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World of Warcraft: Subscription Numbers Dip Below 10M

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

For the first time, World of Warcraft subscriptions have dipped below the ten million mark. According to Blizzard-Activision's latest financial report, the subscriber base currently sits at 9.1M.

As of June 30, 2012, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft remains the #1 subscription-based MMORPG and had approximately 9.1 million subscribers4

Part of the reason for the decline, according to Mike Morhaime, came at the hands of Blizzard's other huge title Diablo III:

"Historically we have seen usage decline towards the end of an expansion cycle. We saw a similar drop in subscribers in the months before Cataclysm, followed by a substantial return of players around the Cataclysm launch. We're also seeing that a number of players took a break from WoW to play Diablo III," Mike Morhaime explained to investors in the most recent financial conference call. Source

Check out Blizzard financial reports.

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Comments

  • GrinnzGrinnz Member UncommonPosts: 312

    I'm sure this hurts them so bad...

     

  • APRIMEAPRIME Member UncommonPosts: 76
    Yup. The game's dead.
  • AngztAngzt Member Posts: 230

    9.100.000users x 13€ = 118.300.000€ per month...

     

    poor bastards ^^

    "believe me, mike.. i calculated the odds of this working against the odds that i was doing something incredibly stupid… and i did it anyway!"

  • thamighty213thamighty213 Member UncommonPosts: 1,637
    The thing is though its not 9.1m subscribers it's probably around 3m subs and 6.1m in the asian model of things where a subscriber is simply a user who has logged in within a 60 day period.
  • sammandarsammandar Member Posts: 523
    Time will tell if this is just a hick-up or something for which Blizzard should be concerned.
  • sammandarsammandar Member Posts: 523
    Originally posted by angzt

    9.100.000users x 13€ = 118.300.000€ per month...

    poor bastards ^^

    Not actually...

    It is more of 3-4 million who pay monthly subs (NA & EU); the other 6-7 million pay hourly (Asia - mainly China). Blizzard announced that the majority of the subs lost were from their eastern market; has anyone seen any offical graphs detailing WOW subs after the dip to 9.1 million?

  • sammandarsammandar Member Posts: 523
    Originally posted by thamighty213
    The thing is though its not 9.1m subscribers it's probably around 3m subs and 6.1m in the asian model of things where a subscriber is simply a user who has logged in within a 60 day period.


    That's the thing... how exactly does Blizzard count, and for how long, the players in Asia (mainly China) who pay hourly?

  • OziiusOziius Member UncommonPosts: 1,406
    Bottom line... There is still a shit load of players. Never understood why some of you care so much about blizzards financials. Wait til mop hits and everyone goes back lol. Happens every time. 
  • AngztAngzt Member Posts: 230

    bottom line:

     

    The company reported an operating profit of $371 million, up 175% from a year ago.

    "believe me, mike.. i calculated the odds of this working against the odds that i was doing something incredibly stupid… and i did it anyway!"

  • Mari2kMari2k Member UncommonPosts: 367
    Originally posted by angzt

    9.100.000users x 13€ = 118.300.000€ per month...

     

    poor bastards ^^

    Good that blizzard hasnt to pay any taxes for their sales...

  • sammandarsammandar Member Posts: 523
    Originally posted by Praetalus
    Bottom line... There is still a shit load of players. Never understood why some of you care so much about blizzards financials. Wait til mop hits and everyone goes back lol. Happens every time. 

    Not everyone. Since WOW maxed out at 12 million subs, they've only been going down. I can't speak for others, I myself do not care much for Blizzard's finances, but as a company who's game (wow) I played for several years, i guess I do like to stay in touch.

    As for MoP, you are right, it will be interesting how WOW does with it's newest expansion. Some call for feast or famine, I call for me of a continual steady decline; having said that, I do believe that MoP will be the worst selling wow expansion since Vanila.

  • DiSpLiFFDiSpLiFF Member UncommonPosts: 602

    I'm amazed that this game still has that many subscribers. I mean it's going on it's 8th anniversary this november....

    There will never be another game like this in the mmorpg market that's for sure.

  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
    Originally posted by sammandar

    how exactly does Blizzard count, and for how long, the players in Asia (mainly China) who pay hourly?

    no idea - from Blizzard press release

    http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?id=2443926

     Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers.

