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WoW add-on is the fastest selling game in history
Author: Wil HarrisPublished: 24th January 2007
Burning desire to play Burning Crusade?
The game shifted 2.4 million copies within the first day of release - that's 100,000 copies sold every hour, worldwide. 1.2 million copies were sold in the US, 1.1 in the Europe and a crate-load elsewhere.
Given that the WoW subscriber base is about 8 million players, that means that more than 1 in 4 players bought the expansion - that's a massive figure.
HMV Oxford Street opened at midnight to allow the crowds in to get their hands on the game, and that seems to have been a successful strategy.
“The excitement and sense of anticipation generated by the huge crowd at The Burning Crusade launch event far exceeded our expectations,” said Tim Ellis, Head of Games for HMV, UK. “And in terms of units shifted, this was HMV’s biggest launch event ever, and that includes Audio and DVD events.”
Conservative financial estimates suggest that Blizzard brings in over $100m per month in subscription fees for the game, making it almost certainly the most profitable video game in the history of gaming kind.
Could it be the fastest selling game of all time, too, regardless of platform? We certainly can't think of another game that has sold that many copies, that quickly, save maybe for Vice City on the PS2 - if anybody can correct us, let us know in the forums.
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Ching ching! :o
No more so than other games do/can...
2 of my housemates spend MUCH more time playing Football manager than I do on WoW (and I spend a fair bit of time on it atm). Depends how "into" a game you get.
All MMO's have the capacity to do that. People just need to beware of themselves and the fact that they're playing "addictive" games when starting an MMO. Beyond that, it's all on them.
I still kinda hate WoW - it's brought a lot of less mature(and more annoying/trolly) people into the MMO world, and it's really pulled the rug out from under a great many other MMO's. I know that's not its fault per se, but it still kinda sucks choice wise.
I would have been happier to see WoW be still a hardcore niche thing. I guess good for Blizzard though, they must be a very, very happy company right now. WoW is a lisence to print money.
one of them is 26, and has no career or even a job. has been doing nothing but this.
another, 26, doesnt even notice for hours when his girlfriend comes to visit...when he does he turns around in his chair and says "hey babe" then turns around and plays the game more... at least he has a job and own the house...
the 3rd, whom is my age, doesnt have a job, or any friends outside of this house... he decided not to go to college this semester for the game... he hasnt left the house as far as i can tell since november, i know his car hasnt moved, its covered in/surrounded by feet of snow. today he has been playing for 36 hours straight, he finally went to bed an hour or so ago... he sets alarms to wake up to play he he finally has to go to sleep due to exaustion.. claims he has "gaming obligations"
the game is sick, something should be done, maybe they should limit how long in a day you can play it. i know that many people that have been adversely affected. and at least 3 others in similar but a little less sever situations. everyone you talk to seems to know at least one person like that with this game. thats kinda weird. not only that but there are people on it using it as a way to stalk girls.
sure some people play other games too much, but it passes. wow has been going on for like what? 3 years? its going to be more with this expansion. and with other games they dont use it as a substitute for real life. a guy playing a basketball game online doesn't sit there all day every day, quit his job and school, and stop talking to his real life friends. if you confront a wow junkie about how they never leave the house or talk to people or make friends, they tell you they make friends in the game and that its no different than going out in real life.
whats worse is the stories that ive head from them, there are people playing that even they think are sad... one of my house mates was telling me about the night they all got drunk while playing and were loud on ventrillo, and they were telling their "friends in the game" they were drinking. one of those friends said "people play this sober?" and i guess he plays all the time too. and they thought that was sad...
game is weird. its addicting problematic for peoples lives
Basically, he's been playing non-stop for 17 months, day in, day out. He's completely skint and has undergone a complete personality change...he's so obsessed he's not really my mate anymore.
CC
Gaming is addictive (HL2, Quake,...) all have the same effect, the problem is between the keyboard and the chair.
And about sexual predators and other stuff, maybe they should ban IRC, MSN, ... too, because AFAIK there are more "predators" lurking over there...
But I just know how to socialise whilst playing games, hell we set up LANs for AOE2.
You know you've spent too much time playing WoW when...
Your child dies whilst playing.
I had fun, and got up to lvl 15 or something with my priest, but then it ran out. I was a bit gutted that I couldn't keep playing, and I was a bit down for a while, but then I got on with my life.
