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. connectz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Vook View Post
    Statistics/data for this "everyone who left to play D3 is back", please.

    And if you're citing forums as a gauge for overall player enjoyment......lol.



    1. Not what I was trying to say
    2. You've got no evidence saying MoP won't bring back subs.
    Statistics for people left to play D3 and are coming back to MoP please.
  1. Vook's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by TheJekyll View Post
    Got any kind of proof for that or is it something you just claim that's happening?
    Quote Originally Posted by connectz View Post
    Statistics for people left to play D3 and are coming back to MoP please.

    Nice job not reading the main post at all.
  1. Schaapa's Avatar
    The Asian market is pretty huge, so losing large amounts from that market shouldn't be taken so lightly.
  1. McNeil's Avatar
    Hey guys, I want to avoid making a thread aboutt his so I'll ask it here:

    Why do people think MoP will bring back a lot of subs? When Cata was launched, it was still stabalizing at 12 million, and afterwards it only went downhill.

    So why should MoP be any different?
  1. axeplay's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Smartacus View Post
    It's the end of the World... of Warcraft.
    Great reference.
  1. Baracuda's Avatar
    Also remember that a lot of people quit because the servers are "Dead". Now Idk about major cities but having seen the crossrealm project in action I believe the world will have even more people than back in 05-07! We might actually get "ganking" STV back
  1. TheJekyll's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Vook View Post
    Nice job not reading the main post at all.
    Oh I read it, but that post really doesn't have any proof to back it up with either. It's just a loose statement.
  1. Heltoray's Avatar
    i enjoy the parts where people defending blizzard pull numbers out of their asses when MANY obviously disagree with the way wow is handled right now.

    I foresee 329462 people resubscribing for mop and 374681 people leaving mop after 2 months.
    These numbers are undeniable fact.
  1. Bisso's Avatar
    Great, here comes the next few weeks with nothing but "OMG WOW IS DIEING" threads.
  1. slackjawsix's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dahorst View Post
    Since these people for the majority got the annual pass (i.e. they counted as active wow subscribers) you're fucking wrong.
    no where does it say most WoW players got their D3 from wow annual pass alot of ppl dropped their subs to bet diablo and play that instead so as you said "you're fucking wrong"
  1. Nitrax's Avatar
    Yeah Blizzard must have some really screwed up organization in some way, because I don't see why EVERYTHING have to stop before every big expansion. With the money they bring in they should be able to have one team that is working on content patches and one team that is working on the next expansion...
  1. connectz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by TheJekyll View Post
    Oh I read it, but that post really doesn't have any proof to back it up with either. It's just a loose statement.
    WoW was losing subs before D3 even came out, there has not been a sub surge in 5 quarters. But hey, I'm sure they were all waiting for MoP.
  1. Sharlok's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Requiemcliff View Post
    As said, the quarter after that will be the most interesting, we will see if Blizz manages to make things interesting enough to draw in new players or if MoP will just solidify peoples annoyance with the MMO.
    I think youre right on that one.

    But blizz has this almost covered with the staggering release of the raids and lfrs... at least for 2 months after release of mop. and whats after those 2 months? december! its cold outside, more people play during the winter than in the summer for obvious reasons.

    Right now it seems Annual Pass was just damage control but not a too effective one. Still I think the future of WoW doesnt look too bad. I myself am looking forward to MoP and whether there are 9 million or 15 million or 6 million other players out there doesnt really concern me.
  1. Djuntas's Avatar
    I'll just say this again; If they havent been so shitty with content I would have stayed Subbed. 1.1 mill loss is there biggest yet, and the only time I have ever taken a break from wow longer than 2 weeks, cause of vercations or w/e. 4.3 is the worst bigger content patch ever imo.
  1. Vongimi's Avatar
    Wow... im really proud of MMO-Champ right now! First two pages of comments and only about 2-3 hate posts! This is especially surprising considering the content of this news update. Have all the blind haters gotten tired of crying or have they just grown up? Seeing a lot more "I don't want to play again, but it looks really great and should do well!" posts, so probably a good amount of the later.

    I always see subscriber loss as a double-edged sword. One way it means less people are playing the game, thus less people to play with (but only losing 1/10th of the base wont have much effect on my own play, especially considering they are more likely to leave from dead servers, which my server is not). On the other hand, it means Blizzard will try harder to step up their game.
  1. shimargh's Avatar
    c'mon guys you can be the "ha i told you wow is dying" and go with "GW2 will end wow" even with "swtor will end wow (even tho this, wasn't ever a point of discussion, only morons do that)" but you can also go "stop it you, bwaahhh, wow is not dying, ok?", "leave wow alone" or the optimistic idiotic "nah, WE' RE the best game out there"...
    as with bad winers and bad losers, you can be bad-whiners and bad-defenders you know?
  1. sTyLnK's Avatar
    No new content for months and months is going to do that. It's that lull between every expansion and it happens every expansion. It'll go back up again come Mists. Probably a few million. I'm going to say WoW will go back up to around 11 million or so. Still though to continue to be this high despite the lack of content that happens every year is pretty remarkable. Cata was a disaster, so I'm not surprised. Blizzard dropped the ball big time and they pretty much admitted it. IE they admitted there was a lot of stuff they could have and should have ton better. Come Mists it looks like they are going to rebound though. Going back to the roots of WoW.
  1. dahorst's Avatar
    I wish I had an active subscription for NA though, so i could argue with that funny blue poster in the "we consume content to fast" thread... I'm kinda jealous of his job though, getting payed to tell people they're wrong on the internets is like the dream job for every troll out there
  1. Fool's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zequill View Post
    We are in the summer, at the end of an expansion, and there is still 9.1 million people playing/sub to the game, omg...
    April-June which this report is about is not called summer. you're funny.
  1. darkthunder's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Pancaspe View Post
    WOW has sold over 30 million copies, that means there are 21 million ex-WOW players out there. It is not "mad" to think 6 million of that 21 will come back for MOP. That does not even consider new players that Pandas and Pet Battles might attract. Finally, maybe, just maybe, MOP will be popular in China.

    How "Mad" do I look now?
    Your assuming that "every sold copy" = a unique player. Ever heard of multi-boxing? Or people buying a new copy due to getting banned or hacked on their old account(s) ? If WoW has sold over 30 million copies, why have we NEVER seen WoW's subscription numbers anywhere near that? WoW has peaked, and has been in decline for the past 1.5 year. It's fun to read comments of how "MoP will bring them all back", yet during the same quarter as MoPs release, we have Guild Wars 2 being released. Last month we had The Secret World. Either during this quarter, or the next one, SWTOR will be going Free-to-play.

    TL;DR: There are plenty of alternatives to WoW these days. WoW's days as the "King of MMOs" has long since passed, and WoW's subscription numbers have peaked. No way will they ever return to the same numbers they once had (12 million+)
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