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<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Investment of $1 billion+ wouldn't dethrone WoW, exec says]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/28/investment-of-1-billion-wouldnt-dethrone-wow-exec-says/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/28/investment-of-1-billion-wouldnt-dethrone-wow-exec-says/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/28/investment-of-1-billion-wouldnt-dethrone-wow-exec-says/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/world-of-warcraft/" rel="tag">World of Warcraft</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/business-models/" rel="tag">Business models</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/mmo-industry/" rel="tag">MMO industry</a></p><div align="center"><a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=33609"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/wowdrevil.jpg" alt="" /></a><br /></div>
We all know that <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/world-of-warcraft"><em>World of Warcraft</em></a> is the big daddy on the MMO block. Hell, with the amount of money Blizzard is raking in, <em>World of Warcraft</em> is the big daddy on the <strong>gaming</strong> block. And what's more, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/14/world-of-warcraft-still-growing-9-3-million-served/">it's still growing</a>. According a report, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stated in an investor meeting that his company had done extensive research on the MMO category, and came to the conclusion that even a game <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=33609">bolstered by an initial investment of $500 million to $1 billion</a> would still probably have a hell of a time competing in the same space as the Blizzard juggernaut. This likely came as part of their research prior to the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/02/blizzard-rolled-into-activision-blizzard-mega-publisher/">massive merger with Vivendi Universal</a> late last year.<br /><br />Kotick points to the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/11/marvel-mmo-officially-put-to-rest/">relative failures of big companies like Microsoft</a> in trying to develop a competitive product as proof in the pudding. Even companies with decades-long track records of extracting money from lose-lose situations don't stand to gain much from trying to directly compete in the same space. For his part, Kotick believes it's the ingenuity of the guys at Blizzard that is really the deciding factor. Since no amount of money is liable to recreate the success of Blizzard, they simply found the prospect of buying them out more amenable. If you're wondering why it seems like so many MMO development houses are <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/26/gdc08-bigger-is-not-always-better/">scaling down their products</a> to make them more niche oriented, this is why. Throwing money, even a billion dollars, into a competition with <em>World of Warcraft</em> is only likely to end in tears.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/28/investment-of-1-billion-wouldnt-dethrone-wow-exec-says/">Investment of $1 billion+ wouldn't dethrone WoW, exec says</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:30:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=33609>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/28/investment-of-1-billion-wouldnt-dethrone-wow-exec-says/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/1127217/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/28/investment-of-1-billion-wouldnt-dethrone-wow-exec-says/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>$1-billion</category><category>activision</category><category>activision-blizzard</category><category>billion</category><category>blizzard</category><category>bobby-kotick</category><category>breaking</category><category>investment</category><category>profit</category><category>vivendi-universal</category><category>world-of-warcraft</category><category>wow</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Chester]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:30:00 EST</pubDate></item></channel></rss>
