So according to Bioware...

Since Blizzard has two different types of Subscriptions US\EU then the type they have in China. Then ya I find it difficult to use their formula.

Not really. Sure the ones in China are paying less per month than say most of rest of the world, but they are still "paying subs". 15 US dollars in China is a ton more money than it is for folks in the US.

See...this is were you and I differ. In you own words US pays more then China...So US Sub=China Sub...Even thought they pay less. Let that sink in for a bit.....When I left WoW....Wasn't because of anything in game....I was outraged...That I was being forced to provide welfare...so that some kid in China would be forced to play to gather gold to sell on the internet.

when gw2 tanks over all the hype will you posst on there forum as well

Technically, the article says "nearly $200 million." So, less than $200 M, if the article is correct: – there is no source cited for the development cost.

I'm not kidding at all, because that's not what some people here are saying. They are saying if you have paid for a 6-month sub, and cancel two months into it, you shouldn't count as an "active sub" in months 3-6.

Funny and worrying all in one statement.

OK, instead of replying in the same wanna’ be gotcha’ fashion I am going to direct you to my answer to Zmidponk’s post below as he is actually attempting to have a conversation as opposed to trying to look witty on the internet.

OK, I want to start this out by saying please do not read any “trolling”. “hating” or whatever into my reply, I am not trying to attack you. With that said you seem to be missing some key details, so I am going to highlight them for you.

If you go back and look at the OP post you will see that he quoted the following from the article:

“Subscriber numbers are funny things. How you count them – the math you use – really matters, and there are lots of variables to consider,”

And in conclusion he (the OP) said “Joking aside, this looks like really shoddy attempt at damage control, and it makes me wonder if things are really worse than they appear to be.”

In reply I added the rest of that sentence in my post:

“Subscriber numbers are funny things. How you count them – the math you use – really matters, and there are lots of variables to consider,” he said. “Such as, people that simply subscribe compared to people that actually buy the box. There are very different numbers out there, and you should be smart about which one you use when you talk to the press.”

I then addressed the concern that the OP seemed to be raising with his use of that quote from the article; obvious PR spin looks bad but there are reasons for doing it. You will note that I have highlighted the same parts in the quote above. So let me again point out that SUBSCRIPTION NUMBERS have F-all to do with BOX SALES, they are two very different things. This is the spin I am talking about, specifically because it is part of the sentence that the OP quoted.

Now I am glad that you did in fact choose to read the rest of the article because it directly related to the next part of my post. Later in the article he (Emmanuel Lusinchi) said:

“Now, I’m not the best person to talk about subscriber numbers, that’s important to mention. We are a publically traded company, and subscriber numbers - like other things - are very touchy subjects. Even if I knew them I couldn’t talk to you about them because it would be impacting on stock price and all that stuff. And I don’t actually get raw numbers every day anyway.”

You will note that I have highlighted some parts of the quote above, in my post I said:

“…which is why most companies engage in the spin and misdirection you see quoted above when the numbers aren’t what they want them to be. And honestly it is perfectly understandable…

So yeah, I would expect to see more interactions with the press and public that include a great deal of cognitive dissidence for the time being, it is kind of the nature of the beast.”

And this is the part of my post were I was pointing out that the “big conspiracy” tone some of this thread has taken is false and a little silly, this is what businesses must do when the market isn’t going their way. They have to in order to protect against a drop in the stock price…not necessarily an honest practice, but a common one.

So here it seems you have missed that I was directly answering the OP with information that would downplay any “the sky is falling” inference that might be made over the contents of the article linked.

Unlike Kharnis who comes off as one of the “you said something bad about SWTOR or Bioware so I need to attempt to belittle/attack you” types we see here on the forums you actually seem to want to engage on the subject and that is why I am taking the time to be this thorough in my answer.

Now the second point seems to be a very simple misunderstanding, let me quote my post again:

I think the most useful conversation would be to discus Active Subscriptions because this is the only number the playerbase has any real interest in, it is what determines how many other people, in total, are available to enjoy the game with you, but let’s not confuse this with Active Server Population numbers which will determine how many people are directly available to play with you, be it by joining a quest, operation or being the opposition in PVP on your server.

And my other reply to you:

And as I said active subscriptions are very easy for Bioware to count, just pick if you want to count only subscriptions that have been active in the last thirty days, last two weeks, last two months, whatever.

The information is right there, it’s just a matter of what they choose to reveal to the rest of us…

I am talking about ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTIONS.
In your reply you talk about Subscription numbers.
We are talking about two different things in this case. I for one don’t give a flying #$%k about how many total subscriptions anyone wants to claim SWTOR has or does not have and I have no interest in that conversation, I only care about ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTIONS because that is the number of people I can actually have the opportunity to play SWTOR with.

Dear gods of the interwebs that was a long post…

So I hope that clears things up, again like I said above none of this should be taken in a “hostile tone”, I am just trying to clear up any misunderstandings that have taken place about what I have said.

Cheers.

could you repeat that

Ill let BW in on a little secret:

Counting subscriptions is EASY: you count people that have payed you sub!

We already knew that you padded numbers for 1,7m and 1,3m so no surprise in this indepth "how to pad sub numbers" guide.