MMO-Champion - WoW Loses 1.1 Million Subscibers, Down to 9.1 Million

WoW Loses 1.1 Million Subscribers, Down to 9.1 Million

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WoW Loses 1.1M Subscribers, Down to 9.1M
Activision Blizzard latest earning call revealed that World of Warcraft lost another 1,100,000 subscribers last quarter, bringing us down to 9.1 million players. Some things they made note of on the call are below.

Notes
  • 16.9 million Battle.net users logged in last month, up from 10 million just 3 months ago.
  • 10 million D3 copies sold, with 1.2 million of those from the Annual Pass. It was the best-selling PC game for the first six months of 2012.
  • Most of the WoW Subscription losses were from the East.
  • Losses are from people playing Diablo 3 and leaving for other things to do until the new expansion.
  • Mists of Pandaria will utilize TV and online ads leading up to the launch.
  • The China launch Mists of Pandaria will launch as soon as possible, not likely in Q3.
  • 4.7 million people watched the event at MLG for Heart of the Swarm.

Slides


Previous Subscription Losses
  • Q1 2011 - 600,000 subscribers lost
  • Q2 2011 - 300,000 subscribers lost
  • Q3 2011 - 800,000 subscribers lost
  • Q4 2011 - 100,000 subscribers lost.
  • Q1 2012 - 0 subscribers lost.
  • Q2 2012 - 1,100,000 subscribers lost.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
At June 30, 2012, the worldwide subscriber base for World of Warcraft was 9.1 million, compared to a subscriber base of 10.2 million at March 31, 2012, and 11.1 million at June 30, 2011, with a greater loss of subscribers in the East than in the West for both the 3-month and 12-month periods (in which the “East” includes China, Taiwan, and Korea, and the “West” includes the regions of North America and Europe).

Contributing factors to the lower subscribers were likely the launch of Diablo III in the quarter, which provided consumers with an alternative gaming experience to World of Warcraft (although Diablo III has not yet launched in China), as well as the lack of new content patches in all geographies resulting in less overall game play. Looking forward, Blizzard Entertainment expects to release World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria™ on September 25, 2012, which will deliver new game content in all regions that is expected to further appeal to the gaming community (with availability in mainland China to be announced at a later date).
This article was originally published in forum thread: WoW Loses 1.1 Million Subscibers, Down to 9.1 Million started by chaud View original post
Published on 2012-08-02 08:39 PM
1212 Comments
Comments 1206 Comments
  1. Dasn's Avatar
    oh boy, here we go
  1. Fool's Avatar
    huehueheuheueuhueheuhe it's because of the summer, like every quarter.
    this quarter (q2) includes April-June, it's spring not summer fanboys lolol.

    Infracted.
  1. Suggs's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by lokithor View Post
    Damn. That was a hell of a lot more than I figured. I have a feeling it's going to be really bad when The AP wears off.
    yep , 2 more months for me and thats the end of paying to play warcraft for me.

    Bit of a bonus though, wont have to see anymore retarded posts from windowlickers screaming '10 mill 10 mill 10 mill subs' at least it will be a diff number to look at..

    ...oh and also wonder how long the defenders arrive in the masses giving it the swtor vs wow sub number bollocks.
    Now time to sit back and watch all the reasons people like to give to back up the loss of subs.
  1. Jaylol's Avatar
    I expected a pretty large loss but not this much, though I guess it's understandable.
  1. carnifex2005's Avatar
    Weird that 0 were lost in Q1 but 1.1 million were lost in Q2. I'm not going back to the game but I can see MoP being a hit. Looks like a great expansion.
  1. Myzou's Avatar
    That's... a lot larger than expected.

    In 2 months, that number's going to skyrocket though, so people shouldn't worry.
  1. Essenji's Avatar
    Oh wow! This was quite a surprise! But I guess I understand why. The reasons they listed were very valid, especially the one about not receiving new patches. WoW is dead atm (don't hate on my for saying this) and a lot of people are barely playing anymore. But we'll get them back for MoP, so I'm not too worried
  1. familiar's Avatar
    There's nothing to do at the end of this expansion, so nothing unexpected
  1. Mascotte's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by pepe2c View Post
    OMG and the annual pass is still not over, let me get some snacks for when that happen xD
    Next quarter will include both the initial annual pass drop but also include MoP launch.
    So the number is likely to still go up either way.
  1. Schmilblick's Avatar
    MoP will change it for sure
  1. Arkamedis's Avatar
    Just a couple more weeks until MoP, nothing to worry about tbh. Actually... If you people dont have STOCK in blizz, these numbers shouldnt matter lol.
  1. Tiev's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Wapetufo View Post
    Lack of content, the content we got sucked (DS), and LFR made us get fed up with it quicker. 1 million subs deservingly lost imo, albeit they will likely be back in September.
    Very much this.
  1. Kaj392's Avatar
    F2P inc?

    MoP will get a lot of them back anyway
  1. Anjerith's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by mcbubble View Post
    Ouch, losing 11 million a month due to lack of content...I wonder how their management makes these kind of decisions.
    they are not losing 11 million subscribers a month.
  1. dd614's Avatar
    Good! I hope this is a sign to Blizzard they have to stop taking their customers for granted and release good, quality content at a reasonable rate.
  1. Bulli85's Avatar
    Diablo didn't have much to do with this since people that play Diablo and WoW at the same time got the annual pass, since they get Diablo for free while still being subbed to WoW. Numbers decline cause WoW is just old and mists doesn't bring anything new to the table.. it's the same game it has been for a long long time
  1. Crummy's Avatar
    Another 7-8 million people to be lost before they have to watch out for other MMOs
  1. IsaacM's Avatar
    This is actually a good thing.

    After this, there is NO WAY they will repeat the no-new-content-for-6-months thing.

    Mists will save it. It's a great expansion.
  1. Helrizen's Avatar
    annual pass will drop, guild wars 2 will take over and wow subs will be lower again, wow is running out of ideas, and panda isnt gonna save it
  1. Pancaspe's Avatar
    Pretty damn good retention for this part of Cata! Impressive!

    MOP will see Subs crest 15 million
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