Privately held Turbine refuses to reveal the number of actual subscribers, who pay $50 for game software and a monthly subscription fee of around $15. But since each LOTRO subscription lets the player create up to five characters, the game has attracted at least 800,000 subscribers in just four months. That would give Turbine, and its publishing partner Midway Games Inc. of Chicago, subscription revenue of at least $12 million a month or $144 million a year, plus $40 million for the game software sold so far.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/09/08/turbine_stakes_its_online_game_turf/

That isnt entirely accurate unless it takes into account that out of 4 million characters created how many were deleted? I know I have deleted quite a few characters that werent what I expected them to be...

I play the game. I like the game, but what "new" math did the writer use to make the leap in logic from "5" characters per account, to... that means 800,000 subscriptions?

The foundation of his presumption is flawed too. Its five characters per server, not account. Your account has the capability to hold a total of 35 characters on the seven servers.

So according to the formula that the writer used, it would mean that there could be 5.6 million subscriptions?

Or would you divide the 800,00 by 7, getting 114,285?

That writer better go check his facts again.

This writer is totally out in left field.... doesn't have a clue but the most of his readers won't realize it so I guess it doesn't matter.

Originally posted by jarar

I played it for a month, and it was the worst $50 i have ever spent. I tried to give it a month to see how it went.... I know a TON of people who also have the same sentiments as me about this.

Obviously they are trying to save the game, because they are losing a ton of subscribers, thus the - Free trials, referral accounts.... Just a couple months ago, there wasn't a free trial and I had to go buy it only to realize i wasted my money...

Here are some pros and cons about the game:

CONS
1) Turbine, can't make a good game... never have, never will...
2) Poor graphics... The game has a good engine, but the game's interpretation of Tolkien's world is very bland....
3) Bad progression - I played the game hoping to see things like Helm's deep, Isengard and Minas Tirith but after a month of killing boars and bears, I'm still in Breeland...
4) Visual effects & combat suck - There is no epic feel to playing your character and cool moves. All the moves look the same when it strikes and the shouts are just irritating...

PROS
1) Music system, this was cool, i spent a few hours just playing around with it... :)
2) Traits - Cool system, can use some refinement and less grind though
3) Crafting - Crafting was the only plus point to the game, but still it's a huge grind...

 

Hate LOTRO, fine. Start your own thread, but don't hijack this one.

Gawd, next Turbine will be quoting this article in ads to show how well LotRO is doing.

I R statistics man , these R no Good statistics.

Really tho i think people have posted the flaws to this logic, also what about trail characters opps another 5, at least, characters per one of those down the drain.

I didnt read the article, but I'd be willing ot bet the free week long  trial that is going on was not taking into account for those number either.  I tried the game for a couple days on a free account, it seemed to me a lot of people were trying it, but not many stayed it would seem.

Originally posted by Consequence

I didnt read the article, but I'd be willing ot bet the free week long  trial that is going on was not taking into account for those number either.  I tried the game for a couple days on a free account, it seemed to me a lot of people were trying it, but not many stayed it would seem.

Anyways the trails (buddies and open)  DO COUNT TOWARD the 4 million characters. However the article ignored this, along with an account having more than 5 character via characters on multiple servers, and deleted characters.

So the missed a lot. and i think this is what you were saying.

I wonder how the reporter managed to do enough research to figure out that you get five toons per server. but not enough to realize that you can have toons on as many servers as you like?  Yet again all we can conclude is that we have no real idea how many subs the game has. . . . 

-sigh-

Poor, poor dead horse.

I'm going to write an open letter to all major publications imploring them to please stay the hell away from trying to determine how many subscribers or characters, or any other form of stats to indicate how well LoTRO is doing.

When Turbine decides they want to make those numbers publically known, they'll do so (and some people will still accuse them of lying, or inventing numbers, of course... but I digress).

Until that day comes, I wish people would just leave it alone.

Originally posted by jarar

I played it for a month, and it was the worst $50 i have ever spent. I tried to give it a month to see how it went.... I know a TON of people who also have the same sentiments as me about this.

Obviously they are trying to save the game, because they are losing a ton of subscribers, thus the - Free trials, referral accounts.... Just a couple months ago, there wasn't a free trial and I had to go buy it only to realize i wasted my money...

Here are some pros and cons about the game:

CONS
1) Turbine, can't make a good game... never have, never will...
2) Poor graphics... The game has a good engine, but the game's interpretation of Tolkien's world is very bland....
3) Bad progression - I played the game hoping to see things like Helm's deep, Isengard and Minas Tirith but after a month of killing boars and bears, I'm still in Breeland...
4) Visual effects & combat suck - There is no epic feel to playing your character and cool moves. All the moves look the same when it strikes and the shouts are just irritating...

PROS
1) Music system, this was cool, i spent a few hours just playing around with it... :)
2) Traits - Cool system, can use some refinement and less grind though
3) Crafting - Crafting was the only plus point to the game, but still it's a huge grind...

 

If you had bothered to read the box when you bought it or read up on the game you would of known that the game at this time is only in eraidor and the places you wanted to see are not in the game yet.  That is your fault not turbines cause they did not claim you would see those places yet.

Originally posted by WSIMike

When Turbine decides they want to make those numbers publically known, they'll do so (and some people will still accuse them of lying, or inventing numbers, of course... but I digress).

Until that day comes, I wish people would just leave it alone.

I guess no one can put 2 and 2 together here.  Boston Globe... Turbine based in Boston... doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

please, not again one of those "LOTRO HAS 3452346 BILION MILIONS OMF" blind fanboy posts.

learn to calculate&think, or how to use search.

Originally posted by Jetrpg

 

Originally posted by Consequence

I didnt read the article, but I'd be willing ot bet the free week long  trial that is going on was not taking into account for those number either.  I tried the game for a couple days on a free account, it seemed to me a lot of people were trying it, but not many stayed it would seem.