  • AzureProwerAzurePrower Member UncommonPosts: 1,550

    This game is dying. Guild Wars 2 is going to beat them in subscriptions. etc. etc.

  • sammandarsammandar Member Posts: 523
    Originally posted by Mari2k
    Originally posted by angzt

    9.100.000users x 13€ = 118.300.000€ per month...

     

    poor bastards ^^

    Good that blizzard hasnt to pay any taxes for their sales...

    I'm assuming (hope) you were being sarcastic right? lol

     

  • sammandarsammandar Member Posts: 523
    Originally posted by DiSpLiFF

    I'm amazed that this game still has that many subscribers. I mean it's going on it's 8th anniversary this november....

    There will never be another game like this in the mmorpg market that's for sure.

    I'm sure that's what EQ players said.

  • sammandarsammandar Member Posts: 523
    Originally posted by AzurePrower

    This game is dying. Guild Wars 2 is going to beat them in subscriptions. etc. etc.

    Well, GW2 has no subs (as in P2P), so there would be no way to compare the two. The only way to compare them would be to match up both games' active playerbase.

  • WhiteLanternWhiteLantern Member RarePosts: 3,306

    They are losing subs because they are lazy and complacent. I remember when they announced 4mil subs and 5 mil subs and so on. In those days, content was actually being put out for the players. In the 2 years leading up to BC, they released, what 12 content patches? Not all were "huge", I understand. But these days of releasing bigger patches less often is not working, especially for the locusts.

     

     

     

    /two cents

    I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil

  • RocknissRockniss Member Posts: 1,034
    Octobers headline will be about how blizzard now has over 11million active subs
  • sammandarsammandar Member Posts: 523
    Originally posted by WhiteLantern

    They are losing subs because they are lazy and complacent. I remember when they announced 4mil subs and 5 mil subs and so on. In those days, content was actually being put out for the players. In the 2 years leading up to BC, they released, what 12 content patches? Not all were "huge", I understand. But these days of releasing bigger patches less often is not working, especially for the locusts.

    /two cents

    Decline or not, Blizzard is no longer the company it once was and WOW is most certainly not the game it once was. In both cases, I believe for the worst.

  • Xstatic912Xstatic912 Member Posts: 365
    Seen as most of the subs lost were from the east (could mean Asian player), those players probably quit and move to D3 seeing as they stand a chance of making money off the title...

    Person may look at this and say Wow is dying, but the truth is The mmo genre is reseeding from the popularity it once enjoyed.. Person now are more quicker than ever to move on from a title no matter how good or the type of payment any game choose, sub games suffer a bit more because one can only justify paying a sub for so long much less having multiple sub game..

    blizz peaked mmo popularity, now the natural progression is a draw back.. Even Gw2 player base will draw back, but just a matter of time because I for one don't see player sticking with guild wars 2 as long as they did with the first guild wars. Gamers are just waiting for the next "IT" game to move to..
  • SlampigSlampig Member UncommonPosts: 2,342
    OH NO! Only 9.1 million... You know how many a million is, right?

    That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!

  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
    Originally posted by sammandar
    Originally posted by DiSpLiFF

    There will never be another game like this in the mmorpg market that's for sure.

    I'm sure that's what EQ players said.

    change the phrase to There will never be another subscription game like this in the mmorpg market

    and its probably true :)

  • sammandarsammandar Member Posts: 523
    Originally posted by Slampig
    OH NO! Only 9.1 million... You know how many a million is, right?


    I would not be surprised if we keep hearing this kind of reaction all the way back down to 1 million subs.

  • tawesstawess Member EpicPosts: 4,227

    Humm.. this seems to be right on the money, This is normal decline for a game of this age, the only games that does not have a churn over time are F2P games and that is because they can only measure the amount of people logged in at one time or another. Every sub game have had a similar decline as WoW (most of them much faster) if we look at the % and not  only count heads.

    My prediction still tands that it will level out in the 6-8M sub region and then remain there for some time.

     

    And as always... keep in mind that WoW have now lost more people then most other MMO's ever see and they are not even close to feeling that loss yet. No matter how it is tossed and not matter what you think about Blizzards direction that is a pretty good run.

    This have been a good conversation

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