Woo, Activision is in the news for another big buy.  This one’s not as big as buying King, but it could wind up having a more apparent impact, as they have purchased the e-sports organization Major League Gaming.

This will apparently save MLG from bankruptcy at the same time.  New media is a tough business, but more on that later.  Let’s start with Activision’s point of view.

The WOW factor

Chances are, Activision is in an acquisition mode right now due at least in part to the influence of the decline of World of Warcraft.  WOW seems to be hitting a tipping point.  I’m sure it’s still a massive money maker, but it’s no secret that the subscription numbers aren’t anything like what they once were.

Clearly the best days are in the past.

In fact, Activision has stopped reporting their subscription numbers.  This indicates that the downward trend is continuing, and they no longer feel that making those numbers public is a display of strength that would help their business.  At this point it’s likely that Final Fantasy 14 has a larger subscription base than World of Warcraft, as FF14 reportedly passed 5 million subscribers over the summer.

The simple fact is that any service has an expiration date, and an MMO is a game as a service.  Activision-Blizzard has done a tremendous job of keeping people interested, and having the content treadmill remain engaging for a tremendously long time.  They likely have a good portion of players who weren’t born yet when the game was released, they don’t know a world without World of Warcraft.  Even still, eventually users are going to have taken everything they can from the experience and move on, and the numbers will creep down steadily.  WOW will probably still be with us for many years, but it is losing its luster as a crown jewel.

That’s not to say that this is a dying franchise, though, just the waning of this incarnation of it, and that’s the tipping point Activision is at now.  They can no longer rely on WOW to be the be all, end all of their business, so they are starting to re-invest in the property, and their business, and diversifying.  They still have another expansion in the production pipeline, a movie coming out, and the game Hearthstone.  They purchased King, likely to assist their push into mobile and free to play space.  Now they’ve purchased Major League Gaming.

FIRE THE BASS CANNON

Pages: 1 2 3