OPINION
INSIGHT I
vowed never to touch World of Warcraft – or any other MMO – again after quitting to focus on my
final year at university back in 2006. So I deleted my level 60
character, closed my account and threw away the game discs to prevent myself from being tempted back into the sprawling online world. But last month I broke those
vows and today I am happily running around in-game again with a new level 90 character, paying £8.99 per month to do so. So what made me return? Well – Blizzard’s strategy to claw
back previous long-term subscribers has worked with me. It’s offering anyone who pre-purchases the upcoming £34.99 Warlords of Draenor expansion – out later this year – an instant upgrade to level 90 (equivalent to £40 or a few months of game time levelling up). While this is of course available digitally, Blizzard interestingly
OPINION AND ANALYSIS FROM THE BRIGHEST MINDS IN GAMES. THIS WEEK, PCR EDITOR DOMINIC SACCO EXPLORES HOW BLIZZARD IS KEEPING WORLD OF WARCRAFT PLAYERS HOOKED
ANALYSIS HOW BLIZZARD IS PULLING PLAYERS BACK INTO ITS WORLD
The developer is tempting former World of Warcraft subscribers, including PCR editor DOMINIC SACCO, back to its huge PC MMO using a mix of clever marketing and cross-game promotions
Blizzard launched empty boxes into UK retailers in June, to get in the front of shoppers’ minds
and pull them back in. Dominic Sacco, PCR
launched empty boxes into UK retailers in June. The World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Standard Edition doesn’t contain a disc, only a digital download code, but it serves a purpose: to get in the front of shoppers’ minds and pull them back in. Once the shopper buys the box and applies the download code to their online
Battle.net account, all the fresh game content from the expansion will automatically download as soon as it’s released. GAME has already dedicated
entire shelves to the upcoming expansion in its stores. It offers something different to the usual pre-order boxes and could be another way for publishers to charge for full-price games way ahead of their launch window.
It’s not just in-store where
Blizzard has been busy. It also runs clever marketing and cross- game promotions using its own online
Battle.net platform.
LIFE IN THE OLD DOG YET Even during my time away from World of Warcraft, I still followed the game. I watched it reach a peak of over 12m subscribers in 2010, then lose a million or so each year down to its current total of 7.6m. I’ve also seen other MMOs come
and go in that time. Plenty have implemented a similar gameplay and payment structure to World of Warcraft’s, including Star Wars: The Old Republic, Rift, The Elder Scrolls Online and, most recently, Wildstar. While they present tough competition, if anything they have actually helped improve it. Blizzard has taken ideas from these games, like free-to-play for lower level players and in-game microtransactions, and has applied them to its own title. Today, World of Warcraft is
The WoW expansion Warlords of Draenor is designed to win back lapsed fans
still number one – it’s the highest grossing game of all time with more than $10bn in revenue. Considering it’s almost ten years old, that’s a phenomenal achievement. And Blizzard’s latest activities will ensure it stays at the top for years to come.
www.mcvuk.com
15
July 11th 2014
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40