A half million jump for a 6 year old game in subs? Outstanding! I bet every other mmo company would give their left nut to get even half the amount Blizzard has managed to gain with the x-pac release in China. That's just another 500,000 players in China that gave the shaft to hardcore playing style and made the switch to the casual crowd. Devs better take notice and follow suit. Hmmm well at least GW2 and TOR will be in the right camp at launch.
looking at an increase number wise is an incorrect method of judging how much has changed. You have to look at the percentage change.
If your numbers are correct then they gained 4-5%. I watched Asheron's Call's peak concurrency numbers (since they don't release subs) go up ~20% in under a year as they kept adding a lot of new additions over the course of this year (November should give another bump up, Olthoi Monster play and a new school of magic just to name a couple things going in). EQ has had periods where they've increased over 5% as well.
So games older then WoW have increased their numbers better then WoW has, what exactly did you want those other developers to note again?
Percentage change my arse. I'm not trying to look at WoW's percentage gains based on what outdated mmo you try to necro in the past. That is such a bogus comparison to begin with anyway. That's like me saying that if Earth & Beyond was resurrected and they gained 1 sub, they have effectively made a 100% net gain. And if they get 10 more players the follwing week they made a net gain of 1000%. Ummm no. I know how to play the numbers game.
But no matter what way you try to twist the news around, 500k players swarming from other avenues to WoW is a massive migration.
Every time gains are calculated in any form for any medium it is done in percentages. The reason is that is the only true reflection of how much better you are doing now then before. To look at it from a sub numbers perspective does not tell you anything other then sub numbers.
If a game has 50k subs and gains 50k subs they just doubled their numbers. This is significant and is truly a sign of success for the game and tells a lot about how it is doing and where it is going. If WoW were to gain 50k subs that equates out to basically holding steady which is a different indication all together. You can't look at it as 50k subs you have to look at it as how do 50k subs relate to this title.
Them getting their expansion finally approved in China and them having a huge expansion for the rest of the world due in December and only gaining 4-5% on that actual says a lot, and it isn't all fantastic news. China has 1 billion people and you finally get approval to release your expansion there and have a massive expansion a month away and your worldwide numbers only increase 4-5%? That's not that good of news. But by viewing it as 500k people it of course sounds amazingly awesome because that is a bigger number then many other MMOs even have players.
That 4-5% shows that they will gain another couple percent with the release of cataclysm and from there on it will be a downhill slide. But ignore that and focus on the wrong aspect because 500k is so cool to think about.
5% of 12 million is still 10000 time more then 20% of god knows what number. ur argument fails.
So far we have the McDonalds analogy, the number fudging charges and the kiddie game reference. Waiting to go change my sig from 11 to 12 until I read once again where it will run on grandmas PC.
Edit : Naw, cant wait gotta change it now.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
A half million jump for a 6 year old game in subs? Outstanding! I bet every other mmo company would give their left nut to get even half the amount Blizzard has managed to gain with the x-pac release in China. That's just another 500,000 players in China that gave the shaft to hardcore playing style and made the switch to the casual crowd. Devs better take notice and follow suit. Hmmm well at least GW2 and TOR will be in the right camp at launch.
looking at an increase number wise is an incorrect method of judging how much has changed. You have to look at the percentage change.
If your numbers are correct then they gained 4-5%. I watched Asheron's Call's peak concurrency numbers (since they don't release subs) go up ~20% in under a year as they kept adding a lot of new additions over the course of this year (November should give another bump up, Olthoi Monster play and a new school of magic just to name a couple things going in). EQ has had periods where they've increased over 5% as well.
So games older then WoW have increased their numbers better then WoW has, what exactly did you want those other developers to note again?
Percentage change my arse. I'm not trying to look at WoW's percentage gains based on what outdated mmo you try to necro in the past. That is such a bogus comparison to begin with anyway. That's like me saying that if Earth & Beyond was resurrected and they gained 1 sub, they have effectively made a 100% net gain. And if they get 10 more players the follwing week they made a net gain of 1000%. Ummm no. I know how to play the numbers game.
