Posts with tag GamesIndustry

It's been recently announced that the World of Warcraft has hit another milestone: a grand total of 11.5 million subscribers. This really comes as no surprise after the release of an expansion, especially one as widely hyped as Wrath of the Lich King which broke a few records of its own. I think it would be bigger news if they hadn't hit a couple of new milestones.

Gamesindustry.biz has a quote from Senior VP of merchandising at GameStop Bob McKenzie, indicating that it's not just Wrath of the Lich King doing well. These numbers haven't spiked because of all of the returning customers, WoW is gaining plenty of new ones, too. The base WoW package and the World of Warcraft Battle Chest are still doing quite well. Better than last year, he specifies. So while those base package purchases are certainly fueled by the Wrath hype, it's bringing in new customers, not just the returning customers.

WoW may not be the kind of game for every gamer out there, and the game isn't without its flaws. Despite that, it has proven over and over that it's by far one of the best games out there, and definitely the best of its genre. I don't expect it will be going away anytime soon.

Well, okay, maybe he doesn't *like* it like it, but Richard Garriott (aka Lord British) certainly appreciates the existence of the World of Warcraft. In an article I came across over at the WoW Vault on IGN, the creator of the Ultima series, and the Ultima Online MMO, discusses his feelings on the juggernaut that is WoW.

The article quotes an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, where Garriott states, "We commonly get the question, is World of Warcraft a big competitor that might hurt our sales? It really turns out to be quite the opposite." He then goes on to comment that MMO players typically will only play a game or two at a time, but then move on after a year.

I've been happily playing WoW since February of 2004, so I'm into my third year of the game, and nothing else has caught my eye in the MMO market. There are a couple of games on the horizon, but of the folks I'm playing WoW with, the majority have been around from the get-go. Are we just crotchety old-timers who won't admit that the average player only sticks around for a year?

Is what Lord British says true? Did any of you ditch other MMO's to come to WoW, or have you ditched WoW for other MMO's after playing for a year?