World Of Warcraft has hit another milestone on the way, and is now on 7 million subscribers
The most successful massively multiplayer online game ever is probably an understatement. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft has hit the 7 million subscriber mark, the company revealed during the Austin Game Conference.
There’s just no slowing down for WoW (a fitting acronym).
understatement.
Blizzard’s World of Warcraft has hit the 7 million subscriber mark, the company revealed during the Austin Game Conference. There’s just no slowing down for WoW (a fitting acronym).
Although Blizzard Entertainment has yet to issue an official release on the matter, according to our AOL-owned friends at Joystiq, the insanely popular MMORPG World of Warcraft has just hit a new milestone, as the game now has 7 million subscribers across the globe. Blizzard made the announcement during the Austin Game Conference this week.
It’s amazing to think that WoW has managed to gain an additional 1 million subscribers in just a matter of months—Blizzard announced the 6 million subscriber milestone in March. Just as impressive is the game’s truly global appeal. It’s rare that a game designed in North America could perform so well in Asia, but it seems that WoW has managed to attract a perfect blend of casual and hardcore types, regardless of territory.
Kim Daejoong, a Korean doctor of herbal medicine, summed it up perfectly in a recent article in The New York Times. “Hard-core gamers will play anything, no matter how difficult it is,” he said. “But in order to be a mainstream game for the general public, it has to be easily accessible, and there have to be lots of things for you to do, even alone. What WoW has done better than other games is be able to appeal to both audiences — hard-core players and more casual players — all within one game and bring them together. That’s why you’ve seen people all over the world get into the game.”
Rich Wickham, Microsoft’s director of Games for Windows Business, expressed a very similar sentiment. “World of Warcraft is an incredibly polished entertainment experience that appeals to more sorts of different players than any game I’ve seen,” he remarked. “It’s fun for both casual players and for the hard-core players for whom the game is more just than a game: it’s a lifestyle. Just as important, Blizzard has made a game that has a broader global appeal than what we’ve seen before.”
Indeed, it’s not likely that any MMO will be able to surpass the level of success that WoW has had, let alone replicate it. DFC Intelligence president David Cole recently took an in-depth look at this in a column called “Is it Possible to Surpass World of Warcraft?”
Read David Cole´s article here
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