I fail to see why these stories always revolve around how much money needs to be thrown at a project to make it beat WoW. It shows that these wankers have NO clue as to HOW to even START on the path towards WoW-esque success. It's not about art, or features, or advertising, or technical prowess, which is really all that money will buy.

What it CAN'T buy is being at the right place, at the right time, with the right chemistry. That is what has allowed WoW to be successful. Other games have come along which mimic WoW almost to a 'T' (LotRO being the most obvious), but which have shaken things up A LITTLE, but still haven't reached anywhere near WoW's numbers. More money wouldn't help.

My WoW playing friends and I were ranting back and forth, and they basically all said the same thing: why, after so many years of investment, should they switch to a new game where they have to learn new ropes and deal with new people? They've all forged their intimate understanding of the mechanics of WoW, have met legions of people who are similarly invested in WoW, and are basically comfortable where they are.

Unless a significant chunk of that $1 billion was sent directly to WoW players to get them to switch, this whole notion of throwing money at a project in the hopes that it will help fight WoW's dominance is assanine.