1.3 million sub drop

[Pann]

Keep in mind that China itself had over 50% of the subs around the time we hit 12 million. So if Wow does lose the majority of China and whatever it's bleed from US/Europe we'll probably bottom out around 5 million. The cash will still be rolling though and I would think at that point they will server merge to retire aging hardware resources.

Does anyone have the profit numbers compared to last Quarter? Is it separated by WoW and not all inclusive of every product?

The last time they released a breakdown by region the split was roughly just under 6.5 million in China and just over 5 million in the West. It is, also, reasonable to assume that Chinese subs grew when Wrath was launched however overall sub numbers remained constant suggesting that Western subs were in decline.

[Baracuda]

Actually, the biggest problem with World of Warcraft is that Blizzard has no idea whatsoever about what made the game popular to begin with.

You didn't say what made the game popular to begin with, oh great one.

[MrSerious]

The subs will keep going down if the game continues to be in this state. Its just not enjoyable, especially in pvp. Its not fun to be blown up in a global no matter your gear. And pvp is the only mode left for casuals who dont have time or motivation to raid.

I tend to agree with this. PvP WAS fun and it's become a shambles over the last few xpacs (Cata, Mop)

[Thetruth1400]

Incoming WOW IS DYING. It isn't. Also most likely due to the Dailies qq


We'll get them all back. Things change.

The last jump positive quarter Blizzard posted in WoW was with the release of MoP. From a business point of view, results with such negative drops for such a long consecutive period are considered to be dying.

WoW at it's prime had 12 million subscribers. As of March 2013, the number is 8.3 million. To put that realistically, WoW is only holding on to 66% of it's customers. That's not a good retention rate / rate of new customers brought in.

In addition, in the press release they even go as far to say they expect WoW to lose more subscriptions by the end of the year.


So tell me? How exactly is WoW not dying? There are tons of issues with the game that have been addressed multiple times by the fans. Blizzard doesn't address them though, instead they're focused on pumping out content at an increased pace.

[Ceece]

Lol.What evidence more do you need then 1.3m mil players lost in 3 months.
Dying and dead are 2 different things.Wow is not dead,but sure as hell is dying,at fast rate.

Thanks for quoting me at the wrong time (editing adjustments at the time you quoted me). Anyhow, where's the evidence (detailed) behind why they lost 1.3mil subs? Where did I say the game was dead, too? No where. With 8.3mil players left, the game looks fine to me. Though, I wouldn't say it's dying at a fast rate either.

[Baracuda]

I tend to agree with this. PvP WAS fun and it's become a shambles over the last few xpacs (Cata, Mop)

Funny, in Vanilla everyone blew up in seconds. Perhaps it was more sustained in tbc but it also had a lot of RNG. I could stun someone for 10 seconds with mace spec and stormherald, or kill someone in seconds if I got lucky with sword spec and windfury totem(classic version of 5.0 Taste for Blood).

[Maelstrom51]

How can people still claim that MoP is the best expansion ever, when this is by far the largest quarterly sub loss that WoW has ever seen?

And this is just after a new raid dropped!

[Glorious Leader]

The alt unfriendly thing I think is pretty big but they haven't addressed it enough. Gearing out diff classes was fun. Man I want to lvl my hunter, and lvl a shaman and a priest and a few other classes but I'm not going to bother. It's to much of a pain in the ass. It looks cool to play a shaman and I had fun in cata on my hunter but it's just to time consuming.

People will of course just keep going about wows age. I guess it's a necessary illusion. Can't criticize the developers or the content. Just has to be because the game is old and nothing else.

[darklady]

Oh wow. I suspected the numbers would be lower, but day-um.

