Blizzard's Titan a 'casual' MMO

Jef Reahard — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Rumors

In case you were worried about a lack of new and accessible MMOs coming down the pike over the next couple of years, the king of casual is riding to the rescue. At least, that's what an analyst at Sterne Agee hinted at on Gamasutra recently.

Arvind Bhatia is quoted on the game industry website as saying that Blizzard's product pipeline includes "expansion packs for StarCraft and World of Warcraft, a new Diablo game, [and] a new casual MMO." That casual MMO is of course Titan, the secretive WoW followup that has reportedly gobbled up Blizzard's most experienced designers.

While no one outside of Blizzard has any inkling as to Titan's setting, mechanics, or target audience, Bhatia's prediction makes a certain amount of sense given the realities of the MMO marketplace and the costs inherent in developing and marketing AAA titles. Head to Gamasutra for the full report.

Blizzard's Titan a 'casual' MMO originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Analyst: WAR subscriptions will eventually settle around 250,000

Samuel Axon — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, Warhammer Online, News items

Business analyst Arvind Bhatia shared his predictions about Warhammer Online's financial future with Edge magazine yesterday. Bhatia, who works at brokerage firm Stern Agee, said he believes EA is ultimately shooting for around 250,000 - 300,000 subscribers once the launch dust clears, with occassional bumps when major content releases such as expansons occur.

Given the hype around the game, those numbers seem a little low, but Bhatia said he based his projections on statements made by EA reps saying that the company hopes to break even on its investment. After the game shipped 1.5 million copies, some initial sales data began to emerge which indicated that sales are meeting but not significantly exceeding EA's conservative expectations. In the end Bhatia expects the company to pull in between $55 and 60 million dollars of revenue from WAR.

Numbers like the ones above would clearly not make WAR a WoW-killer, but they would make it one of the elite few truly successful Western, subscription-based MMOs. Certainly this prediction is a far cry from Paul Barnett's wild bet. But of course even Barnett admits his number is a little outrageous, and he only stands to lose $26 if he loses, y'know.

Analyst: WAR subscriptions will eventually settle around 250,000 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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