Blizzard creates own currency "WoW Gold" instead of using Bitcoin

[ajareselde]

It is quite simple. Blizzard likes to be in control. Just that. When Blizzard has its own currency that will mean it can be manipulated in any way Blizzard wish, with bitcoin it is not so simple.

Pretty much this.

I mean who wouldn't want to print his/her own money?

Its not a problem that they have their tokens, the problem is if people give it too much attention, but i doubt it will happen.
Its also not surprising they made this move, since most of their customers are using paypal and are quite happy with that, not every non-adoption is a fail.

cheers

[Hazir]

They have no clue about economy. Not long ago they made Diablo 3 with an online marketplace, so people wouldn't sell items outside the game and at the same time pay a nice tax to blizzard. A year ago they were forced to close it down. Bottom line, prices in the real money marketplace were so pumped up that it was much better to trade with in game gold, and gold marketplace was as always hyperinflated by Chinese farmers Let's wait and see how this new idea works out.

I remember this. I was ab avid Diablo 3 player back then. But that economy of Blizzard from D3 was not to amuse people or make life easier. Auction House in Diablo 3 was created for Blizzard to make more money. Every transaction was after all taxed by them. I imagine that will be a thing with their new project as well. Blizzard is a stock company, they need to make money. They do not care how they will earn them.

[Lethn]

This shouldn't be any surprise, considering how DRM infested the Blizzard games have gotten ( I actually outright refuse to buy any of their new games or play them because of it ) it seems pretty normal to me that they'd completely detest the idea of linking their game to a currency they couldn't control either.

As usual Bitcoin proves to be a true litmus test as others have said for those who preach the free market and those who actually believe in it.

[unamis76]

Not even a in game currency it is just game time, it's a month of wow access you can buy and trade for gold. It won't be the basis of the economy or will it be accepted on the auction house. It is a way to buy gold from one player and the other get wow time saving them 15 bucks.

So basically marketing at it's finest, I guess

No, but it would be nice if more game companies took Bitcoin.

I agree with you on that... I'd love to see Steam accepting Bitcoin on the store

[Snail2]

I would be surprised if any of the gaming companies would use such a volatile in game currency as BTC, especially when have zero influence over the price of it.
About one and a half year ago a Minecraft server operator complained about how using LTC as ingame currency killed the in-game market first later his gaming community and finally his server. (He utilized LTC when it worth something next to nothing and he ended up with a Minecraft world where almost anything was controlled by a few speculators.)

[maku]

I would be surprised if any of the gaming companies would use such a volatile in game currency as BTC, especially when have zero influence over the price of it.
About one and a half year ago a Minecraft server operator complained about how using LTC as ingame currency killed the in-game market first later his gaming community and finally his server. (He utilized LTC when it worth something next to nothing and he ended up with a Minecraft world where almost anything was controlled by a few speculators.)

Bitcoin is volatile, that is a fact. So why so many big players, much bigger than some game companies already accepted bitcoin? Why Microsoft and Dell or online shops like Newegg are accepting bitcoin now? And your LTC example is a little off the road - in my opinion the ONLY cryptocurrency worth promoting is bitcoin. LTC or Doge not to mention some more coins like PayCoin are just not good at all.

[maku]

Recently Blizzard worked on new kind of "token currency" and they did it! But look what potentially would happen when Blizzard (or any other gaming company) tries to create some sort of substitute altcoin (note: it is not real altcoin, and it's not based on blockchain or anything but just imagine what will happen if it would): http://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcrafts-new-token-currency-sheds-a-quarter-of-its-value-in-one-day/
They don't have any idea about economy...

[Fabrizio89]

That's pretty stupid

[ensurance982]

It's much easier for them to deal with. In case anything goes wrong, they still have control over the currency. Also, well, they're selling that currency to their customers. They want to make money

[DarkHyudrA]

Recently Blizzard worked on new kind of "token currency" and they did it! But look what potentially would happen when Blizzard (or any other gaming company) tries to create some sort of substitute altcoin (note: it is not real altcoin, and it's not based on blockchain or anything but just imagine what will happen if it would): http://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcrafts-new-token-currency-sheds-a-quarter-of-its-value-in-one-day/
They don't have any idea about economy...

The game got super inflated. There's too much gold generated from old players, and little to none way of that gold being "sinked"(the auction house always cut 5%, but that's pretty low).
And you guys must remeber that gold is generated from nowhere, every second. Transactions on the game are instant except when trying to move things between servers. Tho se 2 things I believe that a blockchain solution won't be enough.