But no matter what way you try to twist the news around, 500k players swarming from other avenues to WoW is a massive migration.
Every time gains are calculated in any form for any medium it is done in percentages. The reason is that is the only true reflection of how much better you are doing now then before. To look at it from a sub numbers perspective does not tell you anything other then sub numbers.
If a game has 50k subs and gains 50k subs they just doubled their numbers. This is significant and is truly a sign of success for the game and tells a lot about how it is doing and where it is going. If WoW were to gain 50k subs that equates out to basically holding steady which is a different indication all together. You can't look at it as 50k subs you have to look at it as how do 50k subs relate to this title.
Them getting their expansion finally approved in China and them having a huge expansion for the rest of the world due in December and only gaining 4-5% on that actual says a lot, and it isn't all fantastic news. China has 1 billion people and you finally get approval to release your expansion there and have a massive expansion a month away and your worldwide numbers only increase 4-5%? That's not that good of news. But by viewing it as 500k people it of course sounds amazingly awesome because that is a bigger number then many other MMOs even have players.
That 4-5% shows that they will gain another couple percent with the release of cataclysm and from there on it will be a downhill slide. But ignore that and focus on the wrong aspect because 500k is so cool to think about.
False. And completely ridiculous. Everything that follows is also silly.
I'm confused. Wasn't it a a year or two ago they boasted 10 million? Is Blizzard trying to tell the world they have only INCREASED in subscriptions since then? I hardly believe it. Maybe they are counting the total amount of accounts opened. That would be much more believable.
Nope the total number of current and former accounts is somewhere around 35 million. It was in an interview a while back. This is active subcribers only and dose not count inactive, banned, trial, recruit a friend, or even accounts that have a subcription but haven't been played in the past two weeks.
But go on telling yourself it ain't so if you so desire.
Blizzard’s World of Warcraft Subscriber Definition reads:
“World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees territories are defined along the same rules.”
A half million jump for a 6 year old game in subs? Outstanding! I bet every other mmo company would give their left nut to get even half the amount Blizzard has managed to gain with the x-pac release in China. That's just another 500,000 players in China that gave the shaft to hardcore playing style and made the switch to the casual crowd. Devs better take notice and follow suit. Hmmm well at least GW2 and TOR will be in the right camp at launch.
looking at an increase number wise is an incorrect method of judging how much has changed. You have to look at the percentage change.
If your numbers are correct then they gained 4-5%. I watched Asheron's Call's peak concurrency numbers (since they don't release subs) go up ~20% in under a year as they kept adding a lot of new additions over the course of this year (November should give another bump up, Olthoi Monster play and a new school of magic just to name a couple things going in). EQ has had periods where they've increased over 5% as well.
So games older then WoW have increased their numbers better then WoW has, what exactly did you want those other developers to note again?
Percentage change my arse. I'm not trying to look at WoW's percentage gains based on what outdated mmo you try to necro in the past. That is such a bogus comparison to begin with anyway. That's like me saying that if Earth & Beyond was resurrected and they gained 1 sub, they have effectively made a 100% net gain. And if they get 10 more players the follwing week they made a net gain of 1000%. Ummm no. I know how to play the numbers game.
But no matter what way you try to twist the news around, 500k players swarming from other avenues to WoW is a massive migration.
Every time gains are calculated in any form for any medium it is done in percentages. The reason is that is the only true reflection of how much better you are doing now then before. To look at it from a sub numbers perspective does not tell you anything other then sub numbers.
If a game has 50k subs and gains 50k subs they just doubled their numbers. This is significant and is truly a sign of success for the game and tells a lot about how it is doing and where it is going. If WoW were to gain 50k subs that equates out to basically holding steady which is a different indication all together. You can't look at it as 50k subs you have to look at it as how do 50k subs relate to this title.
Them getting their expansion finally approved in China and them having a huge expansion for the rest of the world due in December and only gaining 4-5% on that actual says a lot, and it isn't all fantastic news. China has 1 billion people and you finally get approval to release your expansion there and have a massive expansion a month away and your worldwide numbers only increase 4-5%? That's not that good of news. But by viewing it as 500k people it of course sounds amazingly awesome because that is a bigger number then many other MMOs even have players.
