January 22, 2008 - Subscriptions to the World of Warcraft persistent online role-playing game have surpassed the 10 million subscriber mark worldwide, according to Blizzard Entertainment.
The game, now more than three years old, has become the most popular massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, taking the top sales spot among PC games around the world in 2005 and 2006. WoW was only outsold in 2007 by its expansion pack – World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. A second WoW expansion, World of Warcraft: The Rise of the Lich King, is in development.
"It's very gratifying to see gamers around the world continuing to show such enthusiasm and support for World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're always pleased to welcome new players to the game, and we're looking forward to sharing the next major content update with the entire community in the months ahead."
The company counts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and about 5.5 million in Asia. Blizzard said it includes as subscribers not only active, long-term members but also prepaid subscription cardholders and players who recently bought the game and are within their first free month of service.
According to figures release by the NPD Group today, World of Warcraft and two related expansions – Burning Crusade and Battle Chest – held three of the top five sales slots among U.S. PC game sales last week.
All three titles were topped by Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which sold more than twice as many copies last week than the World of Warcraft standalone game.
EA announced today that it will be releasing a free online version of its Battlefield franchise, driven by advertisements and micro-transactions called Battlefield Heroes.
The main difference between Battlefield Heroes and FIFA Online is that there is no limit to the potential for in-game advertisements in the former. Ads in the football game are limited to only those companies who already are FIFA sponsors. The ads, fortunately, will appear in the front-end and not interfere with the aesthetics of the game.
Speaking of aesthetics, the graphics of the game has been reported to be simplified into a much cartoonier style, and gameplay is supposed to pare down the skill and strategy aspects.EA has said that even though Battlefield Heroes will be popular among casual gamers, the game will still be appealing to core Battlefield gamers with its deep character development. The game is scheduled for free PC download in Summer 2008.
Two years ago, EA released a free version of its FIFA football franchise in South Korea, intended to be made profitable strictly by in-game purchases by users. Today, the game boasts over five million users who generate roughly one million dollars of income for the company per month. While users who spend $15-$20 a month on unlocking gear and buying stat upgrades in the game are in the minority, Gerhard Florin, EA's executive Vice President for publishing says the minority is "sizable Comment (10)
Super Smash Bros Brawl Perfect
Written by Li Cha
Thursday, 17 January 2008
SSBB is the 7th game in history to get a perfect score from the japanese magizine F-http://www.thetanooki.com/2008/01/16/super-smash-bros-brawl-is-perfect/
That is crazy! The game will sell billions confirmed. Comment (49)