Not sure what you mean.

 

Anyways the trails (buddies and open)  DO COUNT TOWARD the 4 million characters. However the article ignored this, along with an account having more than 5 character via characters on multiple servers, and deleted characters.

 

So the missed a lot. and i think this is what you were saying.

Can you back that up? Nothing iv'e read has said that trials dont't count... they've jsut said that 4 million characters have been created.. not 4 million on paid for accounts

Originally posted by Formless

 

please, not again one of those "LOTRO HAS 3452346 BILION MILIONS OMF" blind fanboy posts.

 

learn to calculate&think, or how to use search.

The OP is not a fanboy, far from it.

Anyone who has an intellect of a 10 year old or better, can imemdiately find out that the author of the linked article has absolutely and totally no clue what he/she is talking about. This person heard about "4 million characters" somewhere, did a "a lot of" investigation about the game, found out about the 5 chars/server, and then took his/her calculator and divided 4 mil by 5. That's all we can expect - utter ignorance . Didn't even know what a "server", an "account "and a "character" is.

To argue in this topic is as worthwile as trying to kill a sand dune by poking a sharp stick into it, for a whole day. Or banging our heads to the wall for hours.

DB

"Turbine said this week that its Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) game is now the second-most popular massively multiplayer online game, after World of Warcraft, which claims 9 million subscribers."

Ok, I have LotR and play it on occassion, its a good game no question I also betaed for a year.

BUT

Where the f*&% did these guys get their info? It is not accurate from what I can see.

First, there has been no offical anouncement at all

http://www.thelordoftheringsonline.com/index.php?page_id=55&siid=5 

Or in other sites that track the game industry like Gamespot for example

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/middleearthonline/index.html?tag=tabs;summary 

Second, 800k does not make it the second most played. Not that there are 800k.

This line also doesn't jive with a Midway press release on Aug 2 2007

its publishing partner Midway Games Inc. of Chicago, subscription revenue of at least $12 million a month or $144 million a year, plus $40 million for the game software sold so far.

v.s.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/middleearthonline/news.html?sid=6176030&om_act=convert&om_clk=newsfeatures&tag=newsfeatures;title;3

Midway's shortcoming comes on the heels of several high-profile second-quarter launches. With solid reviews, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar sold over 172,000 copies during the quarter, including the special edition of the game. (GameSpot originally reported erroneous NPD Group data putting the number at 71,000 units, and regrets the error.) Meanwhile, the Wii edition of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon only moved about 38,500 units, and the critically drubbed Hour of Victory sold just 16,456 units at retail domestically.

Since Aug 2 did they suddenly sell another 650,000 olus units and added supporting servers? I played last night and there were only 12 servers and no log in queue. 

Originally posted by Torak

"Turbine said this week that its Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) game is now the second-most popular massively multiplayer online game, after World of Warcraft, which claims 9 million subscribers."

 

ha that quote is great too.. it doesnt say anything about its numbers.. just that its popular.. i could argue that I am the 2nd most popular game.. my hair is waay cooler and the girls dig me

Originally posted by Torak

"Turbine said this week that its Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) game is now the second-most popular massively multiplayer online game, after World of Warcraft, which claims 9 million subscribers."

Ok, I have LotR and play it on occassion, its a good game no question I also betaed for a year.

BUT

Where the f*&% did these guys get their info? It is not accurate from what I can see.

First, there has been no offical anouncement at all

http://www.thelordoftheringsonline.com/index.php?page_id=55&siid=5 

Or in other sites that track the game industry like Gamespot for example

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/middleearthonline/index.html?tag=tabs;summary 

Second, 800k does not make it the second most played. Not that there are 800k.

I think we're now beating the dust of the dead horse's skeleton here...

Who the hell cares about # of subscribers ??? C'mon, there is a FREE TRIAL going on, I can hardly play the game anymore on Snowbourn, the "server overload" icon is out there 90% of the time....

My only problem is that now it's quite easy to find total noobs and morons for PUG's, due to the many many kids and MMO virgins flooding LOTRO. (I'm trying to level my minstrel with fellowship quests, but boy, some ppl have just 0 idea how NOT to aggro :)

Subscriber number is not an issue for Turbine, that I can tell...

DB

Originally posted by DonnieBrasco

 

Originally posted by Torak

"Turbine said this week that its Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) game is now the second-most popular massively multiplayer online game, after World of Warcraft, which claims 9 million subscribers."

Ok, I have LotR and play it on occassion, its a good game no question I also betaed for a year.

BUT

Where the f*&% did these guys get their info? It is not accurate from what I can see.

First, there has been no offical anouncement at all

http://www.thelordoftheringsonline.com/index.php?page_id=55&siid=5 

Or in other sites that track the game industry like Gamespot for example

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/middleearthonline/index.html?tag=tabs;summary 

Second, 800k does not make it the second most played. Not that there are 800k.

I think we're now beating the dust of the dead horse's skeleton here...

 

 

Who the hell cares about # of subscribers ??? C'mon, there is a FREE TRIAL going on, I can hardly play the game anymore on Snowbourn, the "server overload" icon is out there 90% of the time....

My only problem is that now it's quite easy to find total noobs and morons for PUG's, due to the many many kids and MMO virgins flooding LOTRO. (I'm trying to level my minstrel with fellowship quests, but boy, some ppl have just 0 idea how NOT to aggro :)

Subscriber number is not an issue for Turbine, that I can tell...

DB

Thats true, personally I don't care but I feel quarrelsome Its a solid game but not doing this well. All it means overall is MMOs will continue to be the same and some CEO will be getting a big fat bonus this year while we pull our puds over how large its gonna be.