antiacid :
You don't seem to understand the numbers that you throw around.
Without going into an in-depth analysis, let's just remember that Blizzard develops games for 3-5years before releasing and those games are made by people which need to be paid. Then, there's the ridiculous amount of staff you need to keep around (gm, devs, artists, hr, pr, lawyers, technicians, etc). The hardware cost is also high but it doesn't make the biggest part of their expenditures.
BTW, 11mil accounts is not the same as 11mil customers. That number also include the asian market which works on a different scheme (pay by the hour, pay to an internet cafe which sends that money to the reseller over there). As far as I can remember, that number also includes the inactive accounts which aren't paying. In the end, the actual revenue per month is still high enough to keep the whole thing going but it isn't exactly 21432161 billions of dollars in pure profit per year.
Finally, accusing the most popular game of all times of being overrated is a bit like saying that the ford model T was overrated (history lesson: it revolutionized the transportation industry). I'm not even sure you can call it a niche market at that point... It's that big. Maybe you didn't enjoy the time you spent playing it, maybe you didn't even play it (in which case, your statement is full of ****) but in the end, it just so happens that this game is not only occupying millions of people around the world but also propelling the relatively new E-sport industry more than the quake series, cs (and css), ut and whatever other shooters have done together. The only other better known game out there, in terms of e-sport, is YET ANOTHER BLIZZARD GAME! (starcraft, starcraft brood war).
So for all that blizzard has created or participated in, in terms of community, challenge, technical feats and whatnot, it can't possibly be put behind Valve.
Of course, Valve helped create a framework to sell all kinds of games and an online community but in terms of user base, it's barely comparable to Battle.net (which happened before Steam, btw).
If there's one company out there who strive to create quality games and succeed every single time, that'd be Blizzard.
*Sigh.* I'm really confused by your response to my post, so I'll try to clear up a few things, and I'll just go down the list of everything you said and respond.
First off, I completely understand the numbers I throw around. What you should understand is that they're just ball-park figures without any hard research, meant only to illustrate the point I was trying to make.
I know that Blizzard takes 3-5 years to make a game. It's driving me crazy that I have to wait ages for Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 to come out. Keep in mind that it took Valve 6 years to develop Half-Life 2, and with a much larger team than they used for Half-Life. I'm not sure why you put this in here, since I'm well aware that these games that come out in today's day and age take A LOT of work to develop.
I realize that 11 million account does not equal 11 million customers. Hence why I gave the ball-park figure of "over $150 million," rather than pretending it was an exact $165 million. Again, this is all estimation, merely to show that Blizzard makes a ton of money off of WoW. it may not be however many billions of dollars of profit that you suggested I implied, but it's wonderful for Blizzard, especially when their 4-year-old game still brings in that kind of revenue. They have hit a jackpot that every business dreams of - a ton of money for not that much output.
By using the word "overrated" to describe WoW, I simply meant that I think it gets more attention than it's worth. I just don't see why people love it so much. And here's an idea - how about we try to have a civil discussion instead of throwing out statements like "in which case, your statement is full of ****." I did/said nothing to deserve that kind of remark from you. I downloaded the free trial of WoW just to try it out not too long ago, and I thought it was one of the most boring games I've ever played. I didn't play it for more than an hour or two, so you can go ahead and tell me I didn't give it enough time, but I like for my games to be fun all the way through, rather than only beginning to get fun after level 60. (This is what a friend of mine told me in response to that...and when I asked him how long that takes, he said 3-4 days of gameplay.)
Now here comes the hard part of responding to what you just said, and you know why? Because instead of reading what I had to say, you decided to make assumptions about my opinions. Like thinking I like Valve better than Blizzard. Why don't you take a little extra time to scroll up and read what I wrote at the beginning of this thread, as well as take the time to re-read the post that
you responded to. I made the statement that DESPITE thinking WoW is overrated, it has become one of the "greatest games of all time." Blizzard is rolling in the dough because they came up with something millions of people enjoy. I certainly don't, but I understand that tons and tons of people do. Starcraft is my favorite game of all time, and while I haven't played the first Diablo, Diablo 2 is a great game as well. Warcraft 3 was awesome for its time. And now I waste too much time going and checking on updates for Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 because I CAN'T WAIT for them to come out - they'll be taking up a lot of my time.
You're right - everything that Blizzard has done can't be put behind Valve. But you act as though I didn't already say that...when I did. I agree that Steam doesn't touch Battle.net, but you also don't seem to realize that, either. Valve is a great company and I've really enjoyed every game of theirs I've played (HL2, ep1, ep2, TF2, and especially Portal), and Left 4 Dead is coming in the mail in the next few days, but I could never put those games ahead of a diamond like Starcraft. But again, you wouldn't know, because you didn't read what I wrote before responding in a blind rage.
Maybe you're just one of those people who enjoys dissent, so you create it even when it doesn't exist.
While I may believe WoW is the most overrated game of all time (even exceeding the Halo series, Gears of War series, and GTA series), it has over 11 million subscribers. Multiplied by $15/month, that's over $150 million in revenue EVERY MONTH, and I KNOW it doesn't take that kind of money to keep servers up and running. I highly doubt Steam, as incredible as it may be, can compete with that... (my opinion of course!)
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