only 500k subscribers?

[StrejdaTom]

It's not a dick waving contest like consoles... it's general worry of the health of an MMO. Maybe for some they don't give a shit cause they only play during patch releases, but sub numbers directly tie to if a MMO will survive the long term. Those that want to play a single MMO for years on out hope for large numbers and steady or climb subscriptions, so that the game doesn't die in it's first or second year (and as a person burned by many MMOs that did just that, I definitely look at sub rates).

I think it burst a few people's bubbles when SE was touting 2.5 million registered users and they assumed active subs, then all of a sudden it's shown the number was in fact 500K.

Well WoW has to be sitting on atleast 60M registered users. It is not a misinformation to use that number, it's problem of people if they can't understand what that number means. OFC that it is always much much lower than the subscribers count.

[Magis]

Well WoW has to be sitting on atleast 60M registered users. It is not a misinformation to use that number, it's problem of people if they can't understand what that number means. OFC that it is always much much lower than the subscribers count.

At the same time, Blizzard publishes (or did, dunno now) their subscription rates split across the different region zones (US West, US East, China, EU IIRC). SE hadn't until now so it was basically guesswork until a solid number came out. I dunno if "misinformation" is the right word, but it is using an inflated stat to make the game seem like it's doing better than it is, with the real meat and potatoes being hidden (until now). They weren't lying, they were just using different info to woo consumers in. Many people had an overinflated idea of what the sub rates were from the arguments I got into with people on the forums saying just that .

I'd like to know if SE will split their China and other regions next time sub rates are published. Because of China's subscription system (you pay money whenever you want to play, their is no "sub"), they could again inflate their numbers. At least with it split you can see the overall picture.

[ShiloEET]

Well WoW has to be sitting on atleast 60M registered users. It is not a misinformation to use that number, it's problem of people if they can't understand what that number means. OFC that it is always much much lower than the subscribers count.

As far as i'm aware that number is actually 100 million.

[myahele]

Does it matter what the numbers are? So long as there's enough to sustain the game I don't see whats wrong.

ESO/Wildstar might've have more players, but did that end up covering the production cost/advertisemnt/ etc of the game? Did they atleast break even or make a profit?