WoW Classic Character Clone Unlocks will now be $15

I guess people were furious or rioting or something, because it isn’t often that you get to see Blizzard change course in front of a live studio audience.  They aren’t SOE/Daybreak after all. (Though there is the Holly Longdale connection, so maybe a link?  The Norrath team was prone to making changes based on community feedback.)

Through the Dark Portal

Earlier this week I was on about how the price of a character clone unlock as part of the WoW Classic / Burning Crusade Classic seemed kind of pricey at $35.  It felt, to me at least, like an item that would have price elasticity, meaning a lower price might actually sell enough more that it would end up in greater profit overall for Blizz.

Blizzard seems to have taken to that idea, or responded to customer complaints, or something, because earlier today they announced a reduction in the price in the forums:

Salutations, WoW Classic players! We’d like to inform you about a course correction we’re making.

When you log in to WoW Classic after the patch next week, each of your Classic characters will choose between staying in Classic Era (version 1.13) and progressing to Burning Crusade Classic (version 2.5). For those who want to play a character in both versions, we’re offering a service to purchase a character clone in the other version of the game.

This service – providing a player with a second copy of a character in a different game – is new for us. Our original concept of the value of this service was largely based on how we price other optional items and services. We want players who choose Classic Era realms to feel as though their choice comes with the possibility that they’ll be able to build relationships and guilds with other players they can count on.

However, over the last week or so, we’ve gotten a very large amount of feedback from the community, and we’ve decided to lower the price. A lower price will likely still accomplish our goals with the new service, while allowing many more players to explore the option of playing characters on both Classic Era and Burning Crusade Classic realms.

After careful consideration, we’ve decided to lower the price of a cloned character in WoW Classic to $15.00 USD ($20.00 CAD, $20.00 AUD, $24.00 NZD). You’ll see the lower price in-game when the service becomes available next week.

As always, we deeply appreciate the passion and thoughtfulness of the WoW community. We play WoW alongside you, and we can’t wait to join you next week on Classic Era realms, in the Burning Crusade Classic pre-patch, and as we step through the Dark Portal with you in June.

Thank you very much,

– The World of Warcraft Development Team

A course correction indeed!

That still doesn’t mean I will use the service.  I plan to move forward into The Burning Crusade and there are only so many hours in the day.  But it is now far much more likely that I could, as the price isn’t quite the barrier it once was.  I thought the $10-20 range was a better plan, and they landed right in the middle of that range.

The End of the Steam Winter Sale with 2020 Stats and Awards

The Steam Winter Sale wrapped up earlier today.

Done for 2020

As far as the sale went, I have nothing to report as I did not purchase a single thing.  Given that 2020 was a year of boosted video game sales as we all stayed home, I fell short on my part, at least when it came to Steam, so nothing to write about on that front.  Fortunately, Steam also ends the Winter Sale with some awards and lists.  Those I can go on about.

First, there were the 2020 Steam Awards, which are nominated by and voted for by Steam users.  There were ten categories.

2020 Award Winners

You might not be able to read the actual winners, so here they are listed out:

• Game of the Year – Red Dead Redemption 2
• VR Game of the Year – Half-Life: Alyx
• Labor of Love – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Better with Friends – Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
• Most Innovative Gameplay – DEATH STRANDING
• Outstanding Story-Rich Game – Red Dead Redemption 2
• Best Game You Suck At – Apex Legends
• Outstanding Visual Style – Ori and the Will of the Wisps
• Best Soundtrack – DOOM Eternal
• Sit Back and Relax – The Sims 4

Not only have I not played a single game on that list, not one of the games I nominated were picked to vote on nor did any game I voted for become the winner.  If I complain about blogging being dead you might remind me that I am so far from what is popular these days that it might just be me.

Anyway, that is all opinion based.  Steam also puts out their lists of best selling and most played titles.  There is a blog post that describes all the categories and what they mean, but only two interest me.  They are:

• Top 100 Games as Measured by Gross Revenue

The Platinum Bracket

There are no numbers here, just a stack ranking so, if you compare with last year’s list, you don’t know if GTA V players spent a lot more or if Warframe players, the 2019 top of the list, spent a lot less.  But the lists are not stack ranked by bracket, so you only know that something in the Platinum category made more than something in the Gold and Silver categories.

It is fun that Among Us made the cut.  It is just $4.99 to buy, though it has some cosmetics for purchase as well.  But that was enough to get it in the pack.

• Games with the Highest Peak Concurrent Players

The Steam blog post about this says that 2020 saw such a boost over 2019 that they had to change the brackets.  Last year the brackets were 100K, 50K, 25K, and 50K, but for 2020 they had to boost them to 200K, 100K, 50K, and 30K,.

Steam 2020 – The 200K Bracket

Not a lot of surprised at the top, and certainly some overlap with the revenue chart, while the 100K chart digs up some more familiar titles.

Steam 2020 – The 200K Bracket

For those interested, there is also:

• Top New Releases as Measured by Gross Revenue

That is a good one if you want to filter out people who are still playing GTA V and Warframe.

• Top VR-Exclusive Experiences as Measured by Gross Revenue

Half-Life: Alyx and Beat Sabre are in the top bracket of course, but so is VR Kanojo.  I suppose it says something that one of the highest grossing VR game involves hanging out with a Japanese school girl.

• Top Early Access Graduates as Measured by Gross Revenue

This one is always a bit of an eye-roll for me.  Titles I recognize, like Factorio, made the cut, but then I wonder how long they’ve been hanging out in early access status while still selling.

• Top Controller Games as Measured by Daily Active Controller Players

And then there is the category from which I am totally divorced.  I mean, I have a controller around here somewhere, stuffed in a drawer, but I couldn’t tell you the last time I used it.

Anyway, that is Steam reporting on 2020.  I am almost done with blog posts about that year… almost.