As the topic says, I am curious as to how payment for WoW works in China. Namely, how much, if anything, do they pay for an account, and how much do they then pay for a subscription? Is it monthly or hourly?

I am asking this because I know China, and Asia in general, typically has different payment models than over here. Micropayments and the usage of cybercafes are things not done as much in the west.

Anyway, I somehow doubt they pay as much as we do in USD, after conversions. Here the initial box was something like $50, and each month is $15.

Often, however, when people do the math and claim WoW makes 9M * $15 = $135M per month, they assume every subscriber is paying the same amount. We forget, though, that the bulk of subscribers are in Asia and if they are paying less, which I am guessing is true, WoW is not quite that lucrative, though obviously still massively successful and massively rich.

" In China World of Warcraft is payed per hour, at a rate of 0.45 Yuan per hour. At today's exchange rate, that is 6 US cents per hour of World of Warcraft. But of course the wages in China are lower, and 6 US cents buys you more stuff in China than in the US. So at purchasing power parity (PPP) the 0.45 Yuan per hour correspond to about 25 US cents per hour. Which isn't quite that cheap any more."

You can read the whole article here: http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-much-would-you-pay-per-hour-for-wow.html

If  WoW charges $15/mo (i.e. 50 cents a day), based on the PPP the western player plays at a premium discount (after 60 hours or 2 hours a day) by comparison.

PPP is a dangerous concept to apply, and the computation process can be highly subjective.  But that is a whole new topics on quantitative measures.

Most of the Chinese mainland players play by prepay cards.  Each card gives 600 points, but I do not remember how long that gives in terms of log on time.  I do not know anyone playing by that mode.  All I was told is that its log on time.  So if someone plays only 1 hour a day, he will be paying a lot less than another player online 24/7.  I am not very sure about this, pls can someone else more knowledgeable confirm or rectify my mistakes?

I think the total revenue obtainable from Asian players not paying by monthly credit cards is highly variable depending on the online druation and promotion programs offered by hosts, and most likely way less than US$15 for casual players.  I was also told that even for those Taiwanese players paying by daypass (60day? I cannot be sure), the average cost per month is still less than US$15, and added to it, the Taiwanese servers offers lots of discounts even widening the disparity.  If we factor into the share of profits taken over by the Asian hosts, Blizzard is not taking that full US$15 from the Asian community.

I cannot be 100% sure about the figures above.

Thank you both for the excellent information. This was exactly what I was looking for, and confirmed my suspicions that things, obviously, work a lot differently in Asia. 

Due to fluctuations in exchange rates they work a little differently everywhere to be honest as euro players pay more on the monthly plan than US players do with the current rate being around $18.33/month, which sux a bit for us :(

You mean the Chinese DON'T play for FREE? OMG!!! LOL  I always loved those statements.  Yeah, I'm sure that Blizzard loves the Chinese so much they just GIVE away the game there. LOL

Originally posted by Pappy13

You mean the Chinese DON'T play for FREE? OMG!!! LOL  I always loved those statements.  Yeah, I'm sure that Blizzard loves the Chinese so much they just GIVE away the game there. LOL

Originally posted by lomiller

Originally posted by Pappy13

You mean the Chinese DON'T play for FREE? OMG!!! LOL  I always loved those statements.  Yeah, I'm sure that Blizzard loves the Chinese so much they just GIVE away the game there. LOL

 

Blizzard doesn’t operate in China. The9 runs the whole show and pays Blizzard a license fee for the rights to the game. Assuming licensing accounts for half of their total expenses they are paying Vivendie/Blizzard about $20 million a year.   

 

The9 also run Guild Wars in China.  

So what you are saying is that the chinese DON'T play for free? LOL  Makes little difference to both the Chinese players and to Blizzard whether they pay Blizzard directly or pay The9 and The9 pays Blizzard now does it?

