Rift Interview, One Million Copies Sold-Through
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But while 1 million units sold-through is an important milestone for any MMO, for one that is based on subscriptions, the question is if the game has retention. If a subscriber base dries up, that initial surge doesn't mean nearly as much.
Reid and Trion were somewhat hesitant about revealing the current subscription figures for Rift, but the executive did hint at where Rift's subscriber base stands.
"We're really pleased with what we're seeing. And beyond that, it was a pleasure to see that in the latest Activision Blizzard earnings call, they inquired about Rift when Blizzard announced that their subscriber numbers went from 12 million to 11.4 million," he said.
"You can do some math... we know very well where those 600,000 people are," he said coyly.
While there will still be skeptics about Rift's ability to retain players, Reid is confident that three months in - well after the initial 30-day trial period - a lot of players are sticking with the game.
"I think that there is a pattern or history that you can see across other [MMOs]," said Reid. "...We have seen that when new games launch, people go and play them, then people go back to World of Warcraft. That has been historically true."
But, he said, "I think it would be a mistake to look at past history as an indicator of future performance in this case. We know we have a very stick game, we know we are getting a lot of success right now. ... If in fact the 600,000 players [Blizzard] lost came to Rift, I don't think they'll be getting those 600,000 people back as quick as they did from Aion, Conan, Warhammer and the like."
