In a bid to woo World of Warcraft players from MMOG archrival Blizzard and to narrow the gap in
subscriber numbers between WoW and Everquest II, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is ratcheting up the competition on
three fronts.
First, in a press release that only briefly mentions that Everquest II has reached the 350,000-subscriber mark, SOE escalates the war of words with several direct attacks aimed directly at World of Warcraft?s notorious login wait times. Here?s one blitz quoted directly from the release:
?We believe strongly in ensuring that the players can get into EverQuest II whenever they want. Understandably, all MMO games have downtime for maintenance and patching, but we don?t believe in making our players wait to play our games. Players are paying a monthly subscription to play a game and our job is to work hard to let them play it as much as, and when, they choose.?
Second, SOE includes in the release a list of improvements made to the game since launch, most of which are designed to make the game a more favorable environment for new players, lower-level players, and those who like to solo. This is the market that WoW has serviced so well with their novice-friendly design and that has contributed to that game?s rapid ascension to 800,000 subscriber that we blogged earlier this week.
Third, SOE launched a free trial-version of Everquest II called ?Trial of the Isle? that allows players to play up to four characters free for an entire year in the new-player tutorial area called the ?Island of Refuge? (most players leave this area before level 10). The idea is to get people to try Everquest II?s new, newbie-friendly starting game and upsell a full-game subscription to them.
And let?s not forget the context for all of this: a simultaneous drop in subscribers for the original Everquest game. For Everquest II to succeed, SOE needs to convince more of the departing Everquest I players to return to the Everquest franchise. That?s why the list of additions to EQII since launch includes features such as ?New heritage quests, including Golden Efreeti Boots and the Crown of King Tranix.?
Based on these developments, it?s clear that SOE is modifying EQ II and their marketing messages to take Blizzard head on. The stakes are high: that 400,000-player gap between EQII and WoW works out to nearly $6 million in gross subsription revenues per month.