Originally posted by Pappy13

Originally posted by lomiller

Originally posted by Pappy13

You mean the Chinese DON'T play for FREE? OMG!!! LOL  I always loved those statements.  Yeah, I'm sure that Blizzard loves the Chinese so much they just GIVE away the game there. LOL

 

Blizzard doesn’t operate in China. The9 runs the whole show and pays Blizzard a license fee for the rights to the game. Assuming licensing accounts for half of their total expenses they are paying Vivendie/Blizzard about $20 million a year.   

 

The9 also run Guild Wars in China.  

So what you are saying is that the chinese DON'T play for free? LOL  Makes little difference to both the Chinese players and to Blizzard whether they pay Blizzard directly or pay The9 and The9 pays Blizzard now does it?

Originally posted by Sornin

As the topic says, I am curious as to how payment for WoW works in China. Namely, how much, if anything, do they pay for an account, and how much do they then pay for a subscription? Is it monthly or hourly?

I am asking this because I know China, and Asia in general, typically has different payment models than over here. Micropayments and the usage of cybercafes are things not done as much in the west.

Anyway, I somehow doubt they pay as much as we do in USD, after conversions. Here the initial box was something like $50, and each month is $15.

Often, however, when people do the math and claim WoW makes 9M * $15 = $135M per month, they assume every subscriber is paying the same amount. We forget, though, that the bulk of subscribers are in Asia and if they are paying less, which I am guessing is true, WoW is not quite that lucrative, though obviously still massively successful and massively rich.

It's free, Chineses got TBC for free, thats why they have 6 or 7 mill there and only 2 mill on europe and NA.

Originally posted by Pappy13

You mean the Chinese DON'T play for FREE? OMG!!! LOL  I always loved those statements.  Yeah, I'm sure that Blizzard loves the Chinese so much they just GIVE away the game there. LOL

yep they give away the game there. so they can brag they have 9 mill subscribers.

In appreciation of the ongoing support and enthusiasm of the Chinese World of Warcraft audience, The9 and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. are pleased to announce that World of Warcraft players in China will not need to purchase a new CD key to play Blizzard Entertainment 's upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade . Per this plan, everyone in China who has ever purchased a CD key for World of Warcraft will be able to install the expansion content as well without paying for an extra CD key.

Could you at least actually read the responses to the thread before you reply with totally inaccurate information?  WoW is not free in China.  The expansion was free, but China had to wait almost 9 months longer than Europe / NA for TBC.

They're still paying by the hour, and if they want to play for several hours a day, it can get quite expensive over the course of a month.  I bet some of them (those that play a lot) would prefer to pay our prices.  Conversely, I'm sure some of us (those who don't play often) would prefer to pay by the hour.  I'm talking in proportions here, the economy is different over there ofc.

Also, it doesn't matter if players purchase WoW keys and time The9, obviously a % of that money still goes to Blizzard.  Unless you have proof, you don't know what that percentage is.  I don't recall it ever being mentioned.  So to claim that Blizzard is earning a pittance from China is naive and I honestly can't see Blizzard giving away their game in that sense.

It's also worth noting that EQ2 used Gamania for it's China business, and EVE uses Optic Communications.  Most Western MMO companies follow the same business model as Blizzard.

And they can't claim 9 million Worldwide subscribers.  Deal with it.

Also 9 Million  subtracted by 3-3.5 million Western Accounts does not equal 7 million chinese accounts. 

Misinformation FTL.

Originally posted by Recant

Could you at least actually read the responses to the thread before you reply with totally inaccurate information?  WoW is not free in China.  The expansion was free, but China had to wait almost 9 months longer than Europe / NA for TBC.

They're still paying by the hour, and if they want to play for several hours a day, it can get quite expensive over the course of a month.  I bet some of them (those that play a lot) would prefer to pay our prices.  Conversely, I'm sure some of us (those who don't play often) would prefer to pay by the hour.  I'm talking in proportions here, the economy is different over there ofc.

