WoW Stable at 10.2 Million Subscribers
Activision Blizzard's press release states that World of Warcraft is still at 10.2 million subscribers as of 3/31/12. This is the same amount of subscribers from Q4 2011. A few other interesting points:

  • Battle.Net has 10 million users.
  • 1.2 million people bought the Annual Pass.
  • 2 million people played the Diablo 3 open beta.
  • Pre-orders for Diablo 3 have set a new record for Blizzard. This number includes units pre-ordered as part of the Annual Pass promotion, as well as retail and digital pre-orders.
  • Blizzard renewed their license with NetEase for the distribution of World of Warcraft in mainland China, and it will continue for an additional three years following the expiration of the current license agreement.

This article was originally published in forum thread: WoW Stable at 10.2 Million Subscribers started by chaud View original post
Comments 818 Comments
  1. crejack's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Pancaspe View Post
    MOP will release next month

    Yep! and it's gonna be the best expansion ever(until their next one), and gain more subs then ever before!
  1. micho's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tyrven View Post
    Seeing how the pre MoP event is going to be a month long that is pretty much impossible. That and the arena tourny isn't over until June 6th.
    they the pre mop would be a couple of weeks
  1. Queen of Hamsters's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Khanartist View Post
    Actually, the Biebs is a talented musician with impeccable musical sense and timing! Don't hate what you don't personally like! I don't really listen to him and I am not claiming that he is popular because he is talented. But frankly, he is talented and a nice fellow to boot!
    I can sign this. I'm not a fan per say, but that christmas song that he made had a really nice beat to it and his voice was pleasant. And he's got more money and success and fame than anyone of the people hating on him, so he wins.
  1. mmoc795dc7ac28's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zatheyll View Post
    Then they know shit about how investing and the stock market works.
    Yeah but most people know that if half your player base doesn't actually pay a monthy subscription fee but are still called "Subscribers" its kinda dodgy. Kinda like this....

    Pre-orders for Diablo 3 have set a new record for Blizzard. This number includes units pre-ordered as part of the Annual Pass promotion, as well as retail and digital pre-orders.

    Seriously? They count 1-1.5 million copies they have to give away for nothing and add that into the figure they call sales? Am i alone in thinking that is all manner of wrong? I know Diablo 3 will be huge and sell alot of copies but that to me seems beyond sketchy.
  1. Pancaspe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tyrven View Post
    Seeing how the pre MoP event is going to be a month long that is pretty much impossible. That and the arena tourny isn't over until June 6th.
    You do know next month is June?
  1. Farora's Avatar
    That 10.2 number is such BS. If you include all kinds of tricks like include semi active chinese accounts you can maybe get to that number but really. All PR bullshit.
  1. Zatheyll's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tyrven View Post
    Seeing how the pre MoP event is going to be a month long that is pretty much impossible. That and the arena tourny isn't over until June 6th.
    5.0 will probably release 3-4 weeks before Mists of Pandaria. From what I have seen testing should probably take another month or two.

    I expect 5.0 to hit early July and MoP late July/early August.
  1. Athinah's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by avatariku View Post
    but to apply your situation to every person who got the annual pass is idiotic.
    You are also kinda doing the same thing.... you're implying that many people would stop their annual pass with out proof. sorry just pointing out how ironic this is.
  1. micho's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Moomurr View Post
    Yeah but most people know that if half your player base doesn't actually pay a monthy subscription fee but are still called "Subscribers" its kinda dodgy. Kinda like this....

    Pre-orders for Diablo 3 have set a new record for Blizzard. This number includes units pre-ordered as part of the Annual Pass promotion, as well as retail and digital pre-orders.

    Seriously? They count 1-1.5 million copies they have to give away for nothing and add that into the figure they call sales? Am i alone in thinking that is all manner of wrong? I know Diablo 3 will be huge and sell alot of copies but that to me seems beyond sketchy.
    lying on the quarterly report is illigal
  1. Zatheyll's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sethorian View Post
    i wonder how that number will hold up when the annual pass reaches it's end for the people that signed up when it was released
    By that time Mists of Pandaria will already be out and close to 5.1 and they might have another AP deal.
  1. Bayhas's Avatar
    People are all happy about the 10.2 million, but they lost over 1.8 due to incompetence. 10.2 is a great number given there isn't any competition out there yea, but what about those lost between the cracks due to the casuals/hardcore catering? @____@
  1. Fojos's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Shiny212 View Post
    You're playing in Cataclysm, you really SHOULD know that time equals reward, not skill, perhaps you've forgotten the old days, weren't skilled in them or perhaps you weren't there.
    WoW has gone from farm-based to more skill-based during its time, not the other way around. Almost everything at 60 was easy to get, just took a lot of time.
  1. Athinah's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Moomurr View Post
    Yeah but most people know that if half your player base doesn't actually pay a monthy subscription fee but are still called "Subscribers" its kinda dodgy. Kinda like this....

    Pre-orders for Diablo 3 have set a new record for Blizzard. This number includes units pre-ordered as part of the Annual Pass promotion, as well as retail and digital pre-orders.

