Activision says that tickets to the 2009 edition of Blizzcon, the annual-ish two-day celebration of all things Blizzard, sold out completely in eight minutes.
The Blizzard wheel just keeps on turning and if Blizzcon ticket sales are anything to go by, even the merger with Activision, seen by many as the industry's new face of evil, hasn't slowed it down. Tickets to Blizzcon 2009 were being sold for a hefty $125 each - more than Comic Con, more than PAX - and yet all 20,000 of them sold out in eight minutes.
Eight minutes. If you decided to nip down and make a sandwich while you waited for the sale to begin, you probably missed out. As Big Download notes, that's presumably a combined eight minutes over the two separate days Blizzard had the tickets on sale.
Let's break those numbers down a bit. 20,000 tickets at $125 apiece is $2.5 million. An eight minute sellout means Blizzard raked in, on average, $312,500 per minute. That's $5,208 per second. In the same amount of time it took you to read about my mathematical wizardry, Blizzard made $31,248 on Blizzcon tickets. That's some pretty hot stuff.
But don't fret if you missed out: Blizzard is once again offering pay-per-view access to the show through DirecTV (in the U.S.) or online via streaming video for $39.95. It's not exactly the same as being there, but at this point it's as close as you're going to get.
Blizzcon 2009 takes place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, on August 21 and 22. Check out blizzcon.com for more information.
So after all that, they are still charging the pay-per-view to watch a convention on tv? Ok...dont know what if anything is worth all that. Shame that people will throw out their money like that.
I'm not even going to point out the irony on this topic. I'll let Max do it, provided he cares about this subject. Which he doesn't. But yes, I certainly agree. WOW.
I'm not even going to point out the irony on this topic. I'll let Max do it, provided he cares about this subject. Which he doesn't. But yes, I certainly agree. WOW.
No need to summon the horde now, Billy. Just... walk away.. Wow! A Bird! Wow! A Tree! Wow! I should probably stop that now.. (Unintentional rhyming, FTL.)
A buddy of mine and his friend bought tickets together. They were both on Ventrilo, both refreshing, and there was only a few seconds between his friend seeing the page go live, telling him, and my friend clicking the link.
And there were over 2,000 people between the two of them in line.
I'm not even going to point out the irony on this topic. I'll let Max do it, provided he cares about this subject. Which he doesn't. But yes, I certainly agree. WOW.
You just had to summon me, didn't you.
I was eating a sammich! You can point out your own damn irony.
Anyway, that is an absurd amount of money in a very short amount of time. That is honestly pretty incredible.
Metalhandkerchief: 2002: Blizzard sells out 2009: Blizzard sells out tickets to BlizzCon
*Crosses arms and stares thoughtfully into the ground* there must be some pattern.
Wait, they sold out with Warcraft 3? When did this happen?
So after all that, they are still charging the pay-per-view to watch a convention on tv? Ok...dont know what if anything is worth all that. Shame that people will throw out their money like that.
You want real coverage of Blizzcon for the price of absolutely bugger all? Go to www.WCRadio.com. Feel free to donate if you so wish, but they're not charging anything and going by last year their coverage was far and away better than Blizzard's DIRECTV stream.
BlueInkAlchemist: So am I, if I'm honest. I won a ticket through WarCry, and I can't go because the cost of airfare from Philly to Anaheim is prohibitive.
So is the whole point of Blizzcon just to promote their games? Cause why would they need to do such a thing when they have a loyal enough fanbase that buys their tickets in just 8 minutes??!
I guess this means The Escapist won't be covering Blizzcon like they did with E3 :P
So is the whole point of Blizzcon just to promote their games? Cause why would they need to do such a thing when they have a loyal enough fanbase that buys their tickets in just 8 minutes??!
I guess this means The Escapist won't be covering Blizzcon like they did with E3 :P
Oh no. Your trusty News Team (well, two of us) will be on the show floor ;)
Bourgeoius twats. Blizzard has merged with Activision,WOW is more popular than crack,Starcraft 2 was separated in 3 parts to make more money,and now you tell me that they can make f&!%ing $5,208 in a f@*#ing second!? All this dosh could be directed to stop hunger in Africa,save the whales,build orphanages,or at the very least fight terrorists. But noooo,it's going to Blizzard's coffers. They have everything to singlehandedly invade and capture a small country.
Okay,let me say this. Activision Blizzard is officially MOST EVIL CONGLOMERATE IN THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY.
Kollega: Bourgeoius twats. Blizzard has merged with Activision,WOW is more popular than crack,Starcraft 2 was separated in 3 parts to make more money,and now you tell me that they can make f&!%ing $5,208 in a f@*#ing second!? All this dosh could be directed to stop hunger in Africa,save the whales,build orphanages,or at the very least fight terrorists. But noooo,it's going to Blizzard's coffers. They have everything to singlehandedly invade and capture a small country.
Okay,let me say this. Activision Blizzard is officially MOST EVIL CONGLOMERATE IN THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY.
Do you know how expensive it is to rent out the entire Anaheim Convention Center for a week, set up and staff a con with all the cool little props and set pieces they're running? 2.5 million is a lot of money, but that's just revenue. Their profit was probably significantly smaller.
