If you multiply the cost per account times the number of players of this game... the amount of money Blizzard is making is approximately:
111 million, 650 thousand dollars a month? A month.
I realize the American price is not the global one but I believe it is among the cheaper.
Just an observation. And to think, your mother always said you won't get anywhere playing games. Who's laughing now mommy?
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Blizzard isn't get anywhere playing games. They're getting somewhere making them. :P
Ruyoayo wrote:
Blizzard isn't get anywhere playing games. They're getting somewhere making them. :P
The developers are also gamers :p
Blizzard uses different pricing schemes in different markets (namely China uses an hourly pricing scheme, so the amount of money paid there per account is very different from equivilent US pricing schemes).
Webjunky wrote:
Dammit. The Golden Sticker on my box was outdated. V.V
What about the cost to run all that hardware and software updates, upgrades, maintenance, bandwidth and coffee pots.
MentalFrog wrote:
What about the cost to run all that hardware and software updates, upgrades, maintenance, bandwidth and coffee pots.
Yup yup. They're making money, yes, but not nearly as much as most people think. You also forgot to mention labor costs, which is always very high for software companies. (people need more than coffee pots) :)
Ialaman wrote:
MentalFrog wrote:
What about the cost to run all that hardware and software updates, upgrades, maintenance, bandwidth and coffee pots.
Yup yup. They're making money, yes, but not nearly as much as most people think. You also forgot to mention labor costs, which is always very high for software companies. (people need more than coffee pots) :)
I was suppose to include that in my list. Somehow it got skipped. But also realize all the developement and research costs before WoW was even released. When WoW was released Blizzard was in the red for that title.
MentalFrog wrote:
What about the cost to run all that hardware and software updates, upgrades, maintenance, bandwidth and coffee pots.
To add:
1. Blizzard has to pay the company that manufactures the PCCD or PCDVD. (Uncle Sam gets his cut).
2. Blizzard has to pay the company that puts software on the CD or DVD.(Uncle Sam gets his cut).
3. Blizzard has to pay the company that distributes said product to retailers. (Uncle Sam gets his cut).
4. Blizzard has to pay the software developers. Last I checked Software Developers don't come cheap. (Uncle Sam gets his cut).
5. Blizzard has to pay for the rights to the artists of characters/buildings/monsters/soundtracks etc. (Uncle Sam gets his cut).
6. Blizzard has to pay a yearly income tax.
7. Blizzard has to pay various lawyers to handle legal issues(Which also don't come cheap). Particularly when it comes to patents and copyright. (Uncle Sam gets his cut).
8. General and special maintenance costs. Anything from the janitor all the way to a electrical repair of any and all buildings.
Granted, yes Blizzard makes a butt load of money and they have made a ton of money way before WoW. You aren't in business for charity.
These are just a few things that sap away at yearly earnings.
Edit:
I read somewhere that SquareEnix spent 3.3 billion on FFXI prior to release. WoW wouldn't have been much more expensive or cheaper I could imagine.
Edited, Jan 11th 2007 4:48pm by Rimesume
I'll keep forking over money if it'll help Blizzard stand against SOE.
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
Rimesume the Shady wrote:
I read somewhere that SquareEnix spent 3.3 billion on FFXI prior to release. WoW wouldn't have been much more expensive or cheaper I could imagine.
It wouldn't suprise me if it was more. First off, FFXI was released years prior to WoW. Then realize Blizzard was doing years of research on MMOS before it was given the green light. Marketing is another huge cost. Also I believe they started out with more hardware than FFXI due to their expectant population at release. MMOs are the most expensive games to create and maintain. But there's also great money in it if you're successful.
KPBeta wrote:
If you multiply the cost per account times the number of players of this game... the amount of money Blizzard is making is approximately:
111 million, 650 thousand dollars a month? A month.
111 million, 650 thousand dollars a month? A month.
And yet they still haven't figured out how to maintain the servers without shutting them down every week.
KPBeta wrote:
If you multiply the cost per account times the number of players of this game... the amount of money Blizzard is making is approximately:
111 million, 650 thousand dollars a month? A month.
