If they can make as much (or more) revenue servicing a game for 5 million players who each spend more money (more frequent xpacs + each one costs more + microtransactions) than players used to spend when there were a lot more players, then that's an upgrade for them. They can produce and host the scaled back game for a much lower cost.

Honestly though, I really think Blizzard has decided they want to get out from under the colossus they have created so that their company can move forward instead of being bogged down. Milking it for what it's worth as it goes out is fine of course, but I don't think they are at all disappointed about having to move onto new things.

This post was edited by kayeto on Aug 5 2015 10:25am

You can notice this trend with their diversification of their game portfolio, hearthstone, d3, hots, and the upcoming overwatch are all tapping into different markets and especially the casual crowd, is it any wonder that they've made wow more casual friendly and accessible than its ever been? Fact is they're just shifting resources to new IPs and coasting on wow for what they can get out of it (see; ingame store, wow tokens{above the price of an actual sub in terms of gold:cash ratio}, simplification of mechanics, garrisons etc)

Wow isn't dead, but its definitely been on a downward trend and due to development mistakes at a massive level its helping to push it into its own dug grave.

Can you call them mistakes though, if this is the direction they intended it to go?

If their first few expansions had just been more content of the same philosophy/format as vanilla and the playerbase had gotten up to 15million, is that something they would have actually wanted for their company? I think the answer is no.

I'd call them mistakes even if it was intentional, this sub loss reflects it, their targeted market is leaving as well as the hardcore players and pvpers. Its blowback from making the game so passive.

I still don't see it that way. I think the sub loss is in line with their goals.

They need a roadmap for how and when this game will end. They can't keep hosting 7 million WoW players indefinitely the way then can still host the comparatively tiny Diablo2 servers. They also just can't up and shut WoW down cold turkey whenever the mood strikes them.

10+years into the game, letting the dedicated players down easy, making them decide to leave yet still milking it for whatever they can get on the way out seems like a totally reasonable progression for Blizz.

This post was edited by kayeto on Aug 5 2015 11:25am

This is conspiracy, they aren't sabotaging their own game, they've stated numerous times they would keep creating for WoW as long as there were people still interested.

Oh I'm sure they will. And I don't call it sabotaging. A better way to say it is that they are looking to protect their profit margin from WoW while also allowing their company to move into new projects that will make help secure the future.

plz.... their new projects are shit..... overwatch? that shit is lame as fuck

d3 sucks balls

d2 is all bots

hearthstone is their best bet atm

people still play starcraft?


blizz is dying

Make new projects? I think you mean expand on their past projects.
Everyone knows that Blizzard is known for Diablo, Starcraft & Warcraft.
3 Diablo games
3-4 Starcraft games
10 or so Warcraft based games

Outside of those 3 series what games do they have that doesn't relate to them at all?

This post was edited by straightedgerevenge on Aug 5 2015 12:47pm

50% of inflated subs...no not dying. Realistically they lost maybe 1-2mil. Anything under peak sub =/= game is dying. Again, they grossed 1 billion++ dollars in 10 months, that's dying to you? Just because whiny assholes whine doesnt mean the game is dying. Just because a couple million people unsub doesnt mean the game is dying. When they start losing profits, THAT is when the game is dying. I bet you are one of the "game has been dying since BC" retards.