I have a thing about graphs without labeled axes. Just yesterday, I was literally making fun of the time Nexon turned in this unitless graph in its investor report. Yay squiggly lines!
I say this to prepare you for what SuperData dropped last night following the World of Warcraft Shadowlands stream. The analytics firm emphasizes what fans surely already know: that WoW makes bank on these expansions. Its graph is likewise unitless (it sells these data to industry), so requisite side-eyes, but it’s still a useful to see Legion, Battle for Azeroth, and Classic stacked up against each other. It’s also useful to see how low that dip after BFA went, and how Classic didn’t really hold the base long (though longer than BFA). Again, you already knew that if you read the SuperData monthly reports on Classic’s staggering rise and fall through anything but rose-tinted glasses, but it’s helpful to see it laid out in comparison.
https://twitter.com/_SuperData/status/1280940971686088704
“Expansions are the lifeblood for World of Warcraft,” the firm tweeted. “For the past two expansions and WoW Classic, monthly revenue has jumped an average of 160% on release.” Can Shadowlands do it again? Guess we’ll see.