I reckon its the prospect of losing money if you don't play that keeps people going: I have plenty of friends who are heavily into Guild Wars - which is non subscription, you buy the disk and play for ever - unlike WoW which is a kidney a month, or something.
The difference is, that if you don't play Guild Wars, you're not "losing" your money, whereas with WoW, by not playing it - you're not spending your money effectively.
...do you see what I'm saying? Kind of confused me...
CC
Quite like the population split idea, will we get a choice do you know? ie how will guilds be affected?
Some people take the game too far, guy on our realm was 70 within 5 days (afaik the guy who mate 70 in 27 hours had his account nuked? Not sure tho...)
Ref "addiction"
That's their choice at the end of the day. It's their life that's being ruined if you're not happy with it then frankly get over it. It's not your problem. If you don't like people smoking, then you don't stand next to them when they're having a fag do you then whinge cos they're smoking.... As long as their "addiction" doesn't adversely affect their/your life then leave them in peace.
That's a selfish way to look at it in some respects, but firmly believe with many addictions that it's all down to choice and willpower. You CHOSE to become addicted, and you should therefore have the CHOICE not to be. Maybe that's a naive view but people are mostly fully aware of the risks/addictive nature before they start.
I've been playing more than i'd like lately (mostly due to TBC + a more "lax" period at uni at the mo). I do know however that at any point I can put the game down, and go do some work.
CC
something doesnt have to be chemical to be addictive. and if its "just" a mental addiction, its still just as harmfull and bad.
It pee's me off when people get addicted to something (alchol, drugs, smoking) which results in some damage cominig to them (ie liver disease, lung cancer etc) then go and sue the manufacturer. Of course its their fault for making an addictive product. It wasn't you who went out to buy it was it? It was thrust apon you while you slept one night...
They make the products, the health warnings are made apparant (if you don't know the damage which can be done then tbfh you deserve everthing you get...) and yet they get sued/blamed when people get ill...
Society we live in seem's plenty happy to blame other people when stuff goes wrong. No one seems willing to blame themselves.
Mental addictions as you say are just as bad. But IMO should be easier to "kick" as there's no physical/chemical factor in there too.
People have choices. It's easy to "blame" the game, or the drugs, or the people who make them. But at the end of the day, you chose to start in the first place.
This probably isn't the place to discuss this sorta thing tho.
If you have problems with your mates being addicted then speak to them about it.
when a 12 year old kid starts smoking ciggarettes i highly doubt hes looking at the warning label on the carton, and since its illegal for him to smoke then its doubly not the manufacturers fault right? same with alcohol, someone who casually drinks but then gets depressed and begins to drink more and more and more till he has a problem, im sure that person stopped beforehand and thought, maybe i should do some research and read some warnings before i drown out my problems with alcohol.... walking into a casino, they dont give you a lecture about the possibility that you could become addicted.
even still, i dont think WoW comes with a warning label telling you that its addictive, and that it could cause you to become a social recluse and quit all progress in your life.
they dont thrust the products on you and make you play them, thats true. but they definately advertise them, and make them appealing and addicting. and they definately dont make consequences known as much as they tell you how much fun it is. someone makes a product that harms you, surely thats the fault of the person who made it. what if they made atoy that hurt children? i guess they shouldnt be accountable since it was a choice that got it into the child's hands.
and like i said, speaking to my mates is easier said than done, because they believe they have no problem and that what they do is just as valid as anyones everyday life.
i have a feeling sometime in the future, mabey a long time maybe not, there will be warnings and limitations on games like this
an alcohol commercial that shows the typical group of people at a party and whatnot, then show a guy in the hospital for a liver problem...
a ciggarette commercial that ends with a guy dieing of cancer.
but youre right, maybe this is getting off topic... GOOD JOB BLIZZARD IN HAVING THE FASTEST SELLING GAME EVER and selling it to a large number of sad addicted drones
Ban cigarettes!
Ban Drugs!
Ban the internet!
Hell, even ban food, if you eat too much you'll get fat, and die because of that...
Oh, I forgot, ban water, you can drown in it...
Maybe you should ban cars too, they kill...
Hmm, ban breathing too, you never know what's in there...[/sarcasm]
If you aren't mature enough to decide for yourself how far you can go, you have it coming... Don't blame WoW for being addictive, blame the one's who addicted to it for being a dumbass...
And your argument about 12-15 year old guys/gals getting hooked... 2 words: Parent Responsibility
What would you deem a suitable limitation?
