But something “scummy” you are pointing towards is based on this topic.
Which, is nothing more than “streamlining” their business.
Maybe because 90 days gametime options arent being as sold as much and arent something they wanna support no more. (No clue, example)
Or the aforementioned WoW token - bnet balance swap fiesta that costs them money or is to unpredictable to properly plan for the coming years.
Its nothing more than changing the course of a company with a proper heads up and just a minor change for most players.
Or they want subscriptions the way to pay and are moving away from the gametime buy method.
I remember buying some dvd case 12 years ago with a 60 day game pass inside with some scratch code.
Fond memories, but when i typed it out i was like: that feels like a very clunky way of doing things.
Times change, so do businesses and so do subscriptions / games / payment methods etc.
In best case scenario yeah, it “just” damages the wallet, in some cases it can be worse, like life savings.
Another affect which is much more noticeable for all gamers is lower quality of games, which are often designed to squeeze out as much money with microtransactions as possible for minimal amount of work (see anthem, avengers game), rise of mobile freemium market.
Would you say same if sub was made 2 month only, or if price of it got increased to 15e?
To be fair if you are new you can sub for a month and then cancel it. I’m not defending the change I’m just saying it’s still possible to try the game.
@Chintara: Hmmm, technically, since they are not publishing subcription numbers this change does not really alter things in this regard. This is because regardless of how you paid (direct token conversion, balance, credit card, other), if you have game time and log in, you count as a MAU (monthly active user) for that month.
You know how much time it took me to level this char to 20, without mounts and heirlooms even? Less than 2 hours, if you think this is a meaningful experience of the game, good for you, keep defending this unethical and predatory change and actinblg blind on how negative thia change is to sporadic players and new potential customers.
Then every thing can squeeze money out people if somebody is a real fanatic and addict. Heck there are people who blow their live savings to join some religious cult which preaches that money is bad. Heck there can be total art fans who simply MUST have that super expensive painting. Even if they need to put their house up as collateral. People can be eccentric and weird. Not everyone follows common sense…
Its an optional entertainment choice. Blizzard can do what the hell they please with it. Heck flush the whole project down the toilet tomorrow IF they want to.
You are treating video game as some “life sustaining medicine” which MUST be held up to high standards. Otherwise people will die.
Its just 1 product. Like any other. Like it or leave it. Plenty of games around.
Heck…at this rate. When Blizz will shut down WoW for good.(Not a doomsayer but I am 99.9% sure that WoW WONT be around anymore at my retirement age). I hope people don’t do something…drastic to themselves…
Taking into account that the price has been left unchanged like since…2004? Taking into account inflation and stuff. I think it was pretty much expected sooner or later. I still remember how much my local bus ticket costed at 1999 and how much it costs now. Yet…I still use the bus regardless.
Indeed. Every transaction you do is just “13 eur” for you. For them? Taxes, transaction costs(banks, cards want their cut too), bookkeeping and stuff.
Its not something surprising that they try to streamline stuff to save administrative costs…
I never said publicly publishing them, I said, “using the numbers for thier investors” I’m pretty sure their investors get a pretty comprehensive list of the revenue metrics for the game, otherwise why would they invest
Investors have no intrest in “how many” are playing, they want to know money numbers… like How many are PAYING
But like I said too For something that as been in the game from the beginning and worked, they will not put in the time and effort to change anything unless they believe they can squeeze profit out of it.
If i see / find the cost acceptable to the service or game provided i would be fine with it.
The subscription price only got changed once in 15 years i believe with just 1 euro or so, which i am still baffled about as seeing Netflix upped their subscription atleast twice in the last 3 years.
Inflation / changing business practices are all part of the economy.
Decisions like these, are made based on various factors and Blizzard never decided to change gametime purchases with less options because the other variants were the most sold.
I dont believe a company as Blizzard(or any other business) would make this move if the 90 days gametime purchase was an alltime bestseller.
Its like Mcdonalds removing their Happy Meal just because it is a highly sold product.
So yeah, i would stay subbed by changed prices and different subscription duration if i would see the value of it.
And if not, i would go: ah well, that just isnt for me anymore because my “limit” is 13 euros a month because i value 30 days of gametime to be worth 13 euros and not a penny more.
For many signing a subscription to a game they don’t even know is way too much and might turn back on it, due to all the downsides of subscriptions.
In other words, grabbing and playing just one month is just more simple than having to sign a subscription, which can be complex and complicated, consider even that many young folks that don’t have credit cards.
I think you’re grasping at straws at this point. If someone wants to try a game beyond the free trial then they can easily sub for one month. It is not some arduous task, it’s not an exam it’s just filling in your details for a sub instead of for game time.
As inconvenient as it may be that the 30 days game time option is removed I don’t think far fetched examples of things help argue any point.
Edit to add - worst case scenario if this has any kind of serious impact on people’s willingness to try playing the game, which I doubt, but if it did happen that is entirely Blizzard’s fault. Equally if they lose players (MAUs) because people don’t want to pay for two months and refuse to use a subscription then that is also firmly Blizzard’s fault.
To be honest i heard for quite a few people video games helped go through rough time and even prevented serious self harm, so i wouldnt laugh about this, that games are totally useless thing.
Imagine thinking investors are so stupid that they won’t connect the dots between removing one-time purchase options and increased subscription numbers. We’re talking about highly qualified people with tons of money to lose / gain.
If this is Blizz’s shady plan to fool investors by making subscription numbers higher, then we’re in trouble because they’re absolute monkeys.
Even if that was true. WoW is not the only video game out there. If WoW was indeed the only video game ever created then it could be discussed … as silly as it may sound. However its not. Video games come and go. New ones pop up. Old ones goes into history books once they have run their course. Yet there is always something on the market…
You would be surprised, there are many many well documented stories of people who use online games to temporarily “escape” reality in vast and varied situations, My self I am 57, been gaming over 20 years which started when I became housebound due to cancer, thankfully things have got better but I’m still gaming. If it was not for my “escape” into the artificial worlds of MMORPG’s I would have literally gone insane
For many its more than just a hobby, pastime and its certainly not just for fun
is true for some folks… 