City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Stop blaming gw2 already!

Aggelakis

By Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2012-09-01 03:18 in CoH and CoV General Discussions

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Father Xmas View Post
Something happened in between Q2 2009 and Q4 2009. If you look at the revenue numbers the game went from at least $5 million per quarter before that to around $2.5 - 3 million after that. Issues 14 (Architect), 15 (Anniversary) and 16 (Power Spectrum) came out during that time period.
Store boxes tend to boost sales for a limited time. In addition, the idea of a game that lets you make your own content can be an extremely cool marketing pitch. Due to this Architect didn't just release as an issue, it also shipped a boxed version.

Architect Edition was the first box set available in stores since GvE's 2006 release. That should boost some interest in the game.

 

Posted

Yes but the numbers were flat leading up to Q2 2009, there wasn't a bump. While it was a box edition, I don't think it sold as well as a true expansion, like CoV or GR.

Here's a chart from the MMO Blog Vicarious Existence. Apologies if it's too large.

Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components

Tempus unum hominem manet

 

Posted

Maybe there was something, else, but that issue and box got a LOT of press. AE was something rather unprecedented for a mainstream MMO.

It ended up being followed by a similar features in EQ2 and Star Trek Online.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
Have you considered finding financial backers to make Zombieland Online?
I just told my husband about this exchange, and he said, "Now THAT would get me to play an MMO."

"Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to let you in."

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Starsman View Post
Maybe there was something, else, but that issue and box got a LOT of press.
The AE box released about 6 months before the revenue drop that Father XMas mentions, but there was a small revenue spike of about $350k USD when AE launched then it went back down about $400k less than the quarter before the spike.

The economy was already tanking by that time so not sure if CoX's revenue is just then catching up with the drop but there were other game-related possibilities in or around that time.

In may there was that whole AE farming fiasco with nerfs and more AE nerfs with i16 in september (3Q).

AION had open beta and a US release in september as well as DDO relaunch with F2P.

Also, CO launched at the start of 3Q (9/1/09 after the 3 day headstart), which might be coincidental but shortly after that (think within a week) Freedom and Virtue server loads started dropping to green and staying there even during US peak times. Usually during peak freedom/virtue stays yellow most of the time back then...only going red (2800+ish unhidden players) during doublexp

This was back when i used to see it take 1500+ unhidden players to turn a server yellow (they changed that with i18 build to turn red with 1400+ ish)


Code:
                 KrW (mn)    USD (approx)    Event/Notes
Mar-2009    6,837        4,829,698           01/07/09    Mac CoX box
                                                                   03/10/09    Mac item pack                      
Jun-2009     6,673        5,179,637           04/14/09    AE box
                                                                  04/17/09    booster2-magic
Sep-2009    5,471        4,400,302           07/07/09    AE story slot mtx
                                                                  07/13/09    booster3-science
                                                                  08/15/09    loyalty program promo ending 11/15/09
Dec-2009    3,928        3,351,182           10/08/09    reactivation promo
                                                                  11/12/09    booster4-martial arts
                                                                 12/19/09    subscription promo 6mo/12mo 1-2 free month…end 1/25/10

 

Posted

Maybe the initial response to AE farming resulted in the drop. I remember Posi saying they would outright ban people who farmed which cause a lot of commotion.