WoW: Blizzard's Celestial Cash Cow
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83423
*Update* Wowhead article ->
"So I was speaking with Draknorr, who has been doing some math about the release of the Celestial Steed mount pictured to the right.His friend entered the queue for a mount, and at the time the queue was at almost exactly 100k, and the stock ticked from 91% to 90% as he watched. When it ticked down to 89%, there were 46k in the queue. That's around 54,000 mounts for every 1% of the total stock—or, I would guess, about 5 million total mounts.So this means that every 1% of the stock, they've sold 50k mounts at $25 a piece. That's $1,250,000. At the time of this writing the queue was at 88%—making that $15,000,000 so far—and that's just in the United States. Holy cow."
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I really don't know what to say. Blizzard is brilliant [their 3d modellers probably spent like 1 day to create this celestial horse - basically they gonna make tons of money with almost zero "work"], however I don't understand that how can a person pay $25 for something like this. Incredible.
I hate WoW with a passion, but Blizzard could not of done a better job at mind-fucking people out of their money.
I dont like WoW or Diablo 2, not looking forward to 3 and I'm on the ropes about Starcraft, but you can never say Blizzard's games aren't quality, like em or not.
Flogging a dead celestial horse, you might say.
Heh..indeed. It's all started with a little game called Warcraft, and look at Blizzard now. Whatever they touch turns to gold. Amazing.
Blizzard has created lemmings. "here is a new cliff for you to jump over and fall into a new ocean of wasted time and money; buy your ticket and queue up!"
Lemmings: "Yes, master!"
They remind me of Oprah people, like brainless zombies are these players who play WOW.
It may be time to take a step back and re-evaluate your priorities in life when spending $25 on a virtual pony seems like a good use of money to you.
Coming soon to WoW: $25 for a Celestial Stable for your $25 mount.
...and you know people would buy it.
Alright I have to weigh in here and yeah I am probably opening myself up to so much fire but.
I just don't get the Bliz and WoW hate. WoW is a good game, played it for 5 Years. Loved the graphics personally. Loved my toons 80 War and Mage, 75 Shaman and Rouge when I finally quit. It is hands down probably the best MMO on the market. But it is too fashionable to hate the bigest now-a-days.
Like someone said earlier, Love them or Hate them they produce quality. Just like Stardocks methodology of we will release when we think it is done right (Which everyone here has praised rightly so) their games take awhile but they come out polished.
So what if the company itself understands what people want. Everyone wants to feel like they have something special no one else has and Bliz gives it to them. I blame the consumer here for supporting the model. And the fact that it has been around and can sell a silly digital horse for 25 a pop and sucseed at it (Cripes that is scary though) doesn't make the company bad. It makes the company great.
What's the issue? If you're spending hours each day playing on WoW, then $25 for something that will enhance your experience may well be decent value. I personally wouldn't pay it (unless I had huge amounts of money to spend) but I can see why others might.
I don't get all the WoW hate though. It's a great game - just because you might not like that sort of a game doesn't mean you should hate the game. There are plenty of worthier candidates for hate such as the various DRM schemes used for games now, like C&C4, than bashing a game enjoyed by millions of people.
...
I liked WoW. And i do still, somewhat. I shall see whether i'll be back when Cata comes.
But this? Dunno what to say... paying 25$ for a virtual mount that is not even cool?
/facepalm
I would never buy that... I might buy some small DLC, i've done it, as long as the price's very low. But this... no just no.
The bottom line is this - Blizzard has made such a good game that hundreds of thousands of people are very comfortable spending money on things to enjoy themselves within thier world.
If you think $25 is a big deal for some fun then you probably don't have much fun...
More importantly, why do you feel the need to insult all the people who bought this? Whats your big problem with how people enjoy themselves?
If you would never buy this - THATS GREAT!
If you would buy this - THATS GREAT!
If you need to insult people because they don't think the same as you... restructure your priorites in life?
I think WoW is cool.
Blizzard is gay
Nobody has been sued yet for bypassing an EA game's DRM scheme, have they? yet that's roughly what happened in MDY vs Blizzard. And I'd argue that if you're spending hours each day playing on WoW, there's already something wrong with you *before* you buy the glowing pony.
As for this story... as they say, a fool and its money are soon parted. Don't like being called a fool? don't freaking act like one.
Don't play MoM's...but...I can't really see the difference between buying this and buying a game. In fact, what about 25 bux worth of beer? That'll be gone forever in a few days and take your memory with it. Shit, I've spent 25 shouting a bud to the movies and that lasted 2 hrs...
I say good luck to them. The only improvement I could think of would be peddle powered energy generator under their desk, but we could probably all do with that. Maybe something lashed up to the mouse arm...hmm...
A fool wouldn't care
I haven't heard of anyone making millions of dollars by bypassing EA's DRM, either - nor does bypassing their DRM significantly affect the gameplay of non-pirates. Both of those were true in the MDY case.
Perhaps you should follow your own advice? If people think 25 dollars is too much money for a mount, who are you to tell them they are wrong and don't have fun?
I don't play WoW but I have played MMO's, I wouldn't give turbine 20 bucks for a mounnt either, and I wouldn't do it for Blizzard if I were playing. Also, 25 for a mount would be rather steep even for a F2P which WoW certainly is not.
If someone thinks an amount is too much for some item or service then they wont buy it. Those that think its worth it - will. Where is the problem? The comment about fun was - clearly - a joke referencing the high cost of entertainement for some people (as simple as a night out).
You can have fun with no money if you want I don't mind. I do mind when people tell those other people that they are 'fools' because they spend their money how they want to. Very simple.
Personally I've spent far more on several entire games that are less fun than a WoW mount.
That actually made me "WOW"
This...just disgusts me.... People want more FREE content - they are already paying a massive monthly fee.... instead they start charging for individual items now. Their idea of an expansion should be what is given away every few months - and a paid expansion should include a lot more than it does. I was still considering buying Starcraft 2 (aka Starcraft 1 with slightly different units and improved graphics) but now i'm afraid they are going to charge for extra levels, or game modes, or units.....
Oh yes "clearly" haha. I call BS. You wanted to make a point, but you killed your point by doing the same thing you criticized yourself. As for where the problem is. If people want to express their dissatisfaction over the pricing structure of a game that already requires them a monthly fee to play, where's the problem? If they insult people while doing so, well that is their issue and not one you should jump on board with just because you might claim it to be a joke later when you are called on it.
I've never played World of Warcraft. Is "celestial mount" some kind of expansion?
Oh, I see, it's some kind of horse.
The question for me is not where I can buy the mount, but how quickly can I sell all that stock my employers gave me and pick up some blizzard stock. They've discovered some kind of infinite cash machine.
Hey, to buy or not is the PLAYER's decision. They aren't forcing you to buy it. So like. WHO CARES, It's not something that makes the person who buys it superior to the ones who don't.
If it's expensive. DON'T BUY IT THEN.
Also, the paying for additional features after you bought the game, why would that be a problem? You agreed to buy the game for a price that has already been set, so you should already be satisfied with what you got from the price you payed.
Well I got it.
If beer is wrong, I don't want to be right. <- like that
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