179,727 Registered Users
2000-01-26
MadWand posted the following message on the Gameplay forum last night. A little bit later Verant's I-Net Relations Manager Gordon Wrinn made a response. Here's the original post followed by what Abashi had to say:
    MadWand's post :

    That's right, we now have an exact number of registered users currently on EQ (not counting the ones that may have quit this past weekend! - hehe).

    The guys over at DailyRadar.com must have a bit of fortune teller's blood in them because on Friday, at almost the same time all this mess started with patch problems and overcrowding this past weekend, they had the foresight to ask Brad McQuaid exactly how many registered users there were on EQ.

    Here is Brad's response...

    "BM: Let's see... as of 4pm today (Friday, January 21), EverQuest has 179,727 registered users." - DailyRadar.com

    So now everyone can do the math a little more accurately when trying to figure out where our subscription money is being spent!

    Also, to help do the math, it should be noted that Verant has something a little more then 70 employees. They have been quoting "...70 employees..." or "...a staff of over 70 employees..." in every press release since their spin off from 989-Studios early last year. Here is the relevent quote from their last official press release....

    "Verant Interactive is an independent development studio that develops cutting-edge online games. Based in San Diego, California, Verant Interactive has a staff of over 70 employees who consist of the development teams responsible for the online games EverQuest®, Tanarus™, and Sovereign™." - (Dec. 20 1999)Verant Interactive Inc.

    So, it seems like in the last year they have not been using the money from EQ's success to hire many new employees. In fact, they had to create two new Dev. Teams(for RoK and Sovereign) so there is obviously less people working on EQ now then before release.

    Food for thought.

    Gordon's reply :

    There are three different numbers that have been quoted at one time or another. Units shipped, Units sold, and Registered Users (active accounts). What you are probably remembering is the old "Units sold" quote. Active users continues to rise.

    And yes, Christmas did catch us off guard. We expected a small pop, but nothing to the level of what we saw, espicially on a game that's nearly a year old. This game continues to amaze us week after week.

    -Gordon