 | The Guardian interviews Blizzard’s Paul SamsAugust 31st, 2006 |
A few bits that jump out:
Paul Sams of Blizzard says in the Guardian that
Globally, around 10% of WoW players are women whereas historically for this genre it was around 2%.
Whoa, that’s way off.
In games in general in the mid-90s, it was around 2-5%.
In UO we saw 10-15%, I seem to recall.
In EQ, I believe the number was around there as well, thought slightly lower.
In MUSHes and other social virtual worlds, we have seen as high as 50%, and even higher in some cases.
10% is actually a slightly low figure, and I am a bit surprised.
to create WoW the costs were such that the game is in the top three of the most expensive games ever made. That means tens of millions of dollars.
Ah, the endless debate. Earlier, there were some figures released somewhere that indicated around $60m. I have heard figures as high as over $100m “all in” including marketing and infrastructure.
To build a market as big as WoW you would have to have a well established and talented team and a franchise you can wrap it around that is well known and has global appeal. The bar is now too high.
Even Blizzard thinks that you shouldn’t make another WoW. Of course, it’s to their advantage to say so… 
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[...] The Guardian interviews Blizzard’s Paul Sams on Raph Koster The Guardian interviews Blizzard’s Paul Sams on Raph Koster A few bits that jump out: Paul Sams of Blizzard says in the Guardian that Globally, around 10% of WoW players are women whereas historically for this genre it was around 2%. Whoa, that’s way off. In games in general in the mid-90s, it was around 2-5%. In UO we saw 10-15%, I seem to recall. In EQ, I believe the [...] via Raph Koster [...]