In a news story that we’re sure will surprise precisely nobody at all, The9 — China’s previous operator for World of Warcraft — has reported a serious decline in profits for this last quarter. Since last year when The9 still had World of Warcraft in its stable of games to now, they have seen a staggering 94% drop in revenue. Since the split became final in June of this year, there was also a 91% drop between last quarter and this one. Between The9’s lawsuit against Blizzard for (among other things) software copyright infringement and selling nearly 15% of its shares to Activision Blizzard competitor, EA, The9 has pretty well ensured that there’s never going to be any kissing-and-making-up over this whole mess.
Still, not everything is completely negative for The9. In the on-again-off-again World of Warcraft presence in the Chinese market altogether, owing to the squabble between The Ministry of Culture and the General Administration of the Press and Publication (GAPP), they’ve seen an increase in players from when they initially lost World of Warcraft. According to reports, the increase — a modest bump from 3.2 to 3.4 million players — is owing largely to a new update to Soul of the Ultimate Nation, as well as their other games Sword of the New World, FIFA Online, and Atlantica Online. Now, so long as more of their shareholders don’t wind up suing them for making misleading statements about their connection with Blizzard, things might just start looking up for this former major player in the Chinese MMO market.
Filed under: World of Warcraft, MMO industry, News items, Legal
The9 sees enormous drop in profits after split with Blizzard originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 29th, 2009 at 12:00pm by Krystalle Voecks
Filed Under: WoW, activision-blizzard, blizzard, china, ea, lawsuit, legal-problems, profits, the9, world-of-warcraft, year-on-year, year-over-year, yoy
Some may think it hard to figure out what to get that MMO fan in their life. Would they want cases of energy drinks? Maybe a grill so they can cook while raiding like Vork from The Guild? Well never fear as I’ve compiled a list of gifts that you can get for that MMO fan, and I’m not just talking about World of Warcraft! In this MMORPG Holiday Guide we also have ideas for gamers playing Aion, Lord of the Rings Online, Guildwars, Warhammer Online and Age of Conan. I’ll also go into some peripherals that any MMO gamer would love to have. To start off, I’ll focus on some of the other popular MMOs and gifts that you can snag for your friends or family.
An easy start is to get them something new to play! Aion ($46.99) is the newest MMO to be released and has been getting some rave reviews. Released by NCSoft in September 2009, there has been a steady buzz around the game, and I’ve known several people who have given up other MMOs to play this one. From all I’ve seen and read it’s a pretty solid game, and will appeal to most fans of the genre. And if they’re already playing Aion, why not snag them one of the cool shirts that Jinx just released?
If your friends or family are already playing another game, you can always buy them game time via cards or offer to pay for in game items to help them boost their characters or explore new regions. Blizzard sells pre-paid cards for game time in World of Warcraft ($29.99) and so does Warhammer Online($29.99), Age of Conan ($25.99), and Lord of the Rings Online ($29.99). These will give them 60 days of free time to play in their game of choice!
Tactx keyboard from Alienware
For the World of Warcraft fan, I found many things that one could buy, but I’ve narrowed it down to just a few products. First off, from the official store I have to recommend either Murky or Lurky ($15 each) plush dolls for either kids or for adults (My Murky sits on the top of my computer). Also along the kids line, if you have a guildmate or friend who just had a new baby or is expecting, I highly recommend the “My Other Stroller is [Epic]“ onesie from Jinx. For the more grown up WoW fan, you can also get a Horde or Alliance appropriate beanie so that they can show their pride throughout the winter! In general the majority of the WoW collection at Jinx is pretty awesome, and it’s all reasonably priced. There are also the new in game pets you can buy from the pet store: the Pandaren Monk and Lil’ KT who is the most adorable lich!
