Investment of $1 billion+ wouldn't dethrone WoW, exec says

by Chris Chester Feb 28th 2008 at 1:30PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Business models, MMO industry

We all know that World of Warcraft is the big daddy on the MMO block. Hell, with the amount of money Blizzard is raking in, World of Warcraft is the big daddy on the gaming block. And what's more, it's still growing. According a report, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stated in an investor meeting that his company had done extensive research on the MMO category, and came to the conclusion that even a game bolstered by an initial investment of $500 million to $1 billion would still probably have a hell of a time competing in the same space as the Blizzard juggernaut. This likely came as part of their research prior to the massive merger with Vivendi Universal late last year.

Kotick points to the relative failures of big companies like Microsoft in trying to develop a competitive product as proof in the pudding. Even companies with decades-long track records of extracting money from lose-lose situations don't stand to gain much from trying to directly compete in the same space. For his part, Kotick believes it's the ingenuity of the guys at Blizzard that is really the deciding factor. Since no amount of money is liable to recreate the success of Blizzard, they simply found the prospect of buying them out more amenable. If you're wondering why it seems like so many MMO development houses are scaling down their products to make them more niche oriented, this is why. Throwing money, even a billion dollars, into a competition with World of Warcraft is only likely to end in tears.

Tags: $1-billion, activision, activision-blizzard, billion, blizzard, bobby-kotick, breaking, investment, profit, vivendi-universal, world-of-warcraft, wow

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Scopique said on 2:27PM 2-28-2008

I fail to see why these stories always revolve around how much money needs to be thrown at a project to make it beat WoW. It shows that these wankers have NO clue as to HOW to even START on the path towards WoW-esque success. It's not about art, or features, or advertising, or technical prowess, which is really all that money will buy.

What it CAN'T buy is being at the right place, at the right time, with the right chemistry. That is what has allowed WoW to be successful. Other games have come along which mimic WoW almost to a 'T' (LotRO being the most obvious), but which have shaken things up A LITTLE, but still haven't reached anywhere near WoW's numbers. More money wouldn't help.

My WoW playing friends and I were ranting back and forth, and they basically all said the same thing: why, after so many years of investment, should they switch to a new game where they have to learn new ropes and deal with new people? They've all forged their intimate understanding of the mechanics of WoW, have met legions of people who are similarly invested in WoW, and are basically comfortable where they are.

Unless a significant chunk of that $1 billion was sent directly to WoW players to get them to switch, this whole notion of throwing money at a project in the hopes that it will help fight WoW's dominance is assanine.

MassivelyFTW said on 2:53PM 2-28-2008

It's been commented before, but it bears repeating.

"Why should I go to a WoW clone, I've played WoW already. Give me something new."

I've been following MMO's since way before WoW came out. I'm very confident that Warhammer Online will make a significant dent in WoW's subscriber, even if it *seems* like WoW 2.0.

Lukas Bradley said on 5:43PM 2-28-2008

The Atari 2600 is the best gaming platform. It sells the most games. It will never be unseated. Who needs more than a single button and a joystick?

This type of thinking is ridiculous. Beyond gloating, what benefit does an insider investor report stating "we're number 1" have?

WoW will have a demise, as all products do. And I bet it won't take US$500M to do so.

smg77 said on 6:13PM 2-28-2008

I'm glad that developers are scaling down and focusing on niche markets! I played WoW and enjoyed it for what it was but all of the big games coming out are just WoW clones. I'd love to play smaller games where the developers are able to take risks because they aren't chasing WoW sub numbers.

Brian! said on 1:18PM 2-29-2008

I agree! Stop with the WoW clones. Or rather, the EQ clones, because WoW is really just an evolved EQ.

Anyone thinking that WoW can't be easily dethroned is fooling themselves. Remember when Yahoo was the top search engine? Where did that darn Google come from?! Can you remember that even Yahoo was not #1?

Or social networking. Frendster anyone? Or did you forget them when we all moved to Tribe or then when we moved to MySpace or now that we are flocking to Facebook. Who will get our attention next?

The simple fact is, when someone builds a MMO that is really fun to play, feels unique, and offers something different to WoW, but with a polished somewhat familiar feel, then the flood of change will happen.

I honestly remember when people would talk about no one being able to dethrone EQ with their massive 300k subscribers.