A Couple Of People Picked Up The Burning Crusade
Blizzard issued this press release today, announcing that since its mid-January launch, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has sold 3.5 million copies. Previously Blizzard announced that 2.4 million copies were sold in the first 24 hours. World of Warcraft's subscriber base is now at more than 8.5 million.
With approximately 3.5 million copies sold through, The Burning Crusade has now established the new one-month record for PC-game sales. "We're thrilled about the overwhelming response that we've received for The Burning Crusade," said Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "We have worked hard to build upon nearly every aspect of World of Warcraft with this expansion, and it's gratifying to see that players and reviewers are enjoying the new content."
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PenicillinX57
replyThis makes me sad :(
World of Warcraft is single-handedly killing PC gaming as we know it. With it's massive sales and massive profitability (8.5 million subscribers paying $14.99 per month = !!!), no wonder all the developers and publishers are jumping on the MMO bandwagon. For the next few years, I fear all we're going to see is copycat MMO after copycat MMO.
It's kind of reminding me of when the Internet first started. Remember the huge surge of "dot com" companies that were able to get funding and get a "me too!" Internet business out there? Yeah, most of those failed, and lots of investor money was lost. I'm secretly hoping that happens with the MMO industry.
Well, at least until we can get MMO's that aren't completely brain-dead in the gameplay department. I still have yet to discover what is so fun about the "target the enemy and then click on 'powers' that progressively recharge" gameplay mechanic. It reminds of the toy that babies play with to put different shaped blocks in the correct hole. So fucking boring.
TLDR die MMO's die!-
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Its only one game so saying PC are a valid platform based on one game alone is kinda weak. MMO are a dime a dozen now and 7 out of 10 of them blow ass. The only upcoming MMO game coming out is WHOL and maybe the legos one will actually be good if they went and did a MMO based on all the themes they used.
Those 8.5M people who are playing WOW right now are playing it for one reason and one reason only. Every other MMO out pretty much blows ass right now
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I hate MMOs too, but I don't see the success of WOW as a bad thing. If anything it's helping PC gaming. Future clones aside, we will get some developers saying "Hey, WOW can do it why can't we?" and we'll see more attempts.
Besides WOW proves one very important factor: people don't give a shit about graphics. As stylish as WOW is, it's not that pretty. It also barely grazes your hardware. This is good news for us because it could mean a push for gameplay over graphics. WOW wouldn't have even a fraction of it's sales if it required a Geforce 7 series for the minimum. I hope this trend continues because even Source proves it works. Sam and Max too, it's hardly a looker. Thank god because I'm sick of this less-than-two-years-of-use graphics card rush.
So I say kudos to Blizzard for showing PC gaming isn't dead. -
How is it killing PC gaming? It's bringing millions of people back to a platform that is struggling to compete with consoles. It has refined a fairly complex genre and introduced it to the masses -- something more games should do.
I have no idea why start up developers are trying to make an MMO out of their first game, but that's their problem. And it's not like every established developer on the planet is rushing to make MMOs instead of other games. Relic is still making RTS games. Valve is still making shooters.
WoW is fun for many reasons. The PVP is fast and tactical -- it forces you to know your class and play well. The instances give players really great scripted moments -- huge bosses and puzzles you must work together to defeat. There is great lore scattered throughout the world, as well as humor and lots of things to do.
Most importantly, you can play it alone or with friends and it doesn't take hours to do a little questing. It's remarkably simple for any idiot to hit level 70, but only the hardcore will really know how to play their class well. -
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Me too. And I know we're both WoW whores! :D But then WoW has personally and heriatage, something so many of these other cookie cutters elf+sword games lack. No one is really taking risks either, it's new takes on the same old shit with none of the polish WoW has to make up for it. More people need to try a unique approach like EVE has, it clearly pays off.
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One thing I'm assuming we'll eventually see is more of the big AAA games exploiting persistence, connectivity, community, and user creativity to tap into some of the more fundamental things that drive MMO success. (Rather than just carbon-copying existing MMO designs.) Spore is one great example, and while Wright is out on the leading edge there, I don't think he's _that_ far out.
Another thing I'm hoping/expecting is that various changes in the PC platform (particularly digital distribution) will open up a bigger possibility of success for smaller, or more focussed, or more "niche" games. And if the multi-million-dollar-budget games don't learn enough lessons from MMOs, then some indie developers undoubtedly will. (Actually, and unsurprisingly, some already are.)
Anyway I don't think that WoW is the tombstone of PC games. At the moment it's kinda like the big sequoia blocking out the sun, but eventually it will topple and new growth will be nourished by its rotting shell. :)
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Ho ho, you're too late! :) It looks like Sony's talk at GDC was called "Game 3.0"...
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Is Wright on the leading edge? He was responsible for Sims Online and had a chance to do something cool.
But didn't.
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I don't think that anyone is "on the leading edge" in all ways all the time. :) In the specific context of Spore, yep, I think that it is pioneering some concepts that other games will also use.
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Yeah man I really hate WoW too but the fact is it's really bringing a lot of business to the industry, even if it's in the form of stupid clones.
Look at it this way: There's always the chance that in one of those clones, there's an ace game developer who can persuade a publisher that their unique/innovative/creative game idea can also serve the purpose of a WoW clone, and we end up with a cool game. That's usually how things have worked out in the past, and how we've gotten some pretty awesome games. -
I play games for >15 years now..So yeah, I'm not 16 years old anymore..
And guess what - wow is the only game which I can play for hours and forgett that I'm playing, until my wife brings me to reality.
Saying that it is completely brain dead..go back and play chess then.
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