Just in from Blizzard Entertainment

[LordOfLA]

I've just received the following email. One wonders what Blizzard USA is up to to necessitate this change?

Greetings,

We have a short but important announcement that we wanted to share with our players. World of Warcraft is currently an operation of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (USA), but starting April 14, 2009, the game operator will be Blizzard Entertainment's central European entity, Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S. (France), and will be referred to as such in the game's Terms of Use going forward. Our European office has been an essential part of our global operations since before the launch of World of Warcraft, and this update better reflects its role within our organization, as well as our continued commitment to our European players.

This is an administrative change -- your World of Warcraft game experience will not be impacted. If for any reason you do not agree to this change you may terminate your account with effect from March 31, 2009 by accessing the cancellation feature in the account management page at https://www.wow-europe.com/account/. Note that your continued use of the World of Warcraft service indicates that you agree to the change.

We're looking forward to continuing to enhance your World of Warcraft gaming experience in the year ahead, and as always, we wish you happy continued adventures in Azeroth!

The World of Warcraft Team
.

 

[LeeJend]

Bankruptcy?

Off shoring? French IT works cheaper.

 

[ElementalDragon]

HAH! Bankruptcy. that's a laugh.

several million people paying roughly what.... $17-20/mo? so in one month they're basically rolling in well over $10,000,000 in subscription fee's. Yeah.... i don't see Bankruptcy being the reason. Maybe it's your second explanation.... cheaper work... = more money for their own greedy a**es.

 

[Dark Atheist]

tax - less of it maybe

 

[Xie]

Could also be that 90+% of WoW players aren't from the US?

 

[electrickpirate]

90%?? that means if blizz has roughly 12 million players, then only 1.2 million are in the US. I think a 10% US pop. is way off.

Surprisingly, not easy info to find, but i did find this when Blizz had 10 mil.

"The game now has 10 million paying subscribers worldwide. This includes 5.5 million players in Asia, 2.5 million in the US and 2 million in Europe. The membership amount is around $15 per month for one member."
http://techcrunchies.com/how-many-play-world-of-warcraft/

That puts it at about a 25% Us pop, 20% Europe and 55% Asia.
I'm gunna guess it has something to do with tax/financial situation and nothing to do with the location of its player base.

 

[ElementalDragon]

Or maybe cause Europe and such has higher internet bandwidth possibilities? Planning ahead for more future subscribers and trying to minimize the possibility of lag?

 

[LordOfLA]

Well BT keep promising 50mbit FTTC broadband by 2012 here in the UK. It'll be copper from the street cabinet to the house but fibre the rest of the way.

Much like the cable broadband networks here.

 

[Steevo]

French: We strike for anything.


Just wait untill the strike starts, and the hardlines get unplugged by a disgruntled guy with a strange odor and bad accent.

 

[vern]

I don't know why this is at all surprising when Blizzard's parent company before was Vivendi before Vivendi themselves changed their name to Activison Blizzard since Blizzard was a brand more well known to western players.

 

[ElementalDragon]

Uuhh...... Vivendi didn't change it's name out of nowhere. According to the Wiki, Vivendi changed their name to Activision Blizzard after Vivendi and Activision merged, so they could rival Electronic Arts. Vivendi is still the majority stockholder.

 

[vern]

Uuhh...... Vivendi didn't change it's name out of nowhere. According to the Wiki, Vivendi changed their name to Activision Blizzard after Vivendi and Activision merged, so they could rival Electronic Arts. Vivendi is still the majority stockholder.

Who said Vivendi changed their name out of nowhere?