Also, it doesn't matter if players purchase WoW keys and time The9, obviously a % of that money still goes to Blizzard.  Unless you have proof, you don't know what that percentage is.  I don't recall it ever being mentioned.  So to claim that Blizzard is earning a pittance from China is naive and I honestly can't see Blizzard giving away their game in that sense.

It's also worth noting that EQ2 used Gamania for it's China business, and EVE uses Optic Communications.  Most Western MMO companies follow the same business model as Blizzard.

And they can't claim 9 million Worldwide subscribers.  Deal with it.

Also 9 Million  subtracted by 3-3.5 million Western Accounts does not equal 7 million chinese accounts. 

Misinformation FTL.

so they consider subscribers the chineses that don't even own the game or a comp, and just play for a couple of hours on internet cafes. Blizzard just brag about numbers for marketing, that's it. No way in hell they have 9 million subscribers. It's BS.

They have 9 million active paying customers.  And yes, it is marketing.

And you can bet your ass that other MMO companies would be saying the same if they were anywhere near as popular.

Originally posted by Recant

They have 9 million active paying customers.  And yes, it is marketing.

And you can bet your ass that other MMO companies would be saying the same if they were anywhere near as popular.

a lot of mmo companies stay out of china due to sanctioning. The other thing with china is that there have to be changes done in some games and others are not allowed to be released at all due to its communistic state. Popularity has something to do with it as well the government allowing the game within its country.

Yes, other companies do brag about there numbers (even free ones). it is all the perception of the people. Now there may be 9million accounts but that does not mean 9million people play. 25 people in my guild prior to TBC came out had 2 if not 3 accounts (due to children playing part time or a need for shrug a million chars).

In china there are time restrictions put on games in how long you are able to stay logged in at a time or day. These restrictions also cause some video game companies to steer clear due to the sheer annoyance of altering code for a cut off timer or billing anomalies which is why Blizzard worked out a deal with The9 who strictly do their work in china in order to rid the stress off the US based company.

It is about time people realize that while Blizzard boasts these large numbers they should be proud of less than a quarter are split between the US and UK (Which is where a large portion of the games on this site mainly market too which boast only say 200k to a million or so subs)  last time I saw an official Blizzard announcement which was really a buddy of mine from UDE who had the numbers for the card game. In the end yes Blizzard has the biggest market share in US and UK but it is not nearly as big as people claim it to be. Now in china I can imagine how it looks over there compared to the korean style free Mmo which boasts pay for advancement WoW might be getting crushed.

In the end who really cares how many people play though. If it is fun play it. A buddy of mine still plays pong all the time because he thinks its the best game for hand eye coordination and can't get enough of it.

As far as I'm aware, EQ2 had Everquest 2 (complete with Soga models) in China (which bombed), and CCP currently run a different server over there too.  They have partners over there that handle the distribution too (gamania and optic) So I still think my statement that other MMO companies would make a song and dance about their popularity if they were popular, it's marketing.

As far as I'm aware, the time limit on gamers in China only applies to people under 18 year old in cafes.

But yeah, the 9 million x $15 is wrong, to a certain degree.  Even though less money comes out of china, wages are much lower there, the cost of operating will be lower.   It's definately not as much as 9 million western subs though.

Originally posted by Recant

As far as I'm aware, EQ2 had Everquest 2 (complete with Soga models) in China (which bombed), and CCP currently run a different server over there too.  They have partners over there that handle the distribution too (gamania and optic) So I still think my statement that other MMO companies would make a song and dance about their popularity if they were popular, it's marketing.

As far as I'm aware, the time limit on gamers in China only applies to people under 18 year old in cafes.

But yeah, the 9 million x $15 is wrong, to a certain degree.  Even though less money comes out of china, wages are much lower there, the cost of operating will be lower.   It's definately not as much as 9 million western subs though.

