Even the Chinese now have to pay in advance for WoW – and surprisingly, this is working without significant losses. Quite the contrary.
When comparing the Asian market for online games with the Western market, some things stand out immediately. In the West, it is quite common to pay for games in advance and then “have peace of mind” or spend money through a subscription model. In Asia, it is often different. Free2Play titles have dominated the market, and Pay2Play and Buy2Play titles have struggled – at least until now.
More Revenue Despite Transition to Subscription Model
With the release of the “Legion” expansion, World of Warcraft has changed its payment model in China: Chinese players must now also subscribe. Previously, players could pay by the hour for exactly the amount of time they spent in Azeroth.
As reported by Superdata, the transition did not lead to the feared (and predicted by angry players) drop in revenue in China, but achieved the opposite: In contrast to the $8 million in July, NetEase (the WoW publisher in China) generated $37 million in revenue in August.
A large part of this revenue surely comes from the direct sale of the expansion. Nevertheless, these revenues show that Legion is also a success in China – only League of Legends was able to earn more in August. This transition also proves that even the “difficult” Asian market can be convinced to spend money in advance for games and that not only Free2Play titles can be successful. Especially World of Warcraft and Overwatch have prompted many Chinese to spend money in advance for a game – which is “normal” for us, but rather an exception in China.
Chinese players had time prior to these changes to exchange their already purchased playtime for “subscription days”.
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