Just wanted to note that this chart is missing other large MMOs, namely Guild Wars, MapleStory (if it wants to count Runescape) and others. Due to this, this chart is mis-representing the MMO market, since it has selectively chosen more MMOs which have not been as successful. Take MapleStory, which has been very successful, by some estimates more successful than WOW. Looking at this source, we see that since Dec. 2004, China has had 18M subscribers, and that data is only up to Feb 2006, so the numbers could be much larger now. Even though MapleStory is free to play, it shows that there is a large potential market if developers figure out how to market their product correctly to different regions.
Also, looking at the chart you provide, WOW seems to fit the same trend that Age of Conan has taken, which is gaining many subscribers very quickly early on and continued growth from there. Also, if you look at the peak of many of the MMOs on the chart, it is many times higher than what their first month subscriptions were.
Due to this, and various other reasons, this stock by all accounts tracking well. As more press releases are made we will be able to get a better picture of where this stock should go, but at present it seems to be accurate.
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Just wanted to note that this chart is missing other large MMOs, namely Guild Wars, MapleStory (if it wants to count Runescape) and others. Due to this, this chart is mis-representing the MMO market, since it has selectively chosen more MMOs which have not been as successful. Take MapleStory, which has been very successful, by some estimates more successful than WOW. Looking at this source, we see that since Dec. 2004, China has had 18M subscribers, and that data is only up to Feb 2006, so the numbers could be much larger now. Even though MapleStory is free to play, it shows that there is a large potential market if developers figure out how to market their product correctly to different regions.
Also, looking at the chart you provide, WOW seems to fit the same trend that Age of Conan has taken, which is gaining many subscribers very quickly early on and continued growth from there. Also, if you look at the peak of many of the MMOs on the chart, it is many times higher than what their first month subscriptions were.
Due to this, and various other reasons, this stock by all accounts tracking well. As more press releases are made we will be able to get a better picture of where this stock should go, but at present it seems to be accurate.