[spazzdla]

WoW Gold should be purchasable with Bitcoin.
I'm confident they will add that ability, sometime in the future.

This.

[tokeweed]

Why, Blizzard, Why?   

http://cointelegraph.com/news/113620/blizzard-creates-own-digital-currency-for-world-of-warcraft-still-doesnt-accept-bitcoin



Makes no sense to me, especially for a game that has an auction house, sells so many accounts and in game currency on eBay for real money...this would be a perfect match to avoid scams and such if done properly.

Guess they have no way to apply regulation to it, but still.  Way to be non-progressive, Blizzard!   

[Q7]

If they don't integrate bitcoin to their system, people can still find other channels to acquire wow gold to pay using bitcoin. There are a lot of websites and marketplace that you can trade without using their system. So either way for them it's a loss of opportunity and imagine the amount of fees they could have collected if it was done through their system.

[tokeweed]

If they don't integrate bitcoin to their system, people can still find other channels to acquire wow gold to pay using bitcoin. There are a lot of websites and marketplace that you can trade without using their system. So either way for them it's a loss of opportunity and imagine the amount of fees they could have collected if it was done through their system.

Ripple or Stellar could be useful for this.

[BitcoinNewbie15]

That would be awesome if World of Warcraft accepted BTC payments! I hope they don't create their own crypto currency though. Hopefully they will accept BTC some time in the future

[tokeweed]

That would be awesome if World of Warcraft accepted BTC payments! I hope they don't create their own crypto currency though. Hopefully they will accept BTC some time in the future

Hopefully...  But I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Kprawn]

I want to see this in some of their other games.... {StarCraft} 

They should have a betting system built in with escrow, where spectators bet on the outcome of matches in tournaments. {Sport betting}

I watch these tournaments and would also like to Tip the players {in game} if it was a GG. It's a spectator sport, and we should be able to bet on the outcome of these games. {Pro levels}

Blizzard could take a percentage of the bets, for the escrow service being rendered. {They like to make money on everything}

So on top of the prize money, people can bet on these games and the incentive for the Pro players will be to play better to get more tips. 

[ChuckBuck]

I want to see this in some of their other games.... {StarCraft} 

They should have a betting system built in with escrow, where spectators bet on the outcome of matches in tournaments. {Sport betting}

I watch these tournaments and would also like to Tip the players {in game} if it was a GG. It's a spectator sport, and we should be able to bet on the outcome of these games. {Pro levels}

Blizzard could take a percentage of the bets, for the escrow service being rendered. {They like to make money on everything}

So on top of the prize money, people can bet on these games and the incentive for the Pro players will be to play better to get more tips. 

To add to your perceptive post, if Blizzard or eSports events could somehow award prize money in BTC, that'd be good for all parties involved.

We're already seeing BTC tipping thanks to Changetip and Twitch for gamers livestreaming:

http://www.coindesk.com/changetip-integrates-with-game-streaming-service-twitch-tv/

Also, Xapo and CEVO with their partnership:

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/19958/xapo-partners-online-gaming-company-cevo-holds-21000-giveaway/

Looks promising on the gaming/Bitcoin front, hopefully Blizzard follows suit soon.

[bryant.coleman]

If everyone in the world creates their own crypto currency, then there will be billions of different shitcoins around, and none of them will be having any value. BTW, I was thinking that Blizzard was intelligent. Seems that he was not.

[Amph]

I want to see this in some of their other games.... {StarCraft} 

They should have a betting system built in with escrow, where spectators bet on the outcome of matches in tournaments. {Sport betting}

I watch these tournaments and would also like to Tip the players {in game} if it was a GG. It's a spectator sport, and we should be able to bet on the outcome of these games. {Pro levels}

Blizzard could take a percentage of the bets, for the escrow service being rendered. {They like to make money on everything}

So on top of the prize money, people can bet on these games and the incentive for the Pro players will be to play better to get more tips. 

To add to your perceptive post, if Blizzard or eSports events could somehow award prize money in BTC, that'd be good for all parties involved.

We're already seeing BTC tipping thanks to Changetip and Twitch for gamers livestreaming:

http://www.coindesk.com/changetip-integrates-with-game-streaming-service-twitch-tv/

Also, Xapo and CEVO with their partnership:

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/19958/xapo-partners-online-gaming-company-cevo-holds-21000-giveaway/

Looks promising on the gaming/Bitcoin front, hopefully Blizzard follows suit soon.

there was already some events with bitcoin prize as reward, they were showmatch between famous players(i'm talking about starcraft 2), like naniway vs scarlett(14 btc)

i don't know about other game