Obviously, their community is passionate enough about their games to do this. It isn't like they forced people to buy tickets at knifepoint or anything :P
Blizzard and Nintendo can finally have a money fight. They can make a moneyman. Hell! They can even sled down money mountain together. Isn't money just the coolest!
Kollega: Bourgeoius twats. Blizzard has merged with Activision,WOW is more popular than crack,Starcraft 2 was separated in 3 parts to make more money,and now you tell me that they can make f&!%ing $5,208 in a f@*#ing second!? All this dosh could be directed to stop hunger in Africa,save the whales,build orphanages,or at the very least fight terrorists. But noooo,it's going to Blizzard's coffers. They have everything to singlehandedly invade and capture a small country.
Okay,let me say this. Activision Blizzard is officially MOST EVIL CONGLOMERATE IN THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY.
Do you know how expensive it is to rent out the entire Anaheim Convention Center for a week, set up and staff a con with all the cool little props and set pieces they're running? 2.5 million is a lot of money, but that's just revenue. Their profit was probably significantly smaller.
Obviously, their community is passionate enough about their games to do this. It isn't like they forced people to buy tickets at knifepoint or anything :P
Whoops. I forgot that they actually have to pay for renting a convention center and build a scenery. I call bullshit on my own arguments... but my point still stands. Activision Blizzard are Eeeeeeeeviiiiiiil.
Jeronus: Blizzard and Nintendo can finally have a money fight. They can make a moneyman. Hell! They can even sled down money mountain together. Isn't money just the coolest!
So is the whole point of Blizzcon just to promote their games? Cause why would they need to do such a thing when they have a loyal enough fanbase that buys their tickets in just 8 minutes??!
I guess this means The Escapist won't be covering Blizzcon like they did with E3 :P
Oh no. Your trusty News Team (well, two of us) will be on the show floor ;)
...You beat all of those people under 8 minutes?
I'm starting to suspect that the "News Team" is just a clever façade to a very well disguise ninja syndicate.
Kollega: All this dosh could be directed to stop hunger in Africa,save the whales,build orphanages,or at the very least fight terrorists.
When the only world you care about is virtual, you can't expect much to be done about that other stuff.
Kollega: They have everything to singlehandedly invade and capture a small country.
Okay,let me say this. Activision Blizzard is officially MOST EVIL CONGLOMERATE IN THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY.
They certainly have the Chinese scared and they are the largest country on the planet. Activision Blizzard isn't evil. Creating something wildly popular doesn't make you evil. It just makes you big and scary.
So is the whole point of Blizzcon just to promote their games? Cause why would they need to do such a thing when they have a loyal enough fanbase that buys their tickets in just 8 minutes??!
I guess this means The Escapist won't be covering Blizzcon like they did with E3 :P
Oh no. Your trusty News Team (well, two of us) will be on the show floor ;)
...You beat all of those people under 8 minutes?
I'm starting to suspect that the "News Team" is just a clever façade to a very well disguise ninja syndicate.
Kyah!
A number of places, including some official fan sites, get free tickets. The Escapist news team might have done the same.
Or they're very good at hitting the refresh button.
So is the whole point of Blizzcon just to promote their games? Cause why would they need to do such a thing when they have a loyal enough fanbase that buys their tickets in just 8 minutes??!
I guess this means The Escapist won't be covering Blizzcon like they did with E3 :P
Oh no. Your trusty News Team (well, two of us) will be on the show floor ;)
...You beat all of those people under 8 minutes?
I'm starting to suspect that the "News Team" is just a clever façade to a very well disguise ninja syndicate.
Kyah!
A number of places, including some official fan sites, get free tickets. The Escapist news team might have done the same.
Or they're very good at hitting the refresh button.
I like my idea best, it's more entertaining to imagine the staff on a mad F5F5F5F5 spree. ;x
Good thing I never had any plans on officially ending up going to Blizzcon. Oh well, I can always find out any highly important new information released there after Blizzcon's over.
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Blizzcon 2009 Sells Out in Eight Minutes
Activision says that tickets to the 2009 edition of Blizzcon, the annual-ish two-day celebration of all things Blizzard, sold out completely in eight minutes.
The Blizzard wheel just keeps on turning and if Blizzcon ticket sales are anything to go by, even the merger with Activision, seen by many as the industry's new face of evil, hasn't slowed it down. Tickets to Blizzcon 2009 were being sold for a hefty $125 each - more than Comic Con, more than PAX - and yet all 20,000 of them sold out in eight minutes.
Eight minutes. If you decided to nip down and make a sandwich while you waited for the sale to begin, you probably missed out. As Big Download notes, that's presumably a combined eight minutes over the two separate days Blizzard had the tickets on sale.
Let's break those numbers down a bit. 20,000 tickets at $125 apiece is $2.5 million. An eight minute sellout means Blizzard raked in, on average, $312,500 per minute. That's $5,208 per second. In the same amount of time it took you to read about my mathematical wizardry, Blizzard made $31,248 on Blizzcon tickets. That's some pretty hot stuff.
But don't fret if you missed out: Blizzard is once again offering pay-per-view access to the show through DirecTV (in the U.S.) or online via streaming video for $39.95. It's not exactly the same as being there, but at this point it's as close as you're going to get.
Blizzcon 2009 takes place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, on August 21 and 22. Check out blizzcon.com for more information.
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