blizzard got so rich off of WoW

[ucdbiendog]

Originally posted by: kogase
3 years of development, extremely powerful servers, a full maintenance, development, and marketing staff, promotional materials... and then, when it comes down to it, money to line the pockets of CEOs. You get what they give you, cog of capitalism.

if by that you mean servers that crash frequently, cant handle the traffic (queues), and high lag, then you sir would be correct

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
Didn't Vivendi finance the development costs? If so I imagine they get a very fat chunk of the profits. I won't even get into the bad things I've heard about vivendi.

no Blizzard developed the game long before VU entered the picture..
they paid for it.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: ucdbiendog

Originally posted by: kogase
3 years of development, extremely powerful servers, a full maintenance, development, and marketing staff, promotional materials... and then, when it comes down to it, money to line the pockets of CEOs. You get what they give you, cog of capitalism.

if by that you mean servers that crash frequently, cant handle the traffic (queues), and high lag, then you sir would be correct

I play on 4 servers and havent had a queue since 1 month after the release.

Stability on the other hand... always problems.

And the AH and mail lag.... update the DB servers already.

 

[HonkeyDonk]

Originally posted by: Anonemous

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: HonkeyDonk
Blizzard is definitely raking it in.

Sure the initial costs were very high (years of development, advertisement, etc) but those costs will be covered...and then some.

So that leaves the monthly maintenence costs, employee payroll, and I dunno what else, but if they generate revenues of $20 million/month, I'm sure only a fraction of the total revenue goes to those costs. The rest is PROFIT!!!!

you forget that that money also funds other projects... ghost... WC4 possibly D3.. wow add ons etc etc etc..

and all those patcher/programmers, game masters, etc...

Ok sure, they fund all those other things ... a few mill maybe....but they are still left with millions of profit per month.

 

[0roo0roo]

and remember all those starcraft/diablo servers were free

 

[iversonyin]

Did you ever factor in the fact they have to hire more people for this game? Possibly more accountants, customer reps. And we know labor isnt cheap.

You are overlooking alot of things. You did a good job on estimating the revenue they bring in tho.

 

[astrosfan90]

3.5 million people--consider the tech support, customer service, and bandwidth/server issues related to that many people. Now also keep in mind that many of them don't just play an hour or two a day--some people play 18 hours a day. I don't know much about this all, but that sounds like a lot of problems waiting to happen to me. I think the more Blizzard makes, the better, as someone who wants them to keep the game running well!

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: ucdbiendog

Originally posted by: kogase
3 years of development, extremely powerful servers, a full maintenance, development, and marketing staff, promotional materials... and then, when it comes down to it, money to line the pockets of CEOs. You get what they give you, cog of capitalism.

if by that you mean servers that crash frequently, cant handle the traffic (queues), and high lag, then you sir would be correct

You have to think about how many people are playing WoW. With 3.5 million copies sold, there are probably 2 million subscribers. To handle all of those at once (which isn't really probable), that's about 200k people per server. Assume only 1/10th of these are on at a time. That's 20k connections per server, constantly. How many computers do you think they have that balanced across, per server? With all of those computers in the server farms, with imperfect processors, memory, and transmission media, you have to expect some errors and instability.. impossible to avoid.

 

[Gunslinger08]

My guess is the most expensive upkeep they have is bandwidth. I have no idea how much they use, but it must be in the hundreds of terabytes per month.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: ucdbiendog

Originally posted by: kogase
3 years of development, extremely powerful servers, a full maintenance, development, and marketing staff, promotional materials... and then, when it comes down to it, money to line the pockets of CEOs. You get what they give you, cog of capitalism.

if by that you mean servers that crash frequently, cant handle the traffic (queues), and high lag, then you sir would be correct

You have to think about how many people are playing WoW. With 3.5 million copies sold, there are probably 2 million subscribers. To handle all of those at once (which isn't really probable), that's about 200k people per server. Assume only 1/10th of these are on at a time. That's 20k connections per server, constantly. How many computers do you think they have that balanced across, per server? With all of those computers in the server farms, with imperfect processors, memory, and transmission media, you have to expect some errors and instability.. impossible to avoid.

