Some of the news coming out of Blizzcon this year seems quite revealing. At first glance it may not seem like much but most of you should be aware by now that I try t analyze everything and I must admit my spider sense’s are tingling.
Okay before I get to the meat of this post I have to publicly admit that I was wrong about one thing – Panderan. Razor and I had a discussion about this months ago and I swore that Blizzard would NEVER unleash the Pandaren as a playable class in WoW.
Looking back I was a fool. If there were ever two words that should be opposites those are Blizzard and Never.
The NEVER list:
- Character Transfers
- Faction Change
- RMT
- Panderan
But I digress.
This post is not about the Pandren no this post is more about me reading between the lines of this offer. The way I see it, this is a very telling offer. So let’s see what we get if we re-up our WoW account for a year.
- Diablo III FREE – Download the digital version via Battle.net for free when the game launches early next year. This is the full game, not a trial edition.
- Tyrael’s Charger WoW Flying Mount – Ride for the Archangel of Justice on all current and future characters on a single World of Warcraft account. Tyrael’s Charger will arrive via in-game mail with the upcoming launch of patch 4.3.
- Access to the Next WoW Expansion Beta Test – Get a guaranteed spot in the beta test for the next World of Warcraft expansion (at a time to be announced in the future).
Holy smokes how generous. Look at all those goodies!
Hold up a second what is really going on here?
Here is how I read that list. First off we are all aware that WoW is losing some of its luster. But with Blizzards next cash cow (Diablo III) still not ready for prime time, they need those WoW funds to continue funneling in. Since Diablo III is a Blizzard property what better way to ensure it’s player base is up as well? Give away Diablo III as a lure to get people to re-up in WoW(for a year).
To keep the re-subscribers (is that a word) attached to the screen they lure us with the Panderan AND a guaranteed spot in the beta of the expansion! Genius, pure genius.
I have to admit that I am more than a bit intrigued to say the least. Okay so I am a lot intrigued. I haven’t re-subscribed yet but I am getting a bit itchy about it.
Before I do anything I need to plan out my strategy. See, with the overall cost of a year being $180.00 I am not sure the math works for me. Even if Diablo III costs $50.00 I still need to get $130.00 worth of entertainment out of WoW between now and when Diablo III drops.
I hate Blizzard.
One small aside – a year’s subscription won’t cost $180.00, there are discounts for multimonth subscriptions. Off the top of my head I think it’s only $12 or $13 a month on a 12-month subscription. So check that out before you finish planning your strategy.
@ Carson – That is true, I will have t investigate and see if the discounted packages will work for this “deal”.
It looks like the discounted sub packages do work. I just purchased the pass with 6 month recurring subscription at 12.99/month. You can also do 3 month recurring at 13.99/month or monthly at 14.99/month. However, since the annual pass contract specifies that the subscription cannot be cancelled until 12 months are up, 6 month recurring is by far the best deal.
All in all, a very smart move by Blizzard. From what I see, by offering the annual pass they managed to
1. lock in Warcraft players who otherwise might have cancelled their subs to play Diablo III
2. get more players to play Diablo and use its real money AH by making the game free to anybody with a regular WoW sub
3. guarantee that Warcraft+Diablo fans continue paying Blizzard even if they are playing SWTOR and GW2 come next year
4. and finally, get “on and off” WoW vets with an interest in Diablo to re-sub long term
I fall into the last group. Given that I was going to buy Diablo III regardless, $8/month to be able to play Warcraft for a few hours here and there isn’t a bad deal.
LoL Yeah Blizzard sucks. THey make their numbers look good in sub sales and get all of us non player sto subscribe for the beta chance and the diablo 3
[...] the offer is pure genius (also comments on Challenge Dungeons)GTFootf says it all with their title: Blizzard Grasps At SubscribersAs does Professor Beej: On Devaluing Intellectual PropertyTobold does the math and concludes this [...]
I have been going back and forth since I spoke with Kauzmo (thanks Kauz).
On one hand, I LOVE new. New terrain, new characters, new talent build system.
On the other, I’m not a fan of having to break out my calculator to figure out differences in gear. The draw of Pandas (regardless of their actual name) is going to draw in a huge crowd of 8 year olds.
So in the end I guess I’m in the same boat as the rest, trying to figure out just how long the game stays fun for this time and if it is worth a year’s commitment. I sure wish they would release a new game with updated non-cartoon graphics and an overall fresh start. “LF tank w/ at least armor 10″.
-KIK-
I will be passing my time in BF3 and diablo 3 when it launches
I agree, the free Diablo III offer is a way to prop up subscription numbers over the next year as more and more players move on to newer, and more interesting games. This might buy them some time to get the expansion released, as expansions usually will result in an (albeit temporary) uptick in numbers.
Seems to me that Blizzard is aiming squarely for the more casual market here. They probably don’t care if subscription growth comes from the Kung-fu Panda crowd, or from the legions of Pokemon fans. Gotta make those shareholders happy. Like it or not, casuals do make up, in sheer numbers, a huge percentage of online game players.
I think that we may find Titan to be more hardcore. Having two separate games, with the older World of Warcraft for casuals, might make good business sense here. I would assume that game development for the casual player is much cheaper, and easier to do.
Love the blog, Kauz!
@ Mericasha – Thanks Meri! Good to hear from you again.
Well, yay for hearing from Meri, but I’m primarily here to curse out Kauz … as I reload the game onto my computer again. You know, the one I was “never” going to get back into.
CURSE YOU KAUZMO!!!