If WoW went F2P...

[Hisshiss]

I mean really blizzard you've been getting upward of $15,000,000 a MONTH for 5 years, you could buy a small country with all that cash.[/quote]

I also want to point out another financial tidbit, looks at Starcraft 2, remember how well it sold, well multiply that by 3 for the zerg and protoss expansions/games, than add diablo 3 profits to that, they are going to be set for a loooooong time.

They're a business, not a family. They're not going to start putting things out for free because they're making "too much" profit. They're certainly not going to be making less profit just because they could.

I mean they have Activision on their side now,

This means nothing that is ever thought about being created by Blizzard will ever be free. Have you seen what anything Activision has been doing in the past 3 years?

Seconded.

 

[Talshere]

Now I played WoW for a while (About 2 years) I always check in when a new installment launches but the one thing I absolutely hate about it is the monthly fee, I know (But it's only $15), compare that to say Xbox Live which I try to keep active which is only $20, FOR THREE MONTHS! Now if blizzard were to make WoW a F2P game like LOTRO I might be tempted to you know, play it long term. Not only that but if I heard correctly in the MMO Report (great show BTW, it's on g4tv.com) earlier this year, their membership has pretty much plateaued, they don't have as many members signing up anymore. Would you like it if WoW went F2P, I mean really blizzard you've been getting upward of $15,000,000 a MONTH for 5 years, you could buy a small country with all that cash.

But that money is then spent maintaining servers, paying employees, paying for advertisement, (insert business need here), and etc. And why make it free? It's a huge cash cow.

In truth though they still rake in a billion a year in profit just from wow. On the other hand I suppose this cash is the reason we now enjoy SC2, and will enjoy Diablo 3. Swings and roundabouts. I think that asking people to play with the game in its current state is to much. I know a LOT of people who have quit over it, including myself, being on of the last to go. PvE content is faceroll to the point we sell epics to the highest bidder, PvP is so retardldly FotM that we have people with glad rating who previously have never been able to break 2k, never mind the 2.7k required for glad. Its too much. If they dont fix it WoW might start on the downward trend for the first time ever.

 

[Snarky Username]

Ok, maybe you guys don't know what I mean by F2P, you're all treating this as though you will never pay money again, they will still be making a profit, it'll just be a bit more selective and frankly, economic for those who enjoy the game but hate having to pay a monthly fee

Honestly, why should they? Do you realize how many subscribers they would lose if they made it free to play? What's the point of giving something for nothing? If people wouldn't buy the game after the 10-day trial, chances are they wouldn't buy it after a 1 month trial either...

Blizzard would be losing money hugely if they made it free to play. LotRO and DDO are both pretty unknown to the public, that's why they can go free to play for publicity's sake. But with WoW, you know what you're going to get out of it anyways.

 

[Kagim]

1) Regardless of the scales between money made and money spent on every single expense they have (Hint its more then just servers) they are a business. They exist to make money. If WoW is making money as they are right now why go FTP just to make people who are unwilling to pay happy? Blizzard is a business. So is every other video game company out there. There is nothing wrong with them making money.

More to the point a FTP marketplace would drive me along with others away. Very far away.

2)As others have said WoW isn't free because it is GOOD at what it does. I have played dozens of games people rave are millions of times better then WoW and end up getting bored and going back to WoW. Ultimately the only plus any FTP game has offered is that its FTP. Nothing else. They severely lack polish and it shows horribly.

3) Comparing WoW to xbox live is weak ground. WoW cost shit tons more to operate then Live. If the live servers cost as much as the WoW servers you better believe they would be charging much much more.

4) Ultimately there is no reason to go ftp. Those of us who enjoy the game don't mind tossing 15 bucks a month into the fire. There is just as many other ways i am going to set fire to fifteen bucks this month. WoW might as well be one of them.

5) Your major point is "They have tons of money so why bother making more?"

To you I respond, "Because the point of a business is to make money. Not a make a lot then give your product away for free because they have enough".

No business should be expected to stop charging just because they made/make a fat ton of money. That would be like my dad suddenly giving groceries away for free because he won the lottery.