14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard is definitely quite a happy company these days. It has launched the second expansion to one of the biggest and most profitable online games out there, World of Warcraft, which has over 11 million paying subscribers on a monthly basis. This expansion, dubbed Wrath of the Lich King, has broke all sales records, managing to move over 2.8 million units in the first 24 hours, becoming the most successful PC title in history.
Besides its monster hit, the company, part of the Activision Blizzard corporation, also has under development new titles in the very popular Starcraft and Diablo franchises, which both have a huge fan following and will guarantee massive sales. With such a heavy lineup of profitable games, Blizzard declared some time ago that it was not worried about the recent financial crisis, which would make users more careful with what they spend their hard earned money on.
Paul Sams, COO of Blizzard, has recently delivered a statement backing up the optimistic forecast made by critics and analysts indicating that the games industry would not be too troubled by the crisis. He went on to say that games are the most reasonably priced form of entertainment, and compared the monthly subscription fee for WoW, which is 8.99 pounds sterling to the money you spend when you go to the cinema, which can take you up to 30 pounds.
“For £8.99 you can play as much as you want over a month, and it's an interactive experience where you meet new friends, and it's transportive. So if the experiences that you're having in your real life are challenging, let's say you're concerned about your job because the economy is challenged at this point, or you're unhappy with something else, you can go be heroic and go do things that are entertaining to you, you can meet new friends, you can see old friends. It can take you away from the difficulties that you may be facing at that moment and allow you to do something where you feel really cool.”
These are very interesting and well founded words. People are looking to videogames in order to help fight the stress in their lives; online based ones are the most popular as you can interact with other real persons. Blizzard is certainly doing great and let's hope other developers won't be affected by the financial crisis.