I realize the American price is not the global one but I believe it is among the cheaper.
Just an observation. And to think, your mother always said you won't get anywhere playing games. Who's laughing now mommy?
111 million, 650 thousand dollars a month? A month.
I realize the American price is not the global one but I believe it is among the cheaper.
Just an observation. And to think, your mother always said you won't get anywhere playing games. Who's laughing now mommy?
You know, as a business operator, and looking at this post again, I had to chime in on something that I truely detest.
Credit Cards.
Now let's say that we have half the people who play WoW paying with a Credit Card. Credit card companies typically charge between 2-4% to the merchant for the transaction. Let's go middle of the road there and say 3% (cause there's no way Blizzard is gonna be getting the best rates when they don't physically have a card to swipe)
So $111.65 million a month, $55.825 charged on credit cards, meaning...
Visa/Mastercard/Discover/AMEX are earning over $1.6 million per month simply because of World of Warcraft. (EDIT: the $1.6 million is the transaction fee alone, which the consumer is never informed of, and is in addition to any interest they get from the cardholders)
Maybe we should petition Visa to provide more stable WoW servers.
Edited, Jan 11th 2007 7:06pm by Ialaman
Also, blizzard isn't privately owned, it's a division of Vivendi. All the profit that blizzard makes gets funneled to Vivendi shareholders. So ya, most of the money you pay blizzard goes to wall street :P
Philana wrote:
KPBeta wrote:
If you multiply the cost per account times the number of players of this game... the amount of money Blizzard is making is approximately:
111 million, 650 thousand dollars a month? A month.
111 million, 650 thousand dollars a month? A month.
And yet they still haven't figured out how to maintain the servers without shutting them down every week.
Yes they have. Also maybe you should work with hardware for a month and see how it really is.
Vivendi Games reported third quarter profits of $14 million in November. This is including the Blizzard entertainment group as well as it's other groups, Sierra Online, and Universal music as well as others. Vivendi Games is a subsidiary of Vivendi, which has not had the best of monetary track records as far as corporate media giants go.
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Aude Sapere
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Quote:
2. Blizzard has to pay the company that puts software on the CD or DVD.(Uncle Sam gets his cut).
3. Blizzard has to pay the company that distributes said product to retailers. (Uncle Sam gets his cut).
3. Blizzard has to pay the company that distributes said product to retailers. (Uncle Sam gets his cut).
Which is why I am kind of surprised that blizzard isn't offering the expansion as a download. I may have missed it somewhere but I have not seen it.
Quote:
Now let's say that we have half the people who play WoW paying with a Credit Card. Credit card companies typically charge between 2-4% to the merchant for the transaction. Let's go middle of the road there and say 3% (cause there's no way Blizzard is gonna be getting the best rates when they don't physically have a card to swipe)
Actually I think the rates are a little higher then an in-store credit card transaction due to the fact that their is no card to swipe. Someone has to pay for the liability insurance and safety features on internet transactions and since the APR of most credit cards doesn't change in relation to in-store or internet purchases, (only cash advance in most cases) it's probably tacked onto the merchants end.
Edited, Jan 11th 2007 6:31pm by Raolan
Scholar
23 posts
like someone else said blizzard does not make anywhere near 15$/mth on the chinese accounts, there was an article in the new york time not too long ago saying wow had just grossed one billion dollards which is ALOT but not over 100m/mth
Yeah, but keep in mind that for any non-MMORPG games, the only money the companies make is from sales and sales alone. (possibly on some memorabilia, too, but that isn't too common) They have to pay money to the manufacturer of whichever console the game goes on.(this is how profit is made to offset the loss on the selling of consoles). There's the cost of putting the game on disc, producing packaging, paying the people that make the game, etc.
And then look at MMOs. Not only does the initial price need to be paid, but the monthly payments are present, too. The only increase in cost of production comes from maintaining servers and developing new content.
