World of WarCraft Group 2

Customer Segments

CUSTOMER ANALYSIS Young Technology-Savvy; Driven By Entertainment Purchase Problems: lack of steady income, quickly move on to next “hot” item. Benefits Sought: Entertainment, escape from day-to-day life. Purchase History: Continued subscription, returning if interrupted. Characteristics: Very comfortable with tech and virtual worlds, primarily a way to “pass the time”. Use Situation: In free time, somewhat heavy but continuous. Young Technology-Savvy; Driven By Entertainment Growth Trends: Was growing strong, slight dip this year. Buying Behavior: Largely peer-influenced, affected by other releases. Size: 8 million worldwide.

Competition segments

Less Direct Competition COMPETITION SEGMENTS MMORPG’s Rift Aoin Entropia Guild Wars Star Wars: The Old Republic Free MMORPG’s RuneScape Fiesta Online Second Life Evony Battlestar Galactica Direct Competition Computer Games Dead Space 2 Mass Effect 3 Dragon Age 2 Portal 2 RAGE Internal Competition (Blizzard Entertainment Products) Diablo StarCraft Less Direct Competition Alternative Entertainment Movies/DVD Board Games Music/IPod/IPad Television Books/E-Reading Telephone/Smartphones Sports Game Systems Nintendo Wii Sony Playstation 3 Microsoft XBOX 360 Nintendo DS Sony PSP Go Substitutes

Competition ANALYSIS Direct Competition: RIFT (Trion Worlds) Position/Trends: Innovation/MMO market changes daily. Scope/Objectives: Rift was created as an “improvement of existing MMO games” Capabilities/Weaknesses: -Strong Investors -”Launched in Wow's Shadow” Positioning Strategy: Innovative (Just launched first high end graphics F2P) Target Markets: Rift is our “love letter” to the gamer who has followed the natural progression of MMO gaming Direct Competition: RIFT (Trion Worlds) Unique Capabilities: Several big name investors. Competitive Advantage: One of the first MMORPG with high end graphics that ran across several platforms.

Marketplace ANALYSIS Massive-Multiplayer Online Games Growth Rate/Life Cycle: There is a 25.4% annual growth rate, Asia markets continue to grow to more than 70% of the industry. Actual/Potential Size: MMOs have a higher growth rate than music or movies, with a potential 50% increase over the next few years. Participants/Structure: Thousands/millions of players simultaneously. Massive-Multiplayer Online Games Trends/ Success Factors: Success comes from the massive online worlds & how players can interact in this virtual world. Cost/Profitability: Global revenues of approximately $12.0 billion annually. Historical Background: Gained popularity in the late 1980’s, the MMO industry continued success through the last two decades. An online game in which a large number of people play the game and simultaneously interact in a persistent world.

Environmental Trends Increase in health focus on national scale, fighting obesity, increasing activity Economic downturn Technology innovations- hardware (graphics cards, processors, etc) International conflict Technology innovations- software (development of new games, more realistic virtual worlds) Mass Prediction Technology Cross Cultural Exposure Increase in Tolerant Market Gaming Industry Growth –20% annually Increase in Security Concern Aging of customers – ideal player age 16-34 Growth in social networking

Environmental analysis Immediacy Low High Increase Health Focus Increase in Tolerant Market Technology Innovations Hardware Software Growth in Social Networking Gaming Industry Growth Security Concern International Conflict Cross Cultural Exposure Mass Prediction Technology Economic Downturn Aging of Customers High Impact Low

Blizzard Entertainment A Division of Activision Blizzard Inc. A. Financial Performance 2010 sales revenues: $1.6 billion (an increase of $460m from 2009) Market Share: “The leader in terms of subscriber base and revenues generated in the subscription-based MMORPG category. “ B. Other Performance Indicators Quality: Dedicated to providing gamers with the greatest high quality entertainment experience Service: around the world 24/7 game support to WOW players Brand Loyalty: establish long-term relationships with gamers New Product Activity: developing new content for all 3 of their franchises: WOW, StarCraft and Diablo; Working on an unannounced project that will become their next generation MMORPG. C. Determinants of Strategic Options and Choices Strategy: “Maintain and Build upon Our Leadership Position in the MMORPG Category and PC Online Categories” Strategic Problems: Possibility of new technologies that replace MMORPG games If consumer preferences trend away from MMORPG games If new business models emerge

RESOURCES http://us.battle.net/wow/en/ http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/ http://www.wowwiki.com/Portal:Main http://www.wowhead.com/ http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=575495 http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/05/09/world-of-warcraft-dips-to-a-mere-11-4-million-subscribers/ http://www.trionworlds.com/en/ http://www.riftgame.com/en/ http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ACTI/1392708319x0x461467/F432BA16-3D54-4EDB-9269-4F744E33B771/Activision_Blizzard_2010_ARS_Final_PDF.pdf