State of the Game Interview: Magic Online

[notsofasteddie]

State of the Game Interview: Magic Online
Wizards of the Coast Brand Manager Worth Wollpert gives us the heads up on Magic Online.
By Gerald Villoria | Sept. 5, 2007


Magic Pro Tour player-turned Wizards of the Coast Brand Manager Worth Wollpert took the time to chat with us about Magic Online, the client that has turned the paper-based collectible card game into a successful digital pastime. On Magic Online, players can get together around the clock for casual games, multiplayer matches, draft tournaments and even Pro Tour qualifiers.

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/818/818114p1.html

[ArsenicDrone]

Interesting quote. I was surprised to hear that MTGO is as large a part of WotC's sales as it is. Given how many annoying things there are in the interface compared to paper Magic, and how much less people actually have to buy due to the generous prize structure (about half as many packs are given away each draft as were bought), I would not have guessed this.

Without getting into specific numbers, North American MTG versus Magic Online, the online game is somewhere between 30% to 50% of the total Magic business. And we do sell most of our Magic in North America. It's a good chunk of the overall international business. Magic Online accounts for maybe a third, maybe 40% of the overall number. It's some real money and a big business for us.

[Gryfalia]

Wouldn't it also be because they, at best, get $72 a box from retailers for physical cards, and $144 a box from Magic Online? So it takes twice as many physical cards (minimum) to get the same money as MTGO.

Thus, even at 50% (which I still..highly..doubt), it's at most 1/3 of the total 'item sold' count.

That being said, they would be fools to not keep trying to upgrade the software to make more people interested, although I'm not sure how many really left due to daily crashing...(I almost did).