Age of Conan

looks like it is down by almost 9k hours last Saturday to this Saturday.  June 21 numbers = 48451, June 28 = 39703. Draw whatever conclusion you want but this old data miner sees a steady decline in numbers apples to apples. It is still 20 at Amazon also so while sales are good less hours are being logged. Considering new players tend to log in more hours, the overall decline in hours played coupled with the steady sales does not bode well.  I guess the retail distributors are making money, the retention is sucking though.

By the way fanbois I know Xfire is just a small percentage blah blah blah. It is however a good overall indicator of retention numbers. If AoC cannot retain the hard core players , they sure as hell won't be retaining the casuals who tend to cancel as soon as they get bored or pissed off because of a nerf or CS fubar. Not to mention casuals will not grind mobs for advancement or put up with crap loot drops and grinding for coin.

latest overall video games sales at amazon.com:.....

Conan now at position 80(!). Just before a Nancy Drew pre-order adventure ....

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_7?ie=UTF8&rs=468642&rh=n%3A468642&page=7

For a video game that had the top position only a few weeks ago in the overall video game industry - even beating GTA4 ....It sinks faster than the Titanic did.

I think we need to re adjust the subscriptions in the upcoming months, because of this.

I guess 150K will be an achievement now after the summer.

I can't even imagine what the rest of those 150K subs will do after the launches of WAR and WotLK, with each having REAL working Siege combat systems.(at least I suppose these games WILL have some Beta testing before launch) :))).

For what it's worth, I don't think using xfire is going to give us exact numbers. My reason for this is I have XFIRE and I never use it anymore and I PLAY AOC! So there! Besides with how AoC is so finicky on PC's you don't want much running in the background eating up the resources any more than you have to.

While I agree tha xfire isn't a solid indicator of most MMOs and their subscriber rates.  I also have to think that anyone who was running xfire last month is still running it this month.  I doubt the sharp decline is due to people quitting xfire over peopel quitting Conan.

Originally posted by Acromo

latest overall video games sales at amazon.com:.....

Conan now at position 80(!). Just before a Nancy Drew pre-order adventure ....

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_7?ie=UTF8&rs=468642&rh=n%3A468642&page=7

For a video game that had the top position only a few weeks ago in the overall video game industry - even beating GTA4 ....It sinks faster than the Titanic did.

I think we need to re adjust the subscriptions in the upcoming months, because of this.

I guess 150K will be an achievement now after the summer.

I can't even imagine what the rest of those 150K subs will do after the launches of WAR and WotLK, with each having REAL working Siege combat systems.(at least I suppose these games WILL have some Beta testing before launch) :))).

 

 

I don't count overall video game sales. No PC game can hang with PS3 and Xbox, in particular MMORPG's.  Just in PC games AoC is holding #20

www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/videogames/12508701/ref=pd_ts_zbw_vg_12508701_more

which tells me that sells even though box sales are still strong, couple that with the trend on hours played and the game is weak on retention. In other words FC's marketing department is doing a bang up job and and the is getting a lot of favorable reviews from major sites. The game does not contain enough meat for retention and once the shiny graphics wear off and people make it out of Totage reality is setting in and they stop playing. If this trend keeps up the servers will be ghost towns in 3 months.

Well as you all debate over xfire, try actually play AoC. Seems to be a great game but nobody sticks around. Why you ask? Because sales will keep going until you realize your comp wont handle and part of it because of the insane game req's. So...sales stay the same, logged hours go poof. Easy stuff.

I don't think AoC will drop as far as Vanguard but I think it is gonna keep dropping for awhile.  I'm gonna guess it might drop to around swg or eq2 levels by the end of summer?  any thoughts?

I just bought Vanguard to see what a turkey looked like a year on, it's a lot of fun. Trouble is that AoC really dosent have good core mechanics <shrug> amybe I'll go back in a year if there is a lull in the market. To be honest I'd rather go back to AO (and that would be for the fourth time)

I think they are losing people quickly as well. All of my RL friends have quit, and the friends I've made in game haven't logged on in a week or more. I guess I'm gonna be canceling, too unless the next patch fix must of current problems. The game is just boring.

Here is the last Xfire. Maybe I read the chart wrong but it seems that the hours are dropping?