Originally posted by lomiller

Originally posted by Pappy13

Originally posted by lomiller

Originally posted by Pappy13

You mean the Chinese DON'T play for FREE? OMG!!! LOL  I always loved those statements.  Yeah, I'm sure that Blizzard loves the Chinese so much they just GIVE away the game there. LOL

 

Blizzard doesn’t operate in China. The9 runs the whole show and pays Blizzard a license fee for the rights to the game. Assuming licensing accounts for half of their total expenses they are paying Vivendie/Blizzard about $20 million a year.   

 

The9 also run Guild Wars in China.  

So what you are saying is that the chinese DON'T play for free? LOL  Makes little difference to both the Chinese players and to Blizzard whether they pay Blizzard directly or pay The9 and The9 pays Blizzard now does it?

 

It makes a big difference.  Comparatively speaking Blizzard gets almost nothing from Chinese players. They pay only a small fraction of what western subscribers do and very little of that goes to Blizzard. SOE or CPP make more money from a game with 200K subscribers then Blizzard does from all 5 million Chinese accounts. 

 

The pay per hour system also inflates the number of accounts.  Because they’re only allowed to play for 3 hours a day many Chinese players spread there characters across multiple accounts, while in North America all those characters would be on a single account.

I'm sure the deal that Blizzard did with The9 to license the game in China was VERY lucrative for Blizzard.  And I'm also sure that it wasn't a 1 shot deal.  What I mean is that they probably licensed it a year or so at a time and The9 has to re-up their license from time to time and the price negotiated would be a direct result of what The9 is getting from the Chinese players.

I'm sorry, but it makes very little difference to Blizzard whether they get paid by the Chinese players directly or they get paid a license fee by The9.  They are still getting their money for the game.  And it makes very little difference to the Chinese players whether they pay a fee directly to Blizzard to play the game or if they pay The9 instead.  Please enlighten me how this is a big difference.

Originally posted by Quingu

 

Originally posted by Sornin

As the topic says, I am curious as to how payment for WoW works in China. Namely, how much, if anything, do they pay for an account, and how much do they then pay for a subscription? Is it monthly or hourly?

I am asking this because I know China, and Asia in general, typically has different payment models than over here. Micropayments and the usage of cybercafes are things not done as much in the west.

Anyway, I somehow doubt they pay as much as we do in USD, after conversions. Here the initial box was something like $50, and each month is $15.

Often, however, when people do the math and claim WoW makes 9M * $15 = $135M per month, they assume every subscriber is paying the same amount. We forget, though, that the bulk of subscribers are in Asia and if they are paying less, which I am guessing is true, WoW is not quite that lucrative, though obviously still massively successful and massively rich.

 

 

It's free, Chineses got TBC for free, thats why they have 6 or 7 mill there and only 2 mill on europe and NA.

They got the UPGRADE to TBC for free.  They DO NOT PLAY FOR FREE!!!  Big difference.

Originally posted by Quingu

 

Originally posted by Pappy13

You mean the Chinese DON'T play for FREE? OMG!!! LOL  I always loved those statements.  Yeah, I'm sure that Blizzard loves the Chinese so much they just GIVE away the game there. LOL

 

yep they give away the game there. so they can brag they have 9 mill subscribers.

 

In appreciation of the ongoing support and enthusiasm of the Chinese World of Warcraft audience, The9 and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. are pleased to announce that World of Warcraft players in China will not need to purchase a new CD key to play Blizzard Entertainment 's upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade . Per this plan, everyone in China who has ever purchased a CD key for World of Warcraft will be able to install the expansion content as well without paying for an extra CD key.

So they got the UPGRADE to TBC for free, they don't play for free.  Do you people not understand what a licensing agreement is?  Blizzard is paid very well by The9 to be allowed to distribute the game in China.  Whether the players pay 100 dollars a minute or 10 cents an hour doesn't much matter to Blizzard.  The only reason they care about that is to determine how much they are going to charge The9 for the licensing fees.