating in droves to Aion.
Another stupid comment from stupid tei:
Maybe theres money in China. Lots of dollars (usa money). But maybe are in very few hands (still 100 million guys..) but still.. What if this is a lie, and money in china is in like less than 1 Million hands? What if is in only 14 million guys? Then there will not exist enough filthy rich gamers !!ONEONE.
So you are saying they pay royalties, publisher fees and all those expenses and they do not earn anything? I guess its a new Chinese business model to work without any profit.
Where do you think money went with old provider?
Where do you think the money would go with the new provider?
But it's still a massive money bleeding is it not?
For which company? I don't think Bliz lost much, they wouldn't have switched providers otherwise.
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
What free to play games have 40 to 90 million registered players? Not that it really matters much since it is free to make a "registered account" as many times as one likes. Honestly registered does not mean active and certainly doesn't mean paying.
I'm fairly certain any free to play game with 20 million free players would swap places with blizzard in a heartbeat to get 11.5 million paying players.
On topic:
I've heard rumblings that the change in part had to do with the speed (lack of) that the expansions were rolling out in the asian market. Burning crusade was held up for 6 months or so? and Lich king has still not released in asia yet and was being discussed as a reason for the break up. True or not I don't know.
I think you over exaggerate here. Bliz changed their provider/reseller or whatever. but the provider does not have control of the intellectual property they are reselling or providing access to. If you live in China, you will still be playing Blizzard's WoW. This will not be like it was with SOE when SOE absorbed VG. Sure, Bliz will lose some people, but not a lot. They will lose those who dont realize that reseller does not have control over the game. as an optimist, I believe people are generally intelligent, most chinese people will realize that nothing changed except for the provider. if the new provider is more or less the same as old, the change will go unnoticed completely.
It will go unnoticed if there is noone trying to stab them in the back now does it? The piece of cake that The9 had was too big, it drives every company insane. They will fight like mad dog for it. As far as I know, Chinese law stated that as long as there is dispute between a local company and a foreign company in court, the product will be examine for a termination. You don't think that council or whoever make that decision can be lobbied? It will be a massive fight and it would be very entertaining to watch I asure you.
Also, mind you that each provider in China has a reputation. Much like it is here in the US. So, switching from one operator to another isnt so simple.