The change to the game time in World of Warcraft is a trick to lure players into a subscription – at least that’s what Cortyn thinks.
A few days ago, World of Warcraft announced that game time would only be sold in units of 60 days for direct purchase. The options for 30, 90, and 180 days are disappearing. There is no change to the subscriptions, which is why many players will hardly notice a difference. But no matter how you look at it – the step has been taken to entice players into a subscription, hoping they will forget to cancel it.
The well-known WoW YouTuber Bellular has made a rather long stream about it, and I agree with him on almost all points. However, I would like to highlight a few of his points and enrich them with my own experiences and thoughts.
Cancellation has no reasonable justification
Why Blizzard removed the 3 options to pay for WoW for a certain period is more than just flimsy. In the blue post, it states that they “conducted a review of all services in all currencies” and based on that, made the decision to remove the game time options for 30, 90, and 180 days.
Every player just has to ask themselves what kind of “review” that was supposed to be. Were the offerings for 30, 90, and 180 days on the shelf for too long and about to exceed their expiration date?
The purely technical effort to keep these offerings in the shop is extremely low.
The only logical explanation here is that Activision Blizzard wants more revenue and longer commitments from players through this change. If anyone sees another explanation – feel free to share it in the comments.
In general, it holds true: Whenever a company restricts the available options for customers, it’s something negative. There are absolutely no improvements for the customer. Less choice “forces” players to consider an option they otherwise wouldn’t use.
Forgetting subscriptions – that’s what Blizzard is speculating on
Sure, one could say now, “Oh, I’ll just subscribe and cancel again,” and that is indeed the best option for consistent people at the moment.
But let’s be honest – hasn’t everyone here forgotten a subscription to a service somewhere or not used it during the respective period? For services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, PlayStation Plus, Crunchyroll, or Wakanim, I’ve found myself not using them for one, two, or even three months and later thought: “I could have canceled that and saved money.” I won’t even start talking about my 24 accumulated Audible credits.
That’s exactly what Blizzard is banking on with the change. They hope that players will commit to a subscription and forget it – and I honestly find that not unlikely at all. I personally know two people in my guild who suddenly realized during Battle for Azeroth that they still had an active subscription, resulting in them paying for another 3 or 6 months when they actually didn’t want to play anymore.
The thought process behind this is also quite easy to see through. If you have a subscription for World of Warcraft, no remaining game time is displayed in the Battle.net launcher. Obviously, because it automatically renews.
If you slowly lose interest in WoW, you may play a bit less, shifting your focus to other games. However, most still check in occasionally, completing daily and weekly tasks. For many players, that then slowly fades until they no longer log in.
However, the decision to cancel an active subscription must be made consciously. You have to clearly state to yourself, “The game frustrates me or no longer brings me joy; I will now cancel the subscription.” Many simply won’t do that. Regardless of whether they forget because they’ve shifted their focus to other activities or think, “Maybe I’ll want to check back in.”
With pre-purchased game time that doesn’t automatically renew, it’s the opposite.
In the Battle.net launcher, you constantly see the time remaining for how long you can still play WoW down in the left corner. In the last days and hours, this display changes color as a “warning” that the game time will soon expire.
But here, the thought process is exactly the opposite of the subscription. With direct game time, the player must ask themselves: “Is World of Warcraft still fun enough for me to pay again?”
The player has to make a conscious, renewed purchasing decision. They must weigh whether to initiate a purchasing process once again. This is a clear hurdle that must be overcome, and for some players, it results in no further game time being purchased. A customer is thus lost.
Subscription still deters in 2021
One last point that comes into play: A subscription is a significant hurdle.
For us long-time WoW players, who may have been there since Vanilla, Burning Crusade, or Wrath of the Lich King, this is nothing new. We’ve been used to paying subscription fees to Blizzard for over 15 years. Some readers here might have been paying for a WoW subscription for half their lives or longer. For veterans, this is everyday life, normalcy, and simply part of WoW.
But try bringing a new player into World of Warcraft and ask what has deterred them so far. For many, it’s the subscription. They don’t want to commit.
Until now, they haven’t had to. Strictly speaking, they still don’t have to now, but the thinning of the options clearly shows where the journey is heading.
Because anyone who wants to “just test” World of Warcraft with their friends and wants the cheapest option has to subscribe in order to play for 30 days. This is not only the cheapest option but also the only way to pay for the shortest period. And with every subscription, there is a chance that someone will forget their subscription and get stuck.
Of course, I understand anyone who says now: “You have yourself to blame if you subscribe; just be more careful.” Essentially, you are right; anyone who contracts themselves to something should consider that. But the fact that Blizzard offers this commitment as the only reasonable option after there have been other methods for years – that can be held against them. They are simply hoping that people will forget or the frustration won’t be too great to cancel the subscription.
Even if it ultimately doesn’t affect me, as I have been practicing “subscribe and cancel right away” for nearly 15 years – the abolition of the game time options is negative and to the detriment of the players. There’s no way to sugarcoat that – but feel free to try in the comments.