Well said mate :) Summed me waffle up rather nicely!
Oh ffs dude, stop assigning all the blame to the evil computer games company and realise that the people you're talking about are weak. WoW doesn't do any of that, they do that. They make the concious choice to do that every single day when they get up. Yes, it may be a cycle that they're psychologically find hard to break out of, but it's not addication, and kicking the "WoW habit" would be far far easier than kicking any real addiction. It simply requires them to not play so much. If they actually want to, theres nothing stopping them.
You're actually condoning something like that? Dude people have choice! You don't take away choice from people just so that the pathetic morons who're too damn stupid to move their arse and keep a life up are having a hard time. Don't ruin the good for good people, for the sake of crap people.
lol... That's not realistic. 24 hour's over a 36 hour period maybe, but 4 hours straight no way. Some people only play at weekends or in the evening's, you'd be affecting them too. Or would they be classed as addicted playing 6-11, or all day saturday....?
From a game point of view, some of the instances take that long if not longer. Same with battlegrounds if you get unlucky.
and as far as a limitation goes... i dont know.. i guess i would limit it to the average ammount of time a typical person has after coming home from work/school till a typical bed time to get a good nights rest. maybe with different numbers on weekends
and if the limitations are reasonable, then its not ruining it for anyone. unless youre addicted and you think you need to play for 20 out of 24 hours in a day.. maybe you want to have a lan party with your friends at which you would play longer than the standard limitation. so maybe there should be a system for that too. but a limitation system would only be in extreme cases and i dont see that kind of time limitation happening. i see warning labels and age limitations.
Thats what everything boils down to, communication.
Mute Point; The Chinese Government made Blizzard impliment a system on their version of the software, that limits the time a person can play.
After a set period, you stop gaining XP, Currency & Item for kills, which requires another set period of time to reset. Something like 3 hrs online / 3 hrs offline.
This may be a great way to overcome addiction, however, there are way round it (buy a couple of accounts for example, if you really must play that much).
I'm just glad I have the freedom of choice to decide how long I play for, & when I want to.
WoW has infact saved me money, as instead of going to the pub getting drunk, I stay in with the missus, who also plays, and enjoy chatting with 40 of my Guild mates about the choas of the "Real World" & having a good, time.
CC
There may have been times when I would have agreed with you that these games are intentionally made to draw people in and waste their time, but not anymore.
I started playing MMOs with Ragnarok Online. The only reason I really had any fn was because I played with a few of my friends, but we played it quite a bit. I started playing it right before I went off to college, and I continued to play it a lot during school. My first year going into electrical engineering I still manged about a 3.8/4.0 whilst playing a ton every day. While some people may not agree with me, I think a lot of people overstudy for college. I did my hw when I had it, gave a couple horus studying for tests, but spent a lot of my other free time playing. Still, even with all of the playing, I made friends on my floor, and went out with them to do things. Anyway, I graduated very recently near the top of my class, and I've pretty much been playing some MMORPG during my whole school career. When I first played WoW, I dove into it way too fast, and played it too much so I cut back. I bought BC and am playing it with my little brother now, and we only play a couple hours at night, and we don't even paly it every consecutive night. There was a time when I thought that I HAD to play these games a ton in order to do well, but now after trying playing it in moderation, I'm enjoying playing it as well as having a lot of time for other things. BTW, I have played GW mroe than any MMORPG I have played. One week during school I played for 56 hours, and after that I toned it down a bit. The lack of a subscription doesn't mean you can't waste your time on it, i know people who ahve done it with all kidns of games.
Anyway trying to wrap this up, I agree with the people saying its your friends faults that they play so much, not Blizzard's, and I would like to add its partially your fault. If theyre really your friends, and youre really worried about it, then you should be helping them, not forgetting about them and laughing about how you have other friends and a whole house to yourself.
but that doesnt mean that i dont see a problem with the product and what it does to weak people. and it should probably have something done with it as far as warnings and limitations. i think this problem that appears to be becoming more and more evident is due to an addictive product and it is blizzards problem.
another couple friends of mine that live togather both thought WoW was dumb... the one friend started telling the other to play it because he heard of my housemates and wanted the same (to see less of his roommate).. he resisted for a while saying how dumb the game was, but finally gave in..now hes hooked and plays day and night never leaves his room, though thankfully he doenst skip school for it, yet.