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Call the ambulance WoW under 8 million subs now

IllyssiaIllyssia Member UncommonPosts: 1,507

Well, folks as we all know World of Warcraft has been by far the largest franchise MMORPG for years now. Heck, they are even filming a Hollywood movie based on it now. But, over the past year or so cracks have appeared in the once golden cash cow and its numbers have fallen till now we hit 7.7 million. Is the WoW dream now over?

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-26-world-of-warcraft-subs-fall-again-to-7-7-million

 

I played Panda as a Mage levelling from 1-90 and it was fun, but I jumped off the ride at 90 rather than hop onto the gear grind treadmill of endgame again. Why? Well, I feel I have been there and done that as a former hardcore raider of that game. It wasn't offering anything new. But, the 1-90 ride was a good one, but end-game raiding is old hat, really small group dungeons and content is they best way to go now.

 

So what can Blizz do now. They have an in-game cash shop to bolster revenue, but that is not enough unless they go free-to-play with a buy-to-win cash shop. What is really needed is another overhaul to make the game mechanics more modern and a large fresh expansion with more adult lore.

 

Peeps. WoW is in trouble now, I think, and only firm and decisive action can reverse its steady decline now.

 

As always, feel free to comment...

 

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Comments

  • Trav24Trav24 Member Posts: 6
    Even though it's on a decline it still will take a few more years for it to fall off
  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798

    I resubbed 4 months ago but quit after 2 weeks

     

    I wanted to see the Panda content but I couldnt stomache leveling thru Cata

     

    Cata is not fun

    if a game is not fun - why bother?

  • ComanComan Member UncommonPosts: 2,178
    If it had 3 million paying subs it would still make 45 million a month and I am pretty sure that WoW does not take that much money at the moment so the profits would still be high. 
  • IkedaIkeda Member RarePosts: 2,751

    Nadia,  I agree with you 100%.

    Still, show me a MMO with even a quarter of the WoW subscription base.... Even at this point.

  • ApraxisApraxis Member UncommonPosts: 1,518

    In all honestly. They have to do nothing.. at the moment.

    Conversion to F2P they would more or less lose 7.7 million subs worth 15$ each (also just a part of that 7.7 million actually pay 15$.. it is a little bit different in asia). And you can never catch that source of income with microtransactions.

    So but what may they do long term?

    - add Cashshop with Box price and monthly sub. You can never be greedy enough.

    - drop Box sales at some point. Or include all add-ons + main game for free to your next add-on sale. And this one is very likely at one point.

    - and a very long way away convert to some kind of freemium service. With monthly sub option + limited free to play like all the other MMOs(EQ, LotR, usw.). But honestly as long as the have 3-5 million monthly paying customer it is not worth it.

    And it was to be expected that the subs of WoW will at one point decrease. They have already earned more than enough from it. If WoW will die over time(below 3 million subs), it is the best opportunity to release Titan. Everything on schedule.

  • AdamantineAdamantine Member RarePosts: 5,085
    How do you say in english ? And a bear shit in the woods ? Whatever.
  • RydesonRydeson Member UncommonPosts: 3,852
         Keep in mind that approx 5 million? subs come from China that does NOT have a paying subscription model..  They have a pay as you go rate, much like ISP used to have back in the day.. If you played 1 hour a month, you paid for one hour a month..  I believe I read once that Blizzard counts all Asian accounts active unless they become inactive for more then 3 moths.. The true question is, how many of WoW's customers are actual paying subscribers, and that number is more unknown..  But anyways.. Does it really matter?  When is the next expansion?  LOL
  • SwampDragonsSwampDragons Member UncommonPosts: 352
    Im playing it now and having fun BUT now that its below 8M subs i cant play it anymore its sooooooo dead!!! omg!
  • MdpatsMdpats Member UncommonPosts: 176
    Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard
    Blizzard kinda "shot into their own foot" with Cataclysm. They reap what they sow.

    I find it comical when someone blames ONE expansion for the decline in subs, haha.

  • DeniZgDeniZg Member UncommonPosts: 697
    This continous decline in subs is just a result of Bliizard's lack of investment in it's product. It will be interesting to see some numbers after upcoming big titles such as Wildstar and ESO. I think even GTA V might make a big dent in WoW subs.
  • RollieJoeRollieJoe Member UncommonPosts: 451

    What's ironic is that if ANY other MMO "fell" to WoW's current number of subs, it would be considered amazingly and unbelievably successful. 

