Trion Worlds: Rift the Reason for Declining Wow Subscriptions

June 8, 2011

In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Trion senior VP of publishing David Reid said that he knows why Blizzard lost 600,000 subscribers - detailed in Activision's most recent earnings call: because of his company's new MMO Rift. Rift recently hit its one million games sold milestone, and according to Reid, this has a lot to do with the decline in World of Warcraft subscriptions.

"We're really pleased with what we're seeing," said Reid. "And beyond that, it was a pleasure to see that in the latest Activision Blizzard earnings call, they inquired about Rift when Blizzard announced that their subscriber numbers went from 12 million to 11.4 million."

"You can do some math... We know very well where those 600,000 people are," he added.

Trion is preparing an update to its newest MMO, which reportedly adds a free character transfer system, among other things. Each character will be entitled to a free character transfer, allowing players to switch from PvP servers to PvE if they so desire.

Source: Eurogamer

Buzz It

Comments

Re: Trion Worlds: Rift the Reason for Declining Wow ...

Blizzard has been very cocky with their new expansion. They constantly have been speaking about how Ghostwalker didn’t like all the features in Wraith that everyone flocked too they wanted a more controlled harder experience. It’s almost like they wanted to revert back to the Everquest elitist formula.

 
With all the new MMOs coming out its only a matter of time

Re: Trion Worlds: Rift the Reason for Declining Wow ...

See, this is the very reason most MMOs fail: The developers get cocky.

You don't go around proclaiming you are or you're going to be the "next WoW killer", you hype your game up instead and watch the players do that for you. That way you don't look like an idiot when it turns out you weren't, in fact, the one to kill WoW.

I am actually one of the people who prefer Rift over World of Warcraft currently, and it's mostly because the Cataclysm expansion is incredibly boring, but that doesn't mean I'd go about saying Rift "killed" WoW, it reeks of complete and utter arrogance.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if people are leaving WoW for "greener pastures", as it were, but Trion Worlds is going to have a hard time accurately proving that over 600,000 people just left World of Warcraft for their game. Likewise, Blizzard can't deny the possibility that people are leaving to play Rift.

But as said above, that's the one reason you don't go making these kinds of statements. You can't prove any of it. All it does is makes you, and your company, look cocky, arrogant, and stupid. Especially if you're proven wrong.

-- Randi Tastix

Re: Trion Worlds: Rift the Reason for Declining Wow ...

I recently quit Rift, and I haven't been in Wow for about 3 months.

Re: Trion Worlds: Rift the Reason for Declining Wow ...

I recently quit WoW, but not for Rift.  I left because the newest expansion, Cataclysm, was a huge letdown.  I know people who switched to Rift, but it wasn't because of anything Rift had to offer, it was because of WoW's decline in content quality.

Re: Trion Worlds: Rift the Reason for Declining Wow ...

Now now... let's not let pride become hubris.

Forgot your password?
Username :
Password :

Shout box

You're not permitted to post shouts.
Andrew EisenNeedless to say, a chunck of those might not be inclined to plunk down their dough for Nintendo's new console when they just bought a competitor's, compounded with the fact that Nintendo has shown little interest in catering to their needs.02/22/2012 - 5:43pm
Andrew EisenIf Nintendo is serious about courting the core gamer, it can't just ignore them until it releases the Wii U. They'll just get their fix somewhere else.02/22/2012 - 5:40pm
Andrew EisenA game which didn't light the sales charts on fire but didn't bomb either. In fact, from what I've read, NA sales make up a good half of that game's worldwide sales. Not to mention the good will Atlus garners by continuing to cater to gamers.02/22/2012 - 5:34pm
RedMageEspecially when the likes of Atlus seem to have no problem doing a great job localizing something niche like Catherine.02/22/2012 - 2:20pm
Uncharted NESEntertainment Industry Embraces New Business Model: Suing Google For Third-Party Android Apps That 'Promote Piracy'- http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120221/08245617830/entertainment-industry-embraces-new-business-model-suing-google-third-party-android-02/22/2012 - 2:07pm
Andrew EisenHard to imagine the games would sell so poorly that they wouldn't cover the reletively minimal cost of bringing them over (shipping, ESRB rating, new packaging, printing, etc.).02/22/2012 - 2:02pm
Andrew EisenA point I made in that YouTube video I did last summer. The games tend to sell more copies here so if the damn thing is already developed and localized, why not release it here?02/22/2012 - 2:00pm
RedMageThat's what I figured. It's especially ironic since the black and white data shows NA buys more of these games than Europe or even Japan.02/22/2012 - 1:57pm
Andrew EisenAnd honestly, at this point, most probably won't because they saw their were no more games and moved on.02/22/2012 - 1:55pm
Andrew EisenLocalizing for Europe is actually harder. Or at least, more work because typically, you do more languages. I don't think its a matter of difficulty but that Nintendo, for whatever reason, has no faith in NA gamers to actually buy these games.02/22/2012 - 1:54pm
Andrew EisenFatal Frame's localization was also announced! For Europe...02/22/2012 - 1:52pm
RedMageDefinitely the latter. I'd still like to know why Europe is apparently easier to localize RPGs for.02/22/2012 - 1:51pm
Andrew EisenDo you mean the quality of the localization itself or Nintendo's tone deafness when it comes to catering to the NA market.02/22/2012 - 1:45pm
RedMageThat being said, Nintendo still sucks when it comes to localization.02/22/2012 - 1:42pm
RedMageLast Story confirmed for North America in 2012! FINALLY! http://bit.ly/yDVyEY02/22/2012 - 1:42pm
Andrew EisenSounds like an interesting story. Nothing to do with video games I wouldn't think but we're big on free speech rights here. Darn shame Slashdot's link doesn't work.02/22/2012 - 1:32pm
Uncharted NESThe 'New' Righthaven Offers Discount To Techdirt Readers Who Want 'Spineful' Hosting- http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120221/03205417825/new-righthaven-offers-discount-to-techdirt-readers-who-want-spineful-hosting.shtml02/22/2012 - 1:30pm
Uncharted NESMan Ordered To Apologize To Wife On Facebook- http://slashdot.org/palm/17/12/02/22/1448242_1.shtml02/22/2012 - 1:28pm
Uncharted NESSeriously Zippy? Well Happy 36th. :)02/22/2012 - 1:11pm
james_fudgeBREAKING: Happy Birthday!02/22/2012 - 12:37pm

Be Heard - Contact Your Politician