Look at Guild Wars. It's still running strong, and yet it needs to be maintained with the same amount of careful precision as WoW. However, there are no monthly payments. The game must be making profit from the product alone, otherwise there's no way it would be running. (it is worth noting, however, that expansions seem to be released with a much greater frequency than WoW)
Put simply, it Guild Wars can make a profit from the game and the game alone, WoW must be making an outstanding amount of pure profit from the added total of the game and the monthly payments. Not to mention how much more is going to be made after the release of the expansion.
And then look at MMOs. Not only does the initial price need to be paid, but the monthly payments are present, too. The only increase in cost of production comes from maintaining servers and developing new content.
Look at Guild Wars. It's still running strong, and yet it needs to be maintained with the same amount of careful precision as WoW. However, there are no monthly payments. The game must be making profit from the product alone, otherwise there's no way it would be running. (it is worth noting, however, that expansions seem to be released with a much greater frequency than WoW)
Put simply, it Guild Wars can make a profit from the game and the game alone, WoW must be making an outstanding amount of pure profit from the added total of the game and the monthly payments. Not to mention how much more is going to be made after the release of the expansion.
Raolan wrote:
Which is why I am kind of surprised that blizzard isn't offering the expansion as a download. I may have missed it somewhere but I have not seen it.
Look at Steam at the release of Half-Life 2. It was bogged down to the point of being completely unusable. Imagine the onslaught that Blizzard would receive if it tried to offer TBC completely online.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was offered at a later date, though.
Quote:
And yet they still haven't figured out how to maintain the servers without shutting them down every week.
The cost of all that cocaine and all those under-age thai hookers start to add up.
Edited, Jan 11th 2007 9:31pm by docfrance
first thing i remember seeing of WoW was back before there was a diablo 2 or warcraft 3. in fact, this was back when WC3 was slated to be a "role-playing strategy" or RPS instead of a "real-time strategy (RTS)" like it is now.
this was back in, oh....'98? '97 maybe?
i remember checking out the blizzard website (starcraft had recently come out iirc) and seeing mention of something, including VERY early screenies of elwynn/westfall/duskwood and loads of artists' renderings. the main shot to advertise (and i use that word loosely, for i only saw this screeny on their website) for WoW included one of a few trolls watching some adventurers cross a rope bridge in what i presume was STV.
WoW was released in november of '04, altho it was so close to the end of the month you might as well call it december. assuming it started in '98, early summer, WoW was in production for over six years before it actually started making money.
given what others have already pointed out about costs and development and upkeep and taxes and god knows what else, i wouldnt be surprised if blizzard hadnt started to turn a profit on WoW until at least one year after WoW was out. possibly two.
and of course, the same thing goes for the xpac. it doesnt make money until it goes live the 16th, and its been subject to the same drawbacks developing the original WoW was subject too.
this was back in, oh....'98? '97 maybe?
i remember checking out the blizzard website (starcraft had recently come out iirc) and seeing mention of something, including VERY early screenies of elwynn/westfall/duskwood and loads of artists' renderings. the main shot to advertise (and i use that word loosely, for i only saw this screeny on their website) for WoW included one of a few trolls watching some adventurers cross a rope bridge in what i presume was STV.
WoW was released in november of '04, altho it was so close to the end of the month you might as well call it december. assuming it started in '98, early summer, WoW was in production for over six years before it actually started making money.
given what others have already pointed out about costs and development and upkeep and taxes and god knows what else, i wouldnt be surprised if blizzard hadnt started to turn a profit on WoW until at least one year after WoW was out. possibly two.
and of course, the same thing goes for the xpac. it doesnt make money until it goes live the 16th, and its been subject to the same drawbacks developing the original WoW was subject too.
Rimesume the Shady wrote:
5. Blizzard has to pay for the rights to the artists of characters/buildings/monsters/soundtracks etc. (Uncle Sam gets his cut).
ummm, not quite. Blizzard HIRES the artists (Uncle Sam gets his cut) to create the artwork. Because they are "works for hire" Blizz owns the rights as soon as the artwork is created. Additionally, if an independent came in with his own artwork, Blizz would still own the rights, as the original copyright holder, since the artwork submitted would be a derivation. Blizz can grant the right to create to a third party, but I don't think that Blizz would grant those rights without beaucoup bucks passing hands.
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