     

    "EVE's only got 7.7 million active players now, doubt it will last much longer."

    "A little less than 8 million people playing Darkfall now, better shut it down."

    "Wakfu just announced they are barely over 7.5 million players.  Definitely dying."

     

    See how ridiculous these statements are?  For a non-F2P game to have these kind of numbers its nothing but spectacular. 

  • RusqueRusque Member RarePosts: 2,785
    Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard
    Originally posted by Mdpats
    Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard
    Blizzard kinda "shot into their own foot" with Cataclysm. They reap what they sow.

    I find it comical when someone blames ONE expansion for the decline in subs, haha.

    How comes the declined started with Cataclysm then?

    Cataclysm started it, Pandaria nailed it by dumbing down the game even more.

    I'd still be playing if Cata and MoP had been as good as BC/WotLK.

    In a product like a video game, it only takes one bad release to hurt interest. And this is another downfall of the P2P model. If you get pissed at a major patch/expansion it's harder to justify coming back when you're asked to reinvest to try out anything new.

    Cata was really terrible for existing WoW players. It was great for new people as they revamped the old world, but those of us who didn't have lowbie alts or didn't want to level any were left with a pretty poopy expansion. Ditto MoP. Did some cool things, but overall kinda meh.

    The biggest problem for Blizz is not just their declining playerbase, it's also that we're only 1 year into MoP at this point and their Expansions have been on a two year cycle! By next year with all the upcoming titles in the works, will anything Blizz puts out be able to capture interest?

  • Ice-QueenIce-Queen Member UncommonPosts: 2,483
    I recently went back after a 2 year break. I choose not do the raid/arena gear grind this time around. Having fun again now that I am not too.

    image

    What happens when you log off your characters????.....
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
    Dark Age of Camelot

  • slickbizzleslickbizzle Member Posts: 464

    It's just a natural decline.  South Park make Warcraft a phenomenon, and they rode it for a lot of years.  

     

    Lots of choices for gamers now. You can say "I can play both!", but it rarely happens that way.  If you start playing <insert any game>, and really enjoy it, you'll let your sub from Warcraft drop.  Currently, I'm playing Star Wars, and it is refreshing to see huge populations!  

    I'll probably move back to Warcraft when the final patch (and discounted sales)  is released so I can hurry and level to 90 and get geared in a week and do some RBG's with my brother. Then, I'll drop my sub and move on to something else.

     

     

  • RusqueRusque Member RarePosts: 2,785
    Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard
    Originally posted by Rusque

    It was great for new people as they revamped the old world....

    I found the old world revamp horrible. What once was a huge world with some exploration and adventure became a totally linear quest grind fest. You can't do areas in any order anymore, you have to follow the quest plot, or the higher quests aren't activated and/or are in a different phase. Even for a new player, the experience is very dull compared to before the revamp.

    I remember traveling from Darnassus to Stormwind to join some friends back then after release. I had to take the boat, then cross several dangerous areas (for a level 5 character), it was thrilling, exciting. They removed that too. Now you are on rails all the time. And the flying mounts...

    That's a shame they took that travel out. I remember doing the same and felt it was a right of passage to participate in the 1hr  run. Like I said, I didn't bother leveling an alt during cata, my assumption was that they improved it for new players, I don't actually know what they did since I never went through the content.
    Either way, cata sucked for me (and if numbers tell us anything, it sucked for a lot more people too).

  • furbansfurbans Member UncommonPosts: 968

    And the moment they go F2P or B2P their population will soar again.  DDO was dying bigtime and when they went F2P it was such a raging success that they decided to do it to LotRO because while it did not need it they felt it would increase revenue.

    WoW will eventually die and it might be close now.  Wildstar, FF XIV: ARR, ESO, EQN all are very enticing titles and the market is getting more diverse that it alread is.  Back with SWTOR and GW2 people have been saying that WoW will be declining as the market is gettng more diverse.

  • TheocritusTheocritus Member LegendaryPosts: 9,739
    Originally posted by Coman
    If it had 3 million paying subs it would still make 45 million a month and I am pretty sure that WoW does not take that much money at the moment so the profits would still be high. 

     You're assuming everyone pays the same, thats not the case.....NA/EU pay 15 a month but Asia does not.....Some pay more, most likely pay less....They count people who pay by the hour as subs so it skews the numbers somewhat....Really with WoW i have only ever used the NA/EU sub numbers for where the game is at.....None of us who live in NA/EU will ever use the Asian servers so its like a totally different game as far as I am concerned.