That 4-5% shows that they will gain another couple percent with the release of cataclysm and from there on it will be a downhill slide. But ignore that and focus on the wrong aspect because 500k is so cool to think about.
5% of 12 million is still 10000 time more then 20% of god knows what number. ur argument fails.
It is clearly impossible to try and teach the mathematics of change to a hardcore fan of WoW that thinks anything other then "WoW is awesome!" is a troll statement.
It is not an argument, it is a fact of how change is measured. Therefore it can not be wrong.
Also an argument can never fail is the statement it smade "ur argument fails." Perhaps if it was "Your argument fails." Also it was 4-5% of 11-11.5 million, not of 12 million but once again there is a clear lack of understand of mathematics on this forum. Also 5% of 12 million is 600k. 600k/10k is 60. I think every MMO in existance has over 60 accounts. So as you would say, ur argument fails and it does so in every aspect.
A half million jump for a 6 year old game in subs? Outstanding! I bet every other mmo company would give their left nut to get even half the amount Blizzard has managed to gain with the x-pac release in China. That's just another 500,000 players in China that gave the shaft to hardcore playing style and made the switch to the casual crowd. Devs better take notice and follow suit. Hmmm well at least GW2 and TOR will be in the right camp at launch.
looking at an increase number wise is an incorrect method of judging how much has changed. You have to look at the percentage change.
If your numbers are correct then they gained 4-5%. I watched Asheron's Call's peak concurrency numbers (since they don't release subs) go up ~20% in under a year as they kept adding a lot of new additions over the course of this year (November should give another bump up, Olthoi Monster play and a new school of magic just to name a couple things going in). EQ has had periods where they've increased over 5% as well.
So games older then WoW have increased their numbers better then WoW has, what exactly did you want those other developers to note again?
Percentage change my arse. I'm not trying to look at WoW's percentage gains based on what outdated mmo you try to necro in the past. That is such a bogus comparison to begin with anyway. That's like me saying that if Earth & Beyond was resurrected and they gained 1 sub, they have effectively made a 100% net gain. And if they get 10 more players the follwing week they made a net gain of 1000%. Ummm no. I know how to play the numbers game.
But no matter what way you try to twist the news around, 500k players swarming from other avenues to WoW is a massive migration.
Every time gains are calculated in any form for any medium it is done in percentages. The reason is that is the only true reflection of how much better you are doing now then before. To look at it from a sub numbers perspective does not tell you anything other then sub numbers.
If a game has 50k subs and gains 50k subs they just doubled their numbers. This is significant and is truly a sign of success for the game and tells a lot about how it is doing and where it is going. If WoW were to gain 50k subs that equates out to basically holding steady which is a different indication all together. You can't look at it as 50k subs you have to look at it as how do 50k subs relate to this title.
Them getting their expansion finally approved in China and them having a huge expansion for the rest of the world due in December and only gaining 4-5% on that actual says a lot, and it isn't all fantastic news. China has 1 billion people and you finally get approval to release your expansion there and have a massive expansion a month away and your worldwide numbers only increase 4-5%? That's not that good of news. But by viewing it as 500k people it of course sounds amazingly awesome because that is a bigger number then many other MMOs even have players.
That 4-5% shows that they will gain another couple percent with the release of cataclysm and from there on it will be a downhill slide. But ignore that and focus on the wrong aspect because 500k is so cool to think about.
IF i was trying to measure WoW's past gains with this present gain your beef with percentages would hold true. But this is NOT what I am looking at. What is a more substantial gain? Gaining 500k subs or gaining 50k subs? I'm not asking what game has a easier time doing it. I'm not asking this based on current subscription levels. All I'm asking is what is the bigger freakin number?! It ain't that hard...truly it ain't.
