Massively

Lol, wait, what? Dead model? 11+ Million people for ONE subscription model game and millions more spread out across others is "dead"?

WoW DOES NOT have 11 million subscribers. Over half that is outside America and Europe, which is not subscription based. So we're left over with, say, 5 million subscribers. Of that, WoW has declining numbers.

Now let's add in that WoW hasn't been available in China for almost a month now, and suddenly their 11 million is reduced to six or seven.

Sorry Keen, but it stands, subscription is as dead a business model in gaming as CD sales is for music. Times are a changing, and you need to keep up with trends. Although you are well known for being wrong and out of touch.

Lol yea you're completely right, WoW doesn't have 10 million SUBSCRIBERS or anything, yea...subscription is dead, right.

Don't worry it's just that subscription plans are for us grown-ups. Rmt is for the people who are not intelligent enough to know that they end up paying more money for items than they would just paying a standard subscription plan.

You pay $30 for a mount and later spend $5 bucks for some potion. $10 for housing plan. A month later you pay $15 for some housing. And little did you realize you just spent the amount I would for 4 months worth of gaming. With the exception that I would have access to all in game items and features where you would have to continually buy them. But to each their own, right?!

You couldn't be more wrong. What are the biggest titles in Korea? AION, World of Warcraft, Lineage, Lineage 2 they are all subscription model games. How dead is the model just dominate the huge Korean market? And Korean is the birth place of free-to-play item mall model. Heheh.

Wow Scythe, I'm the last one to agree with Keen but you have your head up your ass. The subscription model is solid, and WoW's numbers are increasing.

Mark this post, come back in two or three years, and eat crow. Enjoy.

Guess MMO players are unaware of the gaming world outside of MMO's and how small WoW numbers are compared to other gaming. There are so many more who would play MMO's yet don't because they want to play more than one game, and dedicating yourself to one game (or two) is all subscriptions allow.

RMT allows you to play many games, like most gamers like to do. You don't have to decide, oh, I want to come back to the game for this month.

Fact is, not only I feel this way, but many in the games industry and many in the economic world. The writing is on the wall. You just have to do the looking. Perhaps some looking around is needed, and those numbers for subscription games pale in comparison to the numbers for non-subscription games (not just MMO's).

@Gamestuffed: If I paid $60 over two months in a F2P title, I'm still ahead over the sub-paying player because they had to put down $50 - at least - for the box or digital download of a new MMO, then another $15 for the second month's sub.

For older MMOs, where they might charge less for the initial box, this changes the figures somewhat. But then in a F2P I might go six months without buying something and still have access to the title, whereas the sub player still has to pay to keep access to their account.

Both models have strengths and weaknesses, but let's be sensible in comparing them. Especially if you are going to criticise people's ability to do financial math.

@ScytheNoire:

I can see your points about box sales being a possible way to go. Guild Wars certainly did pretty good that way. - It just seems to me that free-to-play games are always a lot simpler than subscription games.

Also - I think you have a few misunderstandings about WoW.
There are indeed 11 mio active accounts, and not necessarily subscriptions, as some of those accounts are held active through pre-paid game cards, but I do not understand your claim about non-US accounts specifically being non-subscriptions, as you can get the pre-paid game cards in the US as well... And I hesitate to call a pre-paid game card funded account a "non-subscription account".

I'm in the EU and both my acccounts are subscriptions.
We have exactly the same options you do.
Where did you get the idea that we didn't?
What exactly did you imagine that we did in order to play the game?
The subscription model is open to all WoW players, regardless of their region.

I lump North America, Europe and Australia together, as they often have similar business models. Asian countries are another matter, as things don't work the same as they do here, their business model is different.

You will never see Blizzard claim subscriber numbers, but instead they'll use words like accounts or players. Similar thing with Free Realms and the way they worded their press releases, using accounts created, rather than active accounts.

Always look closely at those press releases, because the words are chosen carefully for a reason, because our perception of things is not reality.

Very well said. The economy is still in recession and there are lots of games coming out soon bound for Free to Play model. There is nothing wrong with the model. That only depends on whose playing the game. It's like buying a car or any product in the market. Others want to have signature stuff, whereas you can also buy for a cheaper product that also serve its use.

In mmo we have different kinds of MMO but it just the same as any out there. Theres always a community, boss, PvP, PvE, etc. it all depends if you like the game you are playing.