Now if you want to get your friends some new gaming peripherals, I recommend checking out the latest Alienware line which I have previously covered. The TactX mouse and keyboard are a little more pricey, but they’d be a great gift idea, especially if they’re in need of an upgrade. Also in November, Creative will be releasing special WoW themed headsets that look great and will help show your Horde or Alliance Pride! Another great item that you could get is the Xeno by Bigfoot networks. Cherithe recommended this in our gadget gift guide, and it’s definitely worth repeating! The Xeno is a great plug-and-play card that will prioritize gamng by bypassing your OS which enables smoother playing and voice chatting.
Now the other gift idea that you can do is for those fellow players who want to get something nice for an in-game friend or guildmate. You can save up to get them a vanity pet, money for a new mount, or some new armor. It’s thoughtful, and something that will surprise them to see in their mailbox or a trade window! There are also the new in game pets that Blizzard released which you can buy from the online pet store: the Pandaren Monk who does some impressive kung fu and Lil’ KT who is the most adorable little lich!
I hope that this guide can help you out with some ideas for that MMO fan in your life. Have a great holiday and spread some /cheer!
Posted on November 21st, 2009 at 1:27am by stealthyslyth
Filed Under: Alienware, Angel Life, Games, Jinx, Massively multiplayer online game, Video Games, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Xeno, age-of-conan-hyborian-adventures, aion, blizzard, warhammer-online, world-of-warcraft
Okay gang, fun’s over. We all had some good times with the few non-delayed Q4 2009 blockbusters that dropped during the past two weeks, but now it’s time to start agonizing over every scrap of news for next year’s highly anticipated titles. We’ll kick things off: Hey, the StarCraft II site just received a major update, delivering a whole mess of feature articles and screenshots to the series’ fast-clicking fanbase!
The articles include a short story about the ever-devious Zerg Changeling, a design overview of the campaign story, insight into creating one of the multiplayer maps, and character bios for three of the game’s combatants. Are you adequately excited by these updates? Good. Now, prepare to not play the game for an undisclosed period of time. Yeah, it’s all coming back to you now, isn’t it?
[Via Big Download]
StarCraft II site updated with new screens, feature content originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 20th, 2009 at 11:45am by Griffin McElroy
Filed Under: Starcraft, blizzard, rts, screenshots, starcraft-2, strategy
Well, it’s a possibility, at any rate. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, was officially released November 10th with what the LA Times described as a “Hollywood-scale launch”. The launch expenses turned out to be money well spent, as the game had generated $550 million in sales as of last Saturday. Fans lined up days in advance to pick up their copy of Modern Warfare 2, complete with free night vision goggles.
While this was all very nice for Activision Blizzard, it was the end of the article that really got MMO fans interested: “One person close to the company said it also was considering adapting Call of Duty as a massively multi-player online world. The genre, in which Activision’s Blizzard Entertainment subsidiary is a leader, requires huge upfront investments but can be very profitable as players pay a monthly subscription fee.”
The possibility of a Call of Duty MMO is an exciting one for a very large group of gamers, and Blizzard is certain to be aware of that. We will definitely be keeping an eye out at Massively for more news on this possibility.
[Thanks Abel!]
Filed under: Business models, Launches, News items
LFG in Call of Duty? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 19th, 2009 at 1:00pm by Rubi Bayer
Filed Under: Infinity Ward, Modern Warfare 2, activision-blizzard, blizzard, call-of-duty, call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2, launch
Gaze on it, and despair! The abomination above is a common sight in the
World of Warcraft this week — Blizzard has kicked off their marketing season with
another commercial from Mr. T, as well as an in-game item to go along with it. It’s the Mohawk Grenade, an item that, when thrown, makes
WoW characters look like T himself. Awesome? Terrible? You decide.
That story and many more from Joystiq’s Warcraft-obsessed sister site WoW.com. We pity the fool who doesn’t check out the roundup after the break.
Continue reading The best of WoW.com: November 10-17, 2009
The best of WoW.com: November 10-17, 2009 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 18th, 2009 at 2:00am by Mike Schramm
Filed Under: Mr T, Weekly Recap, WoW, blizzard, patch-3.3, stories, warcraft, world-of-warcraft, wow-com, wow-patch-3.3
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