World of Warcraft: WoW Breaks 1 Million in North America

Stradden

Blizzard Entertainment announced today that they have surpassed the 1 million North American subscriber barrier today. That brings the current count for World of Warcraft up to around 4 million subscribers worldwide. To put that into financial perspective for everyone, that's 4 million subscribers at an average of $13.99 USD (The middle three-month package). That comes out to a revenue of $55,960,000 a month, and a whopping $671,520,000 a year.

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 2005--Blizzard Entertainment® Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its subscription-based massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG), has reached more than 1 million paying customers in North America. This brings the total population for Blizzard's critically acclaimed game, the largest MMORPG in the world, to more than 4 million paying customers.  "It's very rewarding to see so many new and returning players logging in to play World of Warcraft daily," said Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. "With the continued support of our retail partners, World of Warcraft has reached more than 1 million paying customers in North America well before its one-year anniversary in November. We would like to express our appreciation to both the players and our retail and license partners for helping us make World of Warcraft one of the most popular online games in the world."     o support World of Warcraft's expanding population, Blizzard Entertainment continues to release content updates on a regular basis. These updates continually evolve the game, rewarding subscribers with new experiences and enticing prospective players to join in on an ever-growing number of adventures. World of Warcraft has been the No. 1-selling MMORPG in North America since it launched in November 2004. Reaching the 1 million customer milestone in North America further solidifies World of Warcraft's position as the biggest and most popular online RPG by far in the region. Since its North America debut, World of Warcraft has steadily grown in popularity around the world. Following launches in Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and Europe, World of Warcraft recently released in China on June 7, 2005, and quickly garnered over 1.5 million paying customers in its first month. Shortly after the China launch, World of Warcraft made its debut in Singapore. The game is currently scheduled to launch in the region of Taiwan later this year. For more information on World of Warcraft, please visit the game's official Web site at www.worldofwarcraft.com. World of Warcraft's Paying Customer Definition World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a pre-paid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players having accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or canceled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules. About Blizzard Entertainment® Inc. Best known for blockbuster hits including the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® series, Blizzard Entertainment® Inc. (http://www.blizzard.com), a division of Vivendi Universal Games, is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard's track record includes nine No. 1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's free Internet gaming service, Battle.net®, reigns as the largest in the world, with millions of active users.

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battleaxe22

this brings the total population for Blizzard's critically acclaimed game, the largest MMORPG in the world, to more than 4 million paying customers.

im one of em ....wohoo

Aaarrrggg

I'm so fed up with Blizzard's announcements always being 'yeah for us, we're the biggest!' Put in some new features damnit!

Roll on armour dyes and player housing

iamchris

Good maybe with 1 mill N.Americans yelling and screaming they can make some good End Game content. With 2 lvl 60's and nothing to do, I play Jade Empire.

MUHzzxK0

Grats blizzard

Celestian

Active accounts or just created?

Just show us how many players are actually on because thats the real meter, not some blurb regurgitated by some marketing flunky.

I don't get it really cause the end game is crap in WoW unless you like running the same instances endless hours for that 5-7% drop rate for the item you might need and that doesn't even cover the insanity that is Molten Core and Ox.

Guess those active people playing still below 55 and don't know that yet.

Cheers blizz, now upgrade the pathetic graphics engine (the artwork is great) and fire those idiots that created your end game content and re-hire those that made 1-55.

Edicius

all that money and servers can't stay up. and still no good end game content.

go bliz

Finduilas

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Originally posted by Celestian

Active accounts or just created?
Just show us how many players are actually on because thats the real meter, not some blurb regurgitated by some marketing flunky.
I don't get it really cause the end game is crap in WoW unless you like running the same instances endless hours for that 5-7% drop rate for the item you might need and that doesn't even cover the insanity that is Molten Core and Ox.
Guess those active people playing still below 55 and don't know that yet.
Cheers blizz, now upgrade the pathetic graphics engine (the artwork is great) and fire those idiots that created your end game content and re-hire those that made 1-55.

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I completely agree.

Unfortunately Blizzard "thinks" it's pushing all the right buttons and will probably just keep on adding more of the same. If they were shedding players by the boat load, and those players were posting that it was due to lack of end game quests and content, blizz might change their policy.

I use my lvl 60 hunter to farm cash and make potions for my level 21 warrior. However, this is only because I hit lvl 60 with 6 or so weeks left on my sub, so I decided to make a new char. The journey is still fun, shame the destination is a stagnant pool, except for the hardcore players, and even then....

metalcore

Well done Blizz.

Great game regardless what some people say, numbers speak for themselves.

Puoltry

This is one of the worst games i have ever played.I used to think that Anarchy online was but it is a shining jewel in comparison.I hate the graphics on WoW i dislike the storyline as well.

What i really hate though is the way Blizzard took PvP and made it a carebear activity.Getting points for armor just does not cut it for me.When i gank some one i want LOOT!!When i gank some one i want armor and weapon drops not a frickin point towards some high end armor that WONT drop in combat.

At the very least the honorable armor should drop in combat.

Even the PvP servers are carebear.I think its ridiculous the way the game is setup with no real land controls or even any consequence for your actions.

Longlive the king of mediocrity!!!

MUHzzxK0

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Originally posted by Puoltry
This is one of the worst games i have ever played.I used to think that Anarchy online was but it is a shining jewel in comparison.I hate the graphics on WoW i dislike the storyline as well.What i really hate though is the way Blizzard took PvP and made it a carebear activity.Getting points for armor just does not cut it for me.When i gank some one i want LOOT!!When i gank some one i want armor and weapon drops not a frickin point towards some high end armor that WONT drop in combat.At the very least the honorable armor should drop in combat.Even the PvP servers are carebear.I think its ridiculous the way the game is setup with no real land controls or even any consequence for your actions.Longlive the king of mediocrity!!!