That's like saying that a earthquake that killed 500k of the world's population is just as devastating as one that killed 50k. No....it's not. If I looked at the demographics of the area hit to see if a country of 50k lost that 10% to the earthquake compared to a country of 500k that lost 10%, who's gonna argue that the country that lost 50k lives is a bigger hit to the total population of the earth than losing 5k? Nobody but you it seems...
Out of all the mmo gamers that joined the mmo genre in 2010, WoW added more to the damn pie than any of the other mmos when you stack them against it. And that's a fact.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
A half million jump for a 6 year old game in subs? Outstanding! I bet every other mmo company would give their left nut to get even half the amount Blizzard has managed to gain with the x-pac release in China. That's just another 500,000 players in China that gave the shaft to hardcore playing style and made the switch to the casual crowd. Devs better take notice and follow suit. Hmmm well at least GW2 and TOR will be in the right camp at launch.
looking at an increase number wise is an incorrect method of judging how much has changed. You have to look at the percentage change.
If your numbers are correct then they gained 4-5%. I watched Asheron's Call's peak concurrency numbers (since they don't release subs) go up ~20% in under a year as they kept adding a lot of new additions over the course of this year (November should give another bump up, Olthoi Monster play and a new school of magic just to name a couple things going in). EQ has had periods where they've increased over 5% as well.
So games older then WoW have increased their numbers better then WoW has, what exactly did you want those other developers to note again?
Percentage change my arse. I'm not trying to look at WoW's percentage gains based on what outdated mmo you try to necro in the past. That is such a bogus comparison to begin with anyway. That's like me saying that if Earth & Beyond was resurrected and they gained 1 sub, they have effectively made a 100% net gain. And if they get 10 more players the follwing week they made a net gain of 1000%. Ummm no. I know how to play the numbers game.
But no matter what way you try to twist the news around, 500k players swarming from other avenues to WoW is a massive migration.
Every time gains are calculated in any form for any medium it is done in percentages. The reason is that is the only true reflection of how much better you are doing now then before. To look at it from a sub numbers perspective does not tell you anything other then sub numbers.
If a game has 50k subs and gains 50k subs they just doubled their numbers. This is significant and is truly a sign of success for the game and tells a lot about how it is doing and where it is going. If WoW were to gain 50k subs that equates out to basically holding steady which is a different indication all together. You can't look at it as 50k subs you have to look at it as how do 50k subs relate to this title.
Them getting their expansion finally approved in China and them having a huge expansion for the rest of the world due in December and only gaining 4-5% on that actual says a lot, and it isn't all fantastic news. China has 1 billion people and you finally get approval to release your expansion there and have a massive expansion a month away and your worldwide numbers only increase 4-5%? That's not that good of news. But by viewing it as 500k people it of course sounds amazingly awesome because that is a bigger number then many other MMOs even have players.
That 4-5% shows that they will gain another couple percent with the release of cataclysm and from there on it will be a downhill slide. But ignore that and focus on the wrong aspect because 500k is so cool to think about.
IF i was trying to measure WoW's past gains with this present gain your beef with percentages would hold true. But this is NOT what I am looking at. What is a more substantial gain? Gaining 500k subs or gaining 50k subs? I'm not asking what game has a easier time doing it. I'm not asking this based on current subscription levels. All I'm asking is what is the bigger freakin number?! It ain't that hard...truly it ain't.
You can't compare the numbers that way, that's the point.
Which is more impressive to a person that understands growth and mathematics, a 500k gain over 2 years on a game that had 11.5 million players or a 50k gain in the same time frame of a game that had 50k players? The answer is the 50k gain, everytime.
But like I said in my reply to the other guy, it is pointless trying to teach basic mathematics/growth on this forum as people would rather not have a grasp on the actual working of things. You are entitled to go on thinking that a 4-5% (I say this because although they announced 11.5 million 2 years ago we do not know that it did not dip below this, which I believe it did) growth over 2 years with a major expansion allowed into the largest nation on earth with contains 1/6th of the world's population and recently announcing a date for their next major expansion as an utterly amazing number.