Theres over 80 servers.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: ucdbiendog

Originally posted by: kogase
3 years of development, extremely powerful servers, a full maintenance, development, and marketing staff, promotional materials... and then, when it comes down to it, money to line the pockets of CEOs. You get what they give you, cog of capitalism.

if by that you mean servers that crash frequently, cant handle the traffic (queues), and high lag, then you sir would be correct

You have to think about how many people are playing WoW. With 3.5 million copies sold, there are probably 2 million subscribers. To handle all of those at once (which isn't really probable), that's about 200k people per server. Assume only 1/10th of these are on at a time. That's 20k connections per server, constantly. How many computers do you think they have that balanced across, per server? With all of those computers in the server farms, with imperfect processors, memory, and transmission media, you have to expect some errors and instability.. impossible to avoid.

Theres over 80 servers.

And the cost a million dollars each according to one of the experts in this thread. $80M just for servers! OMG, Blizzard is not making a profit!

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: ucdbiendog

Originally posted by: kogase
3 years of development, extremely powerful servers, a full maintenance, development, and marketing staff, promotional materials... and then, when it comes down to it, money to line the pockets of CEOs. You get what they give you, cog of capitalism.

if by that you mean servers that crash frequently, cant handle the traffic (queues), and high lag, then you sir would be correct

You have to think about how many people are playing WoW. With 3.5 million copies sold, there are probably 2 million subscribers. To handle all of those at once (which isn't really probable), that's about 200k people per server. Assume only 1/10th of these are on at a time. That's 20k connections per server, constantly. How many computers do you think they have that balanced across, per server? With all of those computers in the server farms, with imperfect processors, memory, and transmission media, you have to expect some errors and instability.. impossible to avoid.

Theres over 80 servers.

And the cost a million dollars each according to one of the experts in this thread. $80M just for servers! OMG, Blizzard is not making a profit!

I doubt they're running bigass servers, most certainly clusters of relatively cheap 1U servers, like Google.
The servers running Battle.net are a bunch of Compaq ProLiant DL360's(Compaq's first gen 1U servers), without any discounts you'll get one of those for ~$2000.

 

[gsaldivar]

nsfw

http://wowseriousbusiness.ytmnd.com/

:beer:

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: ucdbiendog

Originally posted by: kogase
3 years of development, extremely powerful servers, a full maintenance, development, and marketing staff, promotional materials... and then, when it comes down to it, money to line the pockets of CEOs. You get what they give you, cog of capitalism.

if by that you mean servers that crash frequently, cant handle the traffic (queues), and high lag, then you sir would be correct

You have to think about how many people are playing WoW. With 3.5 million copies sold, there are probably 2 million subscribers. To handle all of those at once (which isn't really probable), that's about 200k people per server. Assume only 1/10th of these are on at a time. That's 20k connections per server, constantly. How many computers do you think they have that balanced across, per server? With all of those computers in the server farms, with imperfect processors, memory, and transmission media, you have to expect some errors and instability.. impossible to avoid.

Theres over 80 servers.

And the cost a million dollars each according to one of the experts in this thread. $80M just for servers! OMG, Blizzard is not making a profit!

I doubt they're running bigass servers, most certainly clusters of relatively cheap 1U servers, like Google.
The servers running Battle.net are a bunch of Compaq ProLiant DL360's(Compaq's first gen 1U servers), without any discounts you'll get one of those for ~$2000.

IIRC, each "realm" is 14 dual xeon racks, and that doesnt include the database server, which is massive.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: Sunner
I doubt they're running bigass servers, most certainly clusters of relatively cheap 1U servers, like Google.
The servers running Battle.net are a bunch of Compaq ProLiant DL360's(Compaq's first gen 1U servers), without any discounts you'll get one of those for ~$2000.

IIRC, each "realm" is 14 dual xeon racks, and that doesnt include the database server, which is massive.

You sure it's 14 *racks*, that does seem a bit excessive considering that would be 500+ servers, assuming they're using 1U servers...
Would make just the EU servers like 40.000 servers, and the entire world in the 100.000's.

 

[LeetViet]

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: Sunner
I doubt they're running bigass servers, most certainly clusters of relatively cheap 1U servers, like Google.
The servers running Battle.net are a bunch of Compaq ProLiant DL360's(Compaq's first gen 1U servers), without any discounts you'll get one of those for ~$2000.

