That's not to say that WoW is in any sort of decline, but rather that the player growth above the 10 million mark has been generated primarily by the return of old players who were bored with previous content. The fact that WoW's player base has broken 12 million not long after the Chinese launch of WotLK suggests that Blizzard's figures are no longer a direct representation of steady growth. In December of that same year, WoW broke 11.5 million players, following the US release of Wrath of The Lich King.
In January 2008, roughly a year after the release of The Burning Crusade expansion, Blizzard announced that the game had broken 10 million players. The timing of this announcement is also interesting, given how long its been since Blizzard last made statements regarding WoW's player base. These changes are typical of the sort made to the Chinese game With a flick of the wand, Sindragosa suddenly looks an awful lot like Azuregos. A Chinese gaming website has done a model-by-model comparison between the Western and Eastern versions of the game it's an interesting look at how a game as global as World of Warcraft has been adapted to meet local standards of acceptability. The depiction of skulls, blood, and a whole lot of what Westerners would consider typical undead scenery / underworld attributes is regulated in the Middle Kingdom. It took Blizzard nearly two full years to negotiate the release of Wrath of the Lich King in China the company was forced to make significant in-game changes to models and artwork. “We are as committed as ever to taking the game to new heights, and we look forward to demonstrating that with Cataclysm in December.”
"The support and enthusiasm that gamers across the world continue to show for World of Warcraft reaffirms our belief that it offers one of the best entertainment values available today,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. This recent growth, according to the company, was caused by the long-delayed August release of Wrath of the Lich King in mainland China. Blizzard announced today that World of Warcraft has finally broken 12 million players worldwide.
0 kommentar(er)