I'm confused. Wasn't it a a year or two ago they boasted 10 million? Is Blizzard trying to tell the world they have only INCREASED in subscriptions since then? I hardly believe it. Maybe they are counting the total amount of accounts opened. That would be much more believable.
Nope the total number of current and former accounts is somewhere around 35 million. It was in an interview a while back. This is active subcribers only and dose not count inactive, banned, trial, recruit a friend, or even accounts that have a subcription but haven't been played in the past two weeks.
But go on telling yourself it ain't so if you so desire.
Can you dig up the interview? I just find it hard to believe. No need to fanboism me. I just would like some clarity.
World of Warcraft’s Subscriber Definition
World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules.
Blizzard's press release says the game "now exceeds 12 million players worldwide". Word subcriber isn't used, and the subcriber definition isn't included, unlike all previous Blizzard's press releases wich used word subcriber and had the definition.
I'm a Blizzard fan, but I think they're pulling some shady trick with statistics right now.
EDIT: Sorry, looks like the press release on Blizzard EU website uses word subcriber and has the definition. I wonder why the US version doesn't have /EDIT
Which is more impressive to a person that understands growth and mathematics, a 500k gain over 2 years on a game that had 11.5 million players or a 50k gain in the same time frame of a game that had 50k players? The answer is the 50k gain, everytime.
I see your point, and I understand it. Though this press release accomplishes two things:
Blizzard just beated its own record in the number of subscriptions,
There is still a measurable growth in the number of subscriptions.
Even if it represents a smaller fraction on their overall number of active subscriptions than a game with 50k players, we're talking about a record here, like we'd discuss the world record in a sport or in high speed vehicles.
Blizzard's press release says the game "now exceeds 12 million players worldwide". Word subcriber isn't used, and the subcriber definition isn't included, unlike all previous Blizzard's press releases wich used word subcriber and had the definition.
I'm a Blizzard fan, but I think they're pulling some shady trick with statistics right now.
Blizzard's press release says the game "now exceeds 12 million players worldwide". Word subcriber isn't used, and the subcriber definition isn't included, unlike all previous Blizzard's press releases wich used word subcriber and had the definition.
I'm a Blizzard fan, but I think they're pulling some shady trick with statistics right now.
Blizzard's press release says the game "now exceeds 12 million players worldwide". Word subcriber isn't used, and the subcriber definition isn't included, unlike all previous Blizzard's press releases wich used word subcriber and had the definition.
I'm a Blizzard fan, but I think they're pulling some shady trick with statistics right now.
If it was counting inactive subscriptions, I think it would be a lot more than 12 millions....
Though I am a bit surprised. Seeing Lich King release in China and a release date put on Cataclysm I suspect there are many who have come back to wow. It isn't like the last two years have produced a decent game to compete with wow. Until that happens I suspect it will just keep growing.
Comments
5% of 12 million is still 10000 time more then 20% of god knows what number. ur argument fails.
And we all know that the majority of that number is made up of gold buyer/seller/scammer accounts....
12 million actual accounts? As the brits would say.... NOT BLOODLY LIKELY
So far we have the McDonalds analogy, the number fudging charges and the kiddie game reference. Waiting to go change my sig from 11 to 12 until I read once again where it will run on grandmas PC.
Edit : Naw, cant wait gotta change it now.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
False. And completely ridiculous. Everything that follows is also silly.
Blizzard’s World of Warcraft Subscriber Definition reads:
“World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees territories are defined along the same rules.”
I think thats what the Brits said when America declared their independence.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
It is clearly impossible to try and teach the mathematics of change to a hardcore fan of WoW that thinks anything other then "WoW is awesome!" is a troll statement.
It is not an argument, it is a fact of how change is measured. Therefore it can not be wrong.
Also an argument can never fail is the statement it smade "ur argument fails." Perhaps if it was "Your argument fails." Also it was 4-5% of 11-11.5 million, not of 12 million but once again there is a clear lack of understand of mathematics on this forum. Also 5% of 12 million is 600k. 600k/10k is 60. I think every MMO in existance has over 60 accounts. So as you would say, ur argument fails and it does so in every aspect.