IIRC, each "realm" is 14 dual xeon racks, and that doesnt include the database server, which is massive.

You sure it's 14 *racks*, that does seem a bit excessive considering that would be 500+ servers, assuming they're using 1U servers...
Would make just the EU servers like 40.000 servers, and the entire world in the 100.000's.

That does seem excessive. I know for sure their realmlist, world, and instance servers are separate.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: LeetViet

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: Sunner
I doubt they're running bigass servers, most certainly clusters of relatively cheap 1U servers, like Google.
The servers running Battle.net are a bunch of Compaq ProLiant DL360's(Compaq's first gen 1U servers), without any discounts you'll get one of those for ~$2000.

IIRC, each "realm" is 14 dual xeon racks, and that doesnt include the database server, which is massive.

You sure it's 14 *racks*, that does seem a bit excessive considering that would be 500+ servers, assuming they're using 1U servers...
Would make just the EU servers like 40.000 servers, and the entire world in the 100.000's.

That does seem excessive. I know for sure their realmlist, world, and instance servers are separate.

some wow servers share equipment. (i think its the database server that is shared).. thats why servers go down in blocks..

 

[DPmaster]

I was just curious hearing about how these farmers are making tons of money. Seems like there should be tons of people buying items or whatever in this game. Went to ebay to see the auctions but I don't really see anything. I see some auctions but doesn't look like anyone is really buying anything. Am I missing something?

 

[feelingshorter]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: Maverick
Blizzard strikes gold on every title. The fact they've conquered the MMO world doesn't surprise me at all. Every game they've put out in the last 5 years has been a huge hit.

I believe the only title blizzard has *EVER* released that didnt go platinum was warcraft II.

exactly, and i bought it, that piece of crap

 

[Rufio]

there are about 250 servers in the USA.

THey have about 200 in china alone. taiwan is projected to have 400,000 players.

vivendi has the deep pockets to back everything up.

they have awesome tools for everything, and they are always monitoring player activity.

however, the work environment is not the best to work in, and being top dog has really inflated their ego and attitude. well, they do have that right because they are #1.

WoW is a monster, and a great game. i play it.

the servers have weekly maintnence, they are always dying, and they are constantly being replaced. they need to improve their cust service drastically.

oh, and yes, they are making a SH!TLOAD of $$$$$$ now too.

 

[Yzzim]

Originally posted by: gsaldivar
nsfw

http://wowseriousbusiness.ytmnd.com/

:beer:

uhh... :Q

Wish I understood what a Cloudsong was...

 

[UNCjigga]

If you thing WoW was crack, wait till the StarCraft MMORPG comes out.

I think the day they release that, bandwidth around the world will just disappear!

 

[Monkey muppet]

Originally posted by: Mojoed

Originally posted by: Shlong
I know someone who quit their job because of this game, WoW a helluva drug.

This is much more common than most people think. I know several people on AT alone who have lost their jobs due to EQ or WoW. It's something most people aren't proud of, and something they'd probably never post.

I quit a job for Diablo II and was given several warnings from my next job, when I picked up DoaC, for falling alseep at my desk.

Hence I don't play games anymore - I have somewhat of an addicting personnality when it comes to pc games (the only game I play now is GT4 on the PS2 - can't play it for long as other wont to use to big TV)

Ayyway I'm proud of being able to say that I've lost a job through palying games - I've learnt a leason which a lot of peeps wont experiance. I'm now a stronger person and can say no (except for GTA:SA - but that's a different kettle of fish))

 

[0roo0roo]

well they need their cash filled matress to cushion the fall from any bombs they may make in the future. sure they are on a hit spree, but they are exceptional..and nothing is garranteed.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: Sunner
I doubt they're running bigass servers, most certainly clusters of relatively cheap 1U servers, like Google.
The servers running Battle.net are a bunch of Compaq ProLiant DL360's(Compaq's first gen 1U servers), without any discounts you'll get one of those for ~$2000.

IIRC, each "realm" is 14 dual xeon racks, and that doesnt include the database server, which is massive.

You sure it's 14 *racks*, that does seem a bit excessive considering that would be 500+ servers, assuming they're using 1U servers...
Would make just the EU servers like 40.000 servers, and the entire world in the 100.000's.

Not 14 racks of servers, 14 rackmount servers.