  • sodade21sodade21 Member UncommonPosts: 349
    Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard
    Originally posted by Rusque

    It was great for new people as they revamped the old world....

    I found the old world revamp horrible. What once was a huge world with some exploration and adventure became a totally linear quest grind fest. You can't do areas in any order anymore, you have to follow the quest plot, or the higher quests aren't activated and/or are in a different phase. Even for a new player, the experience is very dull compared to before the revamp.

    I remember traveling from Darnassus to Stormwind to join some friends back then after release. I had to take the boat, then cross several dangerous areas (for a level 5 character), it was thrilling, exciting. They removed that too. Now you are on rails all the time. And the flying mounts...

    ^ this...

  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798

    WOW can gain subs again if they put out a new expansion with content for all levels

    (allowing players to avoid adventure content they dont like -- ie Cata)

     

    EQ2 did something similar with Echos of Faydwer

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EverQuest_II:_Echoes_of_Faydwer

  • TheLizardbonesTheLizardbones Member CommonPosts: 10,910


    Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard
    Originally posted by Nadia WOW can gain subs again if they put out a new expansion with content for all levels (allowing players to avoid adventure content they dont like -- ie Cata)   EQ2 did something similar with Echos of Faydwer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EverQuest_II:_Echoes_of_Faydwer
    That wouldn't repair the ruined linear world though...


    Meh. The world's fine. It's just different now. I might have actually played my level 80 characters more than an hour if I hadn't had to go through the Cataclysm content though. Hurrgh, that was bad stuff.

    I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.

  • MukeMuke Member RarePosts: 2,614
    Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard
    Originally posted by Rusque

    It was great for new people as they revamped the old world....

    I found the old world revamp horrible. What once was a huge world with some exploration and adventure became a totally linear quest grind fest. You can't do areas in any order anymore, you have to follow the quest plot, or the higher quests aren't activated and/or are in a different phase. Even for a new player, the experience is very dull compared to before the revamp.

    I remember traveling from Darnassus to Stormwind to join some friends back then after release. I had to take the boat, then cross several dangerous areas (for a level 5 character), it was thrilling, exciting. They removed that too. Now you are on rails all the time. And the flying mounts...

    old world revamp was unnecessary.

    How many ppl do the grind?

    Most ppl know others in guilds who help them boost 1-90 in 2 days.

    Many ppl never see the regions after lvl 10 as they level up in pvp or do the dungeon powergrind with higher level friends.

    Then you have that heirloom stuff which powerrockets you through the zones , IF you go that way.

     

    Clearly, Blizzard knows the 'good' stuff is at endgame and wants new characters to go there asap before they unsub while doing the level grind.

    Won't be long before they add 'XP booster packs' to the online store.

    "going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"

  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332

    I don't think numbers matter at all,you play what game you like and nothing else should matter.I do know that you enter Wow you will see a LOT of empty zones.I played a whole week and i could count on two hands the total number of players i ran into.One was on a mount,just passing through asked me to join a guild.Since Wow does not start in a town either,you really create an empty feeling in your game.At least with a town you have a central hub were many players go.

    Me personally,i think Blizzard makes boring games,doesn't matter what i think,if you like it play it.

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • RhinotonesRhinotones Member UncommonPosts: 250

    Amber lamps, I mean ambulance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDD9FmdmUN4

    WoW needs the Epic bearded guy to make things right.

    image
  • AxehiltAxehilt Member RarePosts: 10,504
    Originally posted by Nadia

    WOW can gain subs again if they put out a new expansion with content for all levels

    (allowing players to avoid adventure content they dont like -- ie Cata) 

    EQ2 did something similar with Echos of Faydwer

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EverQuest_II:_Echoes_of_Faydwer

    There's some irony to the fact that you're suggesting WOW should have an expansion with content for all levels, while criticizing the expansion which massively revamped and improved level 1-60 content.

    "What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver

  • BadSpockBadSpock Member UncommonPosts: 7,979

    I had some fun in Pandaria, but once I hit 90 on my Shaman I was - for the first time playing WoW - confused as to exactly what I had to do to continue to progress my character.

    Scenarios? Dungeons? Dailies? Someone in the guild I was in gave me an outline of things to do to gear up and get factions up etc. and I was just... meh. None of it sounded interesting.

    Cata and Panda were major disappointments to me.

    I had a great time in WOTLK raids and dungeons, before they nerfed all the talent tree mechanics.

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