Age of Conan

Souldrainer, are you really that dense? I have to give these people credit to even spend that much effort with you to get you to understand some common sense and basic logic.

Originally posted by Souldrainer

 

---

Durham, USA – May 26th, 2008
 Funcom is proud to announce that Age of Conan is one of the fastest selling PC games of all time. More than 400.000 gamers have entered Hyboria over the last few days, with almost half coming from the North American market

---

 

 

---

Durham, USA – June 30, 2008
Due to the amazing interest surrounding the game, more than 700.000 gamers have now signed up for an Age of Conan account. In the second month after release it is also clear that Age of Conan has taken the position as the undisputed #2 subscription MMO in the western world.

---

So, what we're seeing here, is that people argue the difference between account signups and players who entered the world. It's more or less the same type of semantics argument people made when Blizzard announced 10 million WOW subs.

 

Let me say this about it, there are some interpretations you can make, but they are showing 700K subs as of June 30th.  The spin of "lost subs being added in" does not fly, because it has been 5+ weeks since the game launched.  That means, they can't be counting free month subs which occurred prior to May 30th.

So, on May 26th they had 400K people in the world, and if a bunch of people cancelled like you say they did, those subs would be locked out prior to June 26th and not counted as subs.  These are either active subs or even more people that bought the game, because the only way to have an activated account as of June 30th is to either renew your sub or buy the game after May 30th.

People argue that they are a Euro company and can make upnumbers if they want.  For one, I think even Europe has laws.  Call me crazy.  For another thing, the press releases are gron their Durham branch.  Once again, I am bringing up that they have a USA branch that must abide by USA laws or lose its business in the USA.

Basically, they can either report active subs, or they can lose their American business.  Considering  that 500K opf their 1 million copies shipped to the USA, I doubt that they are dumb enough to take that risk by frauding their press releases.

People argued in a similar way when Blizzard reported 10 million subs, and Blizzard responded later by saying that if they had reported inactive subs, they'd have gotten into serious trouble. They had to specically put the words "active subs" into their later references, which is absurd when you think about it. Companies cannot report money they are not making as profit, period.

Naysayers, drone on.  The dead horse still has some molecules left somewhere in powder form.

Are you being obtuse on purpose or is this a serious post?
 

700,000 games have signed up for an Age of Conan account does not mean 700,000 active accounts!  If WoW made that type of statement now it would read something like 50 Million gamers have signed up for a WoW account or some ghastly high number.  700K is every single account that has been started and completely ignores the fact that some have cancelled.  I don't see how that can be any clearer.  As of June 30th they had 700K minus every single player who had quit before June 30th in active accounts.

If you honestly are reading that and it reads they had 700K active subs on June 30th then we might as well stop this thread of discussion because you aren't comprehending what you read.

Originally posted by kaishi00

Souldrainer, are you really that dense? I have to give these people credit to even spend that much effort with you to get you to understand some common sense and basic logic.

+1

Rating 0/10

I just proved them wrong, in very plain terms, and the fact that you did not read or understand my post discredits you.

---

Originally posted by Ender4

---

Originally posted by Souldrainer
 
 
 

---

Durham, USA – May 26th, 2008
 Funcom is proud to announce that Age of Conan is one of the fastest selling PC games of all time. More than 400.000 gamers have entered Hyboria over the last few days, with almost half coming from the North American market
 
 
 
Durham, USA – June 30, 2008
Due to the amazing interest surrounding the game, more than 700.000 gamers have now signed up for an Age of Conan account. In the second month after release it is also clear that Age of Conan has taken the position as the undisputed #2 subscription MMO in the western world.

---

So, what we're seeing here, is that people argue the difference between account signups and players who entered the world. It's more or less the same type of semantics argument people made when Blizzard announced 10 million WOW subs.
 
Let me say this about it, there are some interpretations you can make, but they are showing 700K subs as of June 30th.  The spin of "lost subs being added in" does not fly, because it has been 5+ weeks since the game launched.  That means, they can't be counting free month subs which occurred prior to May 30th.
So, on May 26th they had 400K people in the world, and if a bunch of people cancelled like you say they did, those subs would be locked out prior to June 26th and not counted as subs.  These are either active subs or even more people that bought the game, because the only way to have an activated account as of June 30th is to either renew your sub or buy the game after May 30th.
People argue that they are a Euro company and can make upnumbers if they want.  For one, I think even Europe has laws.  Call me crazy.  For another thing, the press releases are gron their Durham branch.  Once again, I am bringing up that they have a USA branch that must abide by USA laws or lose its business in the USA.
Basically, they can either report active subs, or they can lose their American business.  Considering  that 500K opf their 1 million copies shipped to the USA, I doubt that they are dumb enough to take that risk by frauding their press releases.
People argued in a similar way when Blizzard reported 10 million subs, and Blizzard responded later by saying that if they had reported inactive subs, they'd have gotten into serious trouble. They had to specically put the words "active subs" into their later references, which is absurd when you think about it. Companies cannot report money they are not making as profit, period.
Naysayers, drone on.  The dead horse still has some molecules left somewhere in powder form.

---

Are you being obtuse on purpose or is this a serious post?
 
700,000 games have signed up for an Age of Conan account does not mean 700,000 active accounts!  If WoW made that type of statement now it would read something like 50 Million gamers have signed up for a WoW account or some ghastly high number.  700K is every single account that has been started and completely ignores the fact that some have cancelled.  I don't see how that can be any clearer.  As of June 30th they had 700K minus every single player who had quit before June 30th in active accounts.
If you honestly are reading that and it reads they had 700K active subs on June 30th then we might as well stop this thread of discussion because you aren't comprehending what you read.

---

When WOW made their statement, the wording was VERY similar to FC's press release.  Let me dig it up for you.
 
 
 

---

IRVINE, Calif. -- January 22, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft^®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide.

---

"subscribership for World of Warcraft"

my god. you even quoted it yourself, jesus christ.

Originally posted by kaishi00

"subscribership for World of Warcraft"

my god. you even quoted it yourself, jesus christ.

DOES NOT SAY ACTIVE subscribership.

According to Xfire, Guild Wars, a 3 yeas old game is played more than conan.

Originally posted by Souldrainer

 

When WOW made their statement, the wording was VERY similar to FC's press release.  Let me dig it up for you.
 
 
 
[quoteIRVINE, Calif. -- January 22, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft^®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide.[/quote]
http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/080122.html

 

Nowhere in Blizzard's statement does it say active subs.

World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.
 

They defined what they meant by a subscriber right in the press release.  They also called them subscribers.  Just carefully read the way the funcom one is worded.

More than 700,000 gamers have now signed up for an age of conan account. 

Stop and analyze it for a second and tell me what about that sentence makes you think that it is 700k active accounts and that it doesn't include cancelled ones.  If they had 700k active accounts it would be worded like there are now 700k players subscribed to AOC.  The purpose of wording it the way they did is to get people who don't read it closely to think the game is doing better than it is.  Same exactly marketing ploy they used by giving out copies shipped instead of copies sold.

To put it another way, my friend who pre-ordered the game, decided not to keep playing after EA and returned the game signed up for an account.  He never subscribed to the game. I cancelled my account,  I am no longer subscribed to the game, but I did sign up for an account.  Notice the difference?

It isn't worth arguing anymore if you don't see it at this point but they do not have 700k subscribers and there is ample evidence that the player base is shrinking and not growing.  That doesn't mean the game is doomed or anything, in fact it is normal for most new mmorpgs.