    Seriously? They count 1-1.5 million copies they have to give away for nothing and add that into the figure they call sales? Am i alone in thinking that is all manner of wrong? I know Diablo 3 will be huge and sell alot of copies but that to me seems beyond sketchy.
    It is all about perspective
  1. Chickat's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MikeyD View Post
    I'm amazed at how a bunch of people at home on their computers care so much about these numbers as if they stand to lose millions of dollars if WoW loses subscribers.

    Guys, you are overly passionate about a video game, look at you, sitting around your home, some of you jobless, and excited that your fantasy world still has people that like it. (Not trolling here - just stating the view from the side of reality. I like reading about MMOs but no time to play them.)

    This number indicates there has been zero growth despite the hype of a new patch and a new expansion on the horizon. While people may jump for joy going "Yay! No losses!", there's no growth. Blizzard's attempt to stop the bleeding with the annual pass has been applied, but once that bandaid falls off, what next?

    You only need to stop the bleeding until you get to the hospital. The hospital is MoP.
  1. Pancaspe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sethorian View Post
    i wonder how that number will hold up when the annual pass reaches it's end for the people that signed up when it was released
    Let me ask you this. If you were in the last month of your AP, and Blizzard offered exclusive Beta invites for Titan if you signed on for another year, what would you do?

    Never, never, never underestimate Blizzard
  1. ringpriest's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Callace View Post
    If they want to offer incentives, it's their choice. Subs are subs.
    Not entirely. If I'm an investor or board member, I don't want the company or management to be 'cooking the books' so that the numbers look good. I want to know what the prospects for revenue from the property actually are. From that perspective, something like the Annual Pass can be a mixed bag. It's good because it locks in revenue and gives the customer added value, but potentially bad because it's costing the company future revenue (D3 purchases) in order to make the numbers look good right now. Similarly, if the purpose of the Scroll of Resurrection (and accompanying free 80) is to bring lapsed subscribers back into the fold and get them playing again, that's excellent. If, on the other tentacle, the Blizzard management team has no good-faith belief that the SoR will actually increase long-term subs and they're just trying to make the numbers look good before the Q1 review, it's arguably deception and misrepresentation.
  1. Zatheyll's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Moomurr View Post
    Yeah but most people know that if half your player base doesn't actually pay a monthy subscription fee but are still called "Subscribers" its kinda dodgy. Kinda like this....

    Pre-orders for Diablo 3 have set a new record for Blizzard. This number includes units pre-ordered as part of the Annual Pass promotion, as well as retail and digital pre-orders.

    Seriously? They count 1-1.5 million copies they have to give away for nothing and add that into the figure they call sales? Am i alone in thinking that is all manner of wrong? I know Diablo 3 will be huge and sell alot of copies but that to me seems beyond sketchy.
    As long as they plainly state it for investors to see there is nothing shady going on at all. If you are worried about it just subtract 1.5 million from their final sales.

    Personally I believe a majority of the Annual Pass holders got it with at least partial interest (enough to buy the game anyways) in it.
  1. Klahkeme's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Moomurr View Post
    Yeah but most people know that if half your player base doesn't actually pay a monthy subscription fee but are still called "Subscribers" its kinda dodgy. Kinda like this....

    Pre-orders for Diablo 3 have set a new record for Blizzard. This number includes units pre-ordered as part of the Annual Pass promotion, as well as retail and digital pre-orders.

    Seriously? They count 1-1.5 million copies they have to give away for nothing and add that into the figure they call sales? Am i alone in thinking that is all manner of wrong? I know Diablo 3 will be huge and sell alot of copies but that to me seems beyond sketchy.
    They either have to count all of them and over-estimate the number, or not count any of them and under-estimate the number. Either way, there's no way for them to say how many people truly intend to play the game because of the Annual Pass promotion.
  1. cateran100's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Pancaspe View Post
    We have a Hater Sighting! Bravo my good man! Hold the Tiller straight even when facing the incoming 15 mil subs of MOP!
    Low IQ detected!! Warning! Fact: AP was counted into the subscribes? It was..No hating, pure fact...AP subscribers means active players? Of course not (Still, the number if subscribers is standing...no doubt about that..but on my server (Arathor EU)whole guilds moved from Horde to Alliance, because of the lack of playerbase, my guild struggling to make any 10 man run anywhere at least 1-2 times/week due the lack of players....No hating in this, just simple facts..I don`t know how the things going on other servers, but on arathor shitloads of ppl went away and waiting for MoP..DS was fking boring a month ago and to stay on that for another few months....dunno what blizz thinks..Personally i was not online in the last 3 weeks more than 10-20 mins/week, because it`s pointless...) But D3 is on it`s way sooooon and GW2 too...so who the hell cares?
  1. Zatheyll's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Bayhas View Post
    People are all happy about the 10.2 million, but they lost over 1.8 due to incompetence. 10.2 is a great number given there isn't any competition out there yea, but what about those lost between the cracks due to the casuals/hardcore catering? @____@
    People don't just leave because of incompetence. People leave because they have something else taking their interest or they got bored of a game they have been playing for years.

    Don't just say the subscriber base is falling because Blizzard isn't doing their best at keeping them. Blizzard could do everything they could and people would still leave if they got tired of it.

Site Navigation