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Shiftfallout

last recorded count was on July of 2007 with 9 million active subscribers.

That means $135 MILLION dollars profit every month. That would be $1.6 billion dollars a year.

Consistent.

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gloomba38

That's also not including the one-time payment of buying the actual game (and expansion pack for most) and other fees like character transfer and the newer name change feature. (which is like $10 or something)

Not a whole lot, but if you figure 9 million people had to buy it for $50 when it first came out and around $20 or so now, that's still quite a chunk.

Shiftfallout

exactly, and the total number of game sales is exceptionally higher than the actual subscriber count.

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fattymac21

I lol'd, though I don't know what I'm really lol'ing at.

'Do not make it compare to WoW this running game' throw me off way.

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refraxion

Thereby making WoW quite a successful game, heh.

I'm guessing what he means is that don't compare WoW to such an old game as FFXI.

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Shiftfallout

Very, it has caused more and more investors and publishers to push for MMORPGs. In fact the number of MMORPGs on the horizon and the budgets associated with them are astounding. This is largely thanks to WoW's success.

The budget and opportunity to make more MMORPGs goes up as the potential profit goes up, WoW showed just how profitable that can be.


FFXI showed that MMORPGs can be accessible on consoles as well, but it didnt really catch on. At the Game Developers conferences its always brought up how to really catch gamers onto multiplatform mmorpgs and how best to develop them. The next wave of MMORPGs will be tinkering with console play (AoC) as well as full console MMO's like (the agency). To FFXI's credit though, it was the first big console mmorpg title along side Phantasy Star Online.

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refraxion

Agreed, WoW could be considered a big reason North America is so interested in MMORPG's in the first place, albeit Ultima Online / Everquest were quite big for their time, but when WoW was released it turned MMORPG's into mainstream gaming.

Everquest was successful in what it did, but it also took years for it to garner up a million subscribers. When WoW hit the shelves, already a few million copies sold, trumping the years it took Everquest to reach the million player status.

WoW really did pave the road and encourages more upcoming MMORPGs to try and overcome the beast, but that's good, because we want progression in mmorpg development, not stagnation.

Phantasy Star Online had it good for a pretty good while, and I think they were also multi platform were they not? I believe PC was able to communicate with Dreamcast players back then, though I could be wrong.

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gloomba38

So we can partially thank WoW for a lot of the MMO's coming out lately, even if we don't like the game itself, per say.

And looking through the list of 360 titles on Wiki, there is quite a few MMO's coming out. I find them kind of odd on consoles, but if it works, more power to 'em.

Which, btw, I was kinda wondering about the pricing for FFXI for 360... is it still the 15 or so a month like it's PC counterpart? Probably a stupid question, but it's worth a shot to ask.

refraxion

The subscription fee is $12.95/month, but you do not need a gold membership to play, you can play with a silver membership of XBL

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gloomba38

Ah, already got gold, I was hoping that would reduce it or something... but of course, that would be too good to be true.

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