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err... blizz made the honorable armor so you would have something to look forward to when pvping. What would happend if it just dropped? Then what do you have to look farward to? You have to put alot of work into getting it, so not every player runs around with it. I like the graphics because they are kinda toonie. Though i agree on the way the two factions should be able to controle land though that would mix the storyline up...

EDIT: just a guess... your a eve player, right?

tallred

"World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a pre-paid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access."

When I read that it includes "those who have purchased the installation box" it makes me think that their numbers include anyone who has ever purchased WoW. So to me the 1 million in North America is an inflated number. It is not really how many people actually play it. But a combination of people that are playing and people that have bought the box and do not play it anymore.

Then again I could be reading it all wrong.

Laserwolf

WoW is an extremely solid game that did almost everything right. They just didn't do enough. I am confident, however, that the game will eventually be carved into one of the greats. Until then I am going to hold off. I am only level 32 so I am not put off by the lack of "End Game" content, I just can't bring myself to play anymore. I highly respect Blizzard just for this MMORPG, I only ever played Diablo 2 and only for a few days. I am confident that housing and better pvp is on the way, I will just wait patiently and try my hand at the other games out there until it does.

jimmyman99

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Originally posted by tallred
"World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a pre-paid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access."
When I read that it includes "those who have purchased the installation box" it makes me think that their numbers include anyone who has ever purchased WoW. So to me the 1 million in North America is an inflated number. It is not really how many people actually play it. But a combination of people that are playing and people that have bought the box and do not play it anymore.
Then again I could be reading it all wrong.

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I think what they mean is any active account, whether it is active with recurring monthly subscribtion, or it is active with a game card or whether it is active becuase someone just bought it and havent used up their initial free month. So if someone bought the game but canceled it and never reopened his account, then they wont be part of this number. Thats how I understand it.

PS: On a side note, im a bit saddened by the popularity of WoW becuase this will pretty much show Bliz they are going in a right direction so they wont be as pressured to produce quality updates. Usualy companies make great products when there is a pressure, a competition or losing market share. If everything is OK, the company will just pretty much sustain this level but not improve it. Im hoping Im wrong of course.

Paks

Just an amazing achievement!

Congratulations Blizzard!

Sovrath

Uh.. I don't think you get it Poultry,

This is not Lineage 2 or any of the other more hardore games. This game is supposed to be for those who are casual players wanting to get into an online game.

Believe it or not, there are people who want to pvp for pvp's sake and don't want to drop their hard earned items. For those people they have WoW. For others... well.. there are other games out there...

As far as higher lvl content. This game, again, is not made for hardcore people. Problem is that it is very difficult to balance a game for casual players and those who got 60 in a month. If you got to Lineage II forums there used to be posts by casual players complaining that it takes too long to lvl and that it is almost impossible to keep up with the main focus of L2's current market.

I would say to them that unless they can find another reason to play L2 then they should go to another game. I would say that to WoW people who burn through the content while others spend maybe an hour or 2 a night.. maybe just a few hours per week.

I'm sure there will be more high lvl content added once they add the expansion. Until then, remember... casual gamer game. It all makes more sense in that context.

I have tried Wow and loved the quests... only game where I actually did them. However.. the graphics are just not inspiring to me. Gratz to Blizzard and their achievment with their first online game.

Maybe they will make a Diablo online game that doesn't look disneyfied. I woud very much like to play that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puoltry

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Originally posted by MUHzzxK0
Originally posted by Puoltry
This is one of the worst games i have ever played.I used to think that Anarchy online was but it is a shining jewel in comparison.I hate the graphics on WoW i dislike the storyline as well.What i really hate though is the way Blizzard took PvP and made it a carebear activity.Getting points for armor just does not cut it for me.When i gank some one i want LOOT!!When i gank some one i want armor and weapon drops not a frickin point towards some high end armor that WONT drop in combat.At the very least the honorable armor should drop in combat.Even the PvP servers are carebear.I think its ridiculous the way the game is setup with no real land controls or even any consequence for your actions.Longlive the king of mediocrity!!!

err... blizz made the honorable armor so you would have something to look forward to when pvping. What would happend if it just dropped? Then what do you have to look farward to? You have to put alot of work into getting it, so not every player runs around with it. I like the graphics because they are kinda toonie. Though i agree on the way the two factions should be able to controle land though that would mix the storyline up...

EDIT: just a guess... your a eve player, right?

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You guessed wrong currently not playing any mmo's.Ive played a good bit of the major mmo's out though so sure ive played EvE in the past.

Like i said before and ill say it again Blizzard took the concept of PvP and made it as if your playing WoW on a Nintendo gameboy.You may as well be if there is NO consequence for your actions.They (like every other developer around)created a static world with no real reason to make it evolve.At the very least land control would make it more interesting.

The concept of land control in AO for example gives the "clans" or "omni" an xp bonus for either side depending on who controls more land.This would be a simple addition for a company making LOADS of money.

Then again why would they need to make an expansion?They produced a mediocre game at best and people are paying to play.No real challenges,no real consquence,no real risk.Just umpteen million quests that you dont even need help with to complete just get on thotbot.com if you need help why even bother to ask for help?

The name of the game is World of WARcraft so where is the war?With all the cash flowing into Blizzard HQ isnt it about time for WoW players to wonder where the next expansion is?