Um, they made the same announcement 2 years ago - no?
Belgium is ranked #157 on the UN TFR, no? So this is surprising?
There are around 20 metropolitan areas on the planet that have more people...cities...that have more people than Belgium.
Belgium owns around 16.6 billion USD of the US debt.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Not surprising but impressive none the less. I cant think of another MMO that can boast these numbers, can you?
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
IF i was trying to measure WoW's past gains with this present gain your beef with percentages would hold true. But this is NOT what I am looking at. What is a more substantial gain? Gaining 500k subs or gaining 50k subs? I'm not asking what game has a easier time doing it. I'm not asking this based on current subscription levels. All I'm asking is what is the bigger freakin number?! It ain't that hard...truly it ain't.
That's like saying that a earthquake that killed 500k of the world's population is just as devastating as one that killed 50k. No....it's not. If I looked at the demographics of the area hit to see if a country of 50k lost that 10% to the earthquake compared to a country of 500k that lost 10%, who's gonna argue that the country that lost 50k lives is a bigger hit to the total population of the earth than losing 5k? Nobody but you it seems...
Out of all the mmo gamers that joined the mmo genre in 2010, WoW added more to the damn pie than any of the other mmos when you stack them against it. And that's a fact.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Nope. Their announcement from 2 years ago was when they reached the 11.5 millions mark.
haters gonna hate.
hopefully all wow players gonna tag tam and soon rule the earth!
phat loot to all!
I7@4ghz, 5970@ 1 ghz/5ghz, water cooled||Former setups Byggblogg||Byggblogg 2|| Msi Wind u100
I thought that was 11 million.
You can't compare the numbers that way, that's the point.
Which is more impressive to a person that understands growth and mathematics, a 500k gain over 2 years on a game that had 11.5 million players or a 50k gain in the same time frame of a game that had 50k players? The answer is the 50k gain, everytime.
But like I said in my reply to the other guy, it is pointless trying to teach basic mathematics/growth on this forum as people would rather not have a grasp on the actual working of things. You are entitled to go on thinking that a 4-5% (I say this because although they announced 11.5 million 2 years ago we do not know that it did not dip below this, which I believe it did) growth over 2 years with a major expansion allowed into the largest nation on earth with contains 1/6th of the world's population and recently announcing a date for their next major expansion as an utterly amazing number.
Fantasy Westward Journey.
Considering the number of WoW accounts that are in Asia, WoW is small potatoes in comparison to other MMOs in the area.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
World of Warcraft’s Subscriber Definition
World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules.
http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?101007
Which was larger than the population of Belgium at the time....
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Blizzard's press release says the game "now exceeds 12 million players worldwide". Word subcriber isn't used, and the subcriber definition isn't included, unlike all previous Blizzard's press releases wich used word subcriber and had the definition.
I'm a Blizzard fan, but I think they're pulling some shady trick with statistics right now.
EDIT: Sorry, looks like the press release on Blizzard EU website uses word subcriber and has the definition. I wonder why the US version doesn't have /EDIT
I see your point, and I understand it. Though this press release accomplishes two things:
Blizzard just beated its own record in the number of subscriptions,
There is still a measurable growth in the number of subscriptions.
Even if it represents a smaller fraction on their overall number of active subscriptions than a game with 50k players, we're talking about a record here, like we'd discuss the world record in a sport or in high speed vehicles.
http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?101007
Read further down.
Accounts made and active subs are different things. I dont think Blizz publishes the number of accounts made in the last 6 years.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
The US version didn't include the subscriber definition. http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/press/pressreleases.html?101007
But since the definition is in EU version, I admit I'm mistaken.
Darth Vader was belgian.....se we what happened to him?
If it was counting inactive subscriptions, I think it would be a lot more than 12 millions....
So many salty tears in this thread.
Though I am a bit surprised. Seeing Lich King release in China and a release date put on Cataclysm I suspect there are many who have come back to wow. It isn't like the last two years have produced a decent game to compete with wow. Until that happens I suspect it will just keep growing.