Activision Buying Company Back for $8.2 Billion

Despite having not played WoW for a couple of years now, any news touching on Blizzard has me thinking about how it affects the game.
 
Bobby Kotick is still leading the show, so expect Blizzard to continue losing its luster.
 
When they lost North they lost their luster. Now they just produce well made, boring games.
 
In other news, Activision still turns everything they touch into a cash grab thinly disguised as a game.
 
This is actually pretty good news. There was rumors going around that Vivendi was going to just straight take 3 billion from them in a cash grab.
 
WoW is also down to 7.7 million subs, down from 8.3 million. It's not the absolute numbers that are interesting to me, but rather the slope of the curve. I'm sure Blizzard-Activision isn't hurting for cash, but their goose is getting old, and those eggs are starting to shrink. They'll need to get themselves a new goose, or learn to live without the golden eggs.
 
WoW was just an odd phenomenon, there will never be another pay per month mmo with the numbers it had at its peak.

If a star wars game couldn't do it, nothing else produced is going to pull it off. People just don't want it.
 
Orvtrebor said:
WoW was just an odd phenomenon, there will never be another pay per month mmo with the numbers it had at its peak.

If a star wars game couldn't do it, nothing else produced is going to pull it off. People just don't want it.
Click to expand...

Star Wars isn't the best example. The star wars IP was put through the proverbial wringer by SWG before SWTOR was ever conceived. I know many star wars fans that didn't even bother with SWTOR after the SWG debacle.
 
Star Wars probably isn't as popular in Asia as it is in NA and Europe. Most of WoW's subscriber base is just getting tired of WoW, and Star Wars (or the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online) is not the draw for them. I think StarCraft's popularity there paved the way for WoW (old news!).
 
Orvtrebor said:
WoW was just an odd phenomenon, there will never be another pay per month mmo with the numbers it had at its peak.

If a star wars game couldn't do it, nothing else produced is going to pull it off. People just don't want it.
Click to expand...

You're probably right. However, I do think that the only thing that has a chance to do it again is Blizzard's next MMO (Titan). I have a feeling that game is going to draw in a lot of former WoW players simply due to it being a Blizzard game.
 
Orvtrebor said:
WoW was just an odd phenomenon, there will never be another pay per month mmo with the numbers it had at its peak.

If a star wars game couldn't do it, nothing else produced is going to pull it off. People just don't want it.
Click to expand...

Star Wars isn't an instant money thing anymore. The fanbase is dead, dying, or just really old. Pretty much everyone that was alive when it came out is in a nursing home now. Younger people have better things to worry about like Pokemon movies or the Disney Fairies (seriously, check out Pixie Hollow for their MMO take on it which is a lot of fun). I think Disney can maybe put new life in it, but the tired, crappy story with awful dialogue and lame plot delivery that survived on special effects, dumb costumes, and stupid props of the original stuff is hopefully going to die off in a few more years.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Star Wars isn't an instant money thing anymore. The fanbase is dead, dying, or just really old. Pretty much everyone that was alive when it came out is in a nursing home now. Younger people have better things to worry about like Pokemon movies or the Disney Fairies (seriously, check out Pixie Hollow for their MMO take on it which is a lot of fun). I think Disney can maybe put new life in it, but the tired, crappy story with awful dialogue and lame plot delivery that survived on special effects, dumb costumes, and stupid props of the original stuff is hopefully going to die off in a few more years.
Click to expand...

Just saying some one that was ten when star wars came out (old enough to have seen it and become a huge fan) is only 45 years old at this point. not sure what kind of nursing home your talking about :confused: . I mean my god man it's star wars not gone with the wind :D .
 
Madoc said:
WoW is also down to 7.7 million subs, down from 8.3 million. It's not the absolute numbers that are interesting to me, but rather the slope of the curve. I'm sure Blizzard-Activision isn't hurting for cash, but their goose is getting old, and those eggs are starting to shrink. They'll need to get themselves a new goose, or learn to live without the golden eggs.
Click to expand...

English?
 
I hope there is no more of that ugly ass Skylanders crap and they make real spyro games again.

Activision makes nothing but crap.
 
The decline of WoW subscribers I think is more "look what this game has become, its not anything like vanilla". I think the first game that pays homage to vanilla WoW will make a killing, we may even see WoW-esque numbers out of that game. Here's hoping for Wildstar.
 
MONST3R said:
The decline of WoW subscribers I think is more "look what this game has become, its not anything like vanilla". I think the first game that pays homage to vanilla WoW will make a killing, we may even see WoW-esque numbers out of that game. Here's hoping for Wildstar.
Click to expand...

There is a hint of truth. One thing blizzard did right was not "over polish" the game when it first came out. All the quirks (both good and bad) is what allowed the game to develop a sense of unique pride. Banging your head against the wall that had a bug that made a boss "nearly" unbeatable or finding a bug which made you invincible for a brief period is what keeps the hunt alive. All the weird mods, the customization, multiple facets, degrees of skill depending upon what you wanted to do, is what allowed the community to grow. With WotLK, they tried to take the wide variance of wow and "condense it" so more people were "winners". Follow on expansions, everyone was a winner and the pyramid which drives competition and exploration was squished.

Even though players may bitch an moan certain things are "unfair" and "we all pay the same money", these same gripes are what keeps them coming back because "they just might" move up a tier.
 
Trepidati0n said:
There is a hint of truth. One thing blizzard did right was not "over polish" the game when it first came out. All the quirks (both good and bad) is what allowed the game to develop a sense of unique pride. Banging your head against the wall that had a bug that made a boss "nearly" unbeatable or finding a bug which made you invincible for a brief period is what keeps the hunt alive. All the weird mods, the customization, multiple facets, degrees of skill depending upon what you wanted to do, is what allowed the community to grow. With WotLK, they tried to take the wide variance of wow and "condense it" so more people were "winners". Follow on expansions, everyone was a winner and the pyramid which drives competition and exploration was squished.

Even though players may bitch an moan certain things are "unfair" and "we all pay the same money", these same gripes are what keeps them coming back because "they just might" move up a tier.
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth mostly.
Nothing was more fun than evade bugging Everlook guards while killing all the lowbies in the town. In Vanilla, however, things were ridiculously unbalanced (see world of roguecraft), IMO Burning Crusade was the golden age of WoW. 100% agree with the lack of competition and the everybody wins mentality. Bring back the brutality dammit! :D
 
MONST3R said:
The decline of WoW subscribers I think is more "look what this game has become, its not anything like vanilla". I think the first game that pays homage to vanilla WoW will make a killing, we may even see WoW-esque numbers out of that game. Here's hoping for Wildstar.
Click to expand...

Vanilla WoW was just a well done Graphical Diku Mud:). Blizzard then went against classic diku mud designs with later expansions, aiding in the game becoming too top heavy. Having said that they had a great run considering most mmo's go through that cycle in about 3-5 years.

Blizzard also did a good job hiding declines by constantly expanding to new markets.
 
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