Vivendi (owners of Blizzard) made a massive $1.5 billion in 2007, a great deal of it coming from the Burning Crusade.

We know for sure: it's actually around $1.2 billion (which is up 58% from 2006). Now, you can probably see that that's only $500 million short of the estimate that we were trying to prove was wrong, but don't forget that the $1.2 billion isn't just subscription fees-- it includes all those sales of Burning Crusade last year at full release price. What Blizzard earns from subscription fees is just part of that total.
 

The World of Warcraft subscriber base has hit 9.3 million people... dang!

Publisher Vivendi has announced that its games division's sales have rised nearly 19 percent to 216 million euros ($315.2 million) in its third quarter, on the "continued momentum" of World of Warcraft and initial sales of Massive's World in Conflict.

The third quarter sales are up from last year's sales of 182 million euros ($265.6 million). For the first nine months, Vivendi has seen its total sales rise 50 percent over 2006 to 716 million euros ($1.04 billion).

The warning is contained in Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report, which predicts that over the next six to 24 months a number of security concerns will emerge as the use of these virtual environments expand.

An entertaining, if not entirely practical piece on how you might be able to make a little bit of money to support yourself while playing WOW.

If you're one of us who just can't have enough of the internet, maybe it's about time for you to earn through it as well. Webworker Daily names 10 ways to make money online; we reversed the numbers to emphasize the last one, our personal favorite.

10. Sell your personal expertise in an online marketplace.
9. Sell photos on stock photography sites.
8. Blog for pay.
7. Start your own blog network.
6. Provide service and support for open source software.
5. Be an online personal coach.
4. Virtually assist other web workers.
3. Build services atop Amazon Web Services

 

WoW is a literal money machine for Blizzard, and everyone knows this including their competition. Hence, the race is on to find the next "WoW Killer".

Industry insiders credit WoW’s developers with improving upon the handful of moderately successful online games that preceded it, including Everquest and Lineage. And with 8 million players paying as much as $15 a month to play the game—estimates suggest it pulled in $1 billion in revenue last year for Blizzard—WoW demonstrated that online gaming is a new force. DFC Intelligence has forecast that the worldwide online game market is expected to grow from $3.4 billion in 2005 to more than $13 billion in 2011. “Everybody is trying to develop the next World of Warcraft killer,” says Mr. Frega.

Interesting CNET article on how company's stand to make a lot of money, and everyone would be better off, if they just allowed and even promoted real world transactions for virtual goods.

Perhaps the makers of virtual worlds shouldn't be so persnickety about allowing players to exchange real money for virtual goods.

In a report set to be released Wednesday, Sony Online Entertainment has concluded that so-called real-money trades can be good for both gamers and publishers if handled at controlled locations such as Sony's own Station Exchange, a 1-year-old experiment to make transactions of virtual goods for real money a direct part of EverQuest II rather than an illicit activity.

Walmart is predicting that 90% of current WoW users will be buying the BC expansion...

Can you say cha-ching! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$