It couldnt possibly cost them anywhere near 67million to run the WOW servers. I read in another thread on here they now have 4.5 million users, and that number will probably take another big jump after the holidays. What do you think is the server/networking/hardware cost to keep a game like WOW running(I dont play it but i do know they have alot of connection problems,waitin in line,etc.)
Monthly cost for Blizzard to keep the WOW servers running?
- Thread starter platinumike
- Start date
Well, it costs a hell of a lot. Millions per month, without doubt. And then there are all the other costs of the organization that supports the game, from the janitors up to the managers.
Yeah, there are a lot more costs than just bandwidth and server hardware. The devs alone must make some good money so they don't leave and so on... I bet they probably have an overhead of somewhere around 20 and 25 million per month. Anymore than that? I really doubt it. Out of that 67 million, I am sure they only get a portion of that. They probably rake in 50 million and probably run about a 50% profit margin.
warcrow
Lifer
- Jan 12, 2004
- 11,078
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Exactly. The upkeep is very pricey, not to mention the cost of all the bandwidth. Listen, Blizzard is making ALOT of money each month....tens of millions for sure. But 4.5 million subscribers are worldwide and do you know how many data centers they have world wide? I dont know the number, but there are alot of employees working to make something like this happen. They arnt open from 9am-5pm, they're 24/7/365 (excusing maintenance of course, so there is some down time).
So in short, yes, Blizzard is doing well for itself.
I think they make a nice profit once it is said and done. It is really amazing Blizzard has been able to scale with the demand as if their model anticipated 4.5million users. I wouldn't mind reading the thoughts of their developers right about now if some journalist were to hit them up.
No their is a point to where you must seperate 'your' experience from the 'total' experience. I only have waits on the servers that are full such as Shadow Moon and Burning Legion. My experience on Crush Ridge and Aegwynn are very much the opposite on a friday/saturday night.
Furthermore, It is not a valid argument to say that because you cannot login for 20 mintues that they have not scaled. It is obvious that they have scaled. It is not fair to the manufacturer of online services to give you everything 'now now now' because that is just not how the IT industry works. I would call that being a 'uneducated customer' that hasn't read the TOS and EULA.
But fine, you want to talk personal observations, well since I started in mid november there have been atleast 6 servers come online. That is no small feat and shows me they care and are able to provide. My City of Villians experience, being a CoH vet for well over a year, has been nothing but trouble for me and lag persists that is widely recognized as lack of server optimizations. So to me I see one company that can offer me better quality of life two of the most populated and used PvP servers in the world, while I can't get that from Victory Server in another game that released a retail stand alone expansion to use the same server infrastructure. Who is not scaling? Clearly? Safely? Pick another server if you have trouble on the one 'you' chose?
Woofmeister
Golden Member
- Jul 18, 2004
- 1,385
- 1
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LOL. Blizzard Entertainment is owned by Vivendi Universal and is included within Vivendi's Vivendi Universal Games Group. Even though Vivendi is a French company, because its American Depository Shares ("ADR's") are traded in the United States, Vivendi is required to file an annual report with the SEC known as a Form 20-F. Vivendi's 2005 Form 20-F (which is the most recent available) shows that the entire Vivendi Universal Games Group (which also includes Radical Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment and Massive Entertainment) had annual revenue of only 475 million Euros. 475 million Euros = 569.43 million U.S. dollars.
You see the problem with your numbers right? $67 million a month times 12 months is $804 million--more than the entire Vivendi Universal Games Group's entire annual revenue last year. If Blizzard is raking in that much scratch just off World of Warcraft, every one of us should be buying the ADRs
Agreed.
I thought total sales of the game were around 2 million, but let's make it 4.5 mil for the sake of argument. Even if you sold 4.5 million copies throughout the course of a year, in the beginning there were far fewer subsribers, and many people only play for 3-6 months before quitting. An average number of users per month is only known by Blizzard, obviously, but I would guess it's probably more like 1-2 million average subscriptions paid per month for the past year.
Even with all the unknowns, however, I would also guess that Blizzard is bathing in cash right now.
BurnItDwn
Lifer
- Oct 10, 1999
- 26,277
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Fingolfin269
Lifer
- Feb 28, 2003
- 17,948
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Woofmeister
Golden Member
- Jul 18, 2004
- 1,385
- 1
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Wrong. The link does not claim 4.5 million "active subscribers," it claims a "worldwide subscriber base." For those of you who don't read financial documents for a living, "subscriber base" refers to a group of customers from which subscription fees are potentially available--that would include every type of account including inactive and trial. "Active subscribers" are customers from whom a subscription fee has been collected at some point during a given period, i.e., players who paid the monthly WOW fee at least once. It does not mean that all 4.5 million are paying the monthly fee every month. That would equal a churn rate of zero, something which is unheard of in any paid subscription service.
To be sure, WOW has been extrordinarily successfull, but the numbers the original poster put up are fantasy.
Woofmeister
Golden Member
- Jul 18, 2004
- 1,385
- 1
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News on the wires today about the number of World of Warcraft subscribers with Blizzard now claiming five million WOW customers
But hold on, note how Blizzard defines a "customer:"
And for those of you who are shocked to learn that Blizzard is spinning its subscriber numbers to make them look as large as possible, remember that Blizzard is owned by Vivendi Universal, a company with an interesting history of financial disclosure.
But hold on, note how Blizzard defines a "customer:"
At best, that's the subscriber base, not even "active subscribers."
And for those of you who are shocked to learn that Blizzard is spinning its subscriber numbers to make them look as large as possible, remember that Blizzard is owned by Vivendi Universal, a company with an interesting history of financial disclosure.
cKGunslinger
Lifer
- Nov 29, 1999
- 16,408
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cKGunslinger
Lifer
- Nov 29, 1999
- 16,408
- 57
- 91
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