They may have swung the pendulim too far to the other extreme from Cata. Cata was too alt friendly. MOP isn't alt friendly at all. Even playing your main feels like you're treading water for rep. I had a guildie quit before 5.2, and she said the reason why was because she "hadn't done anything" and felt like she was falling behind. She wasn't exalted with any factions, didn't open up Sungsong ranch for farming, hadn't maxed out her profs, and was scrambling to do enough dailies to get her elder charms before raid. She didn't have the time.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

The last jump positive quarter Blizzard posted in WoW was with the release of MoP. From a business point of view, results with such negative drops for such a long consecutive period are considered to be dying.

WoW at it's prime had 12 million subscribers. As of March 2013, the number is 8.3 million. To put that realistically, WoW is only holding on to 66% of it's customers. That's not a good retention rate / rate of new customers brought in.

In addition, in the press release they even go as far to say they expect WoW to lose more subscriptions by the end of the year.


So tell me? How exactly is WoW not dying? There are tons of issues with the game that have been addressed multiple times by the fans. Blizzard doesn't address them though, instead they're focused on pumping out content at an increased pace.

The last sustained climb was in Wrath.

From the moment Cata launched it's been a steady drop, only offset by one temporary blip when MoP released. That blip was gone by the end of that quarter (went from 10.1 back down to 9.something.)

[Exroyal]

I wasn't expecting this drop. I was on max 700k, but this is almost double that.. I was expecting a big drop in Q2. I wonder what it will be? Guess the age is catching up now, but nonetheless, 8.3m is impressive, it's just that people have big expectations from WoW.

[Tomana]

I'm curious, do you people get some sort of weird satisfaction by constantly spouting the words "wow is dying luulzzzz!" Because from what I know, a game's player base shrinking after over 8 years of service is != dying. I barely even play the game anymore, but I don't get an orgasm every time I see the subs are dropping like some of you people...

People feel the urge to rationalize their actions. In this case, the fact that they stopped playing the game or want to do so. Psy 101 -_-

[Fagatronics]

I'm curious, do you people get some sort of weird satisfaction by constantly spouting the words "wow is dying luulzzzz!" Because from what I know, a game's player base shrinking after over 8 years of service is != dying. I barely even play the game anymore, but I don't get an orgasm every time I see the subs are dropping like some of you people...

I can't vouche for everyone's intentions but I think it's just validation. If people are saying the game is on the decline or that their server is a ghost town then this helps their arguement.

Personally I have not enjoyed the direction the game has gone in for some time. I hope this is a wake up call to Blizz. I love WoW and would come back if they made the right changes but I'm not holding my breath.

The one thing that gives me hope is they said they expect to lose more subs this expansion. Atleast they've become realistic about their situation. Maybe this will help shape a better future for WoW.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Oh wow. I suspected the numbers would be lower, but day-um.

They may have swung the pendulim too far to the other extreme from Cata. Cata was too alt friendly. MOP isn't alt friendly at all. Even playing your main feels like you're treading water for rep. I had a guildie quit before 5.2, and she said the reason why was because she "hadn't done anything" and felt like she was falling behind. She wasn't exalted with any factions, didn't open up Sungsong ranch for farming, hadn't maxed out her profs, and was scrambling to do enough dailies to get her elder charms before raid. She didn't have the time.

The other point (and given recent posts, the now main reason) I bailed on MoP was exactly that. I spent about a month at 90 and I hadn't hit exhalted on any gear factions, hadn't gotten into more than 1 LFR, wasn't raid ready, and was quickly burning out on killing the same Mogu at the same gate every day.

This was just before 5.2.

Blizz tried to cover their ass with their "here's how to gear up" post, but all it did was reinforce what a lot of quitters already knew. Blizz tried to make optional content (LFR, Scenarios, Dailies) mandatory by overcomplicating the gearing process.

[Doctor Funkenstein]

You didn't say what made the game popular to begin with, oh great one.

I'm well aware. They can pay me if they really want to know.

[Vankrys]

bliz need to take a hard look at vanilla and TBC, those are the only time wow subs rose. and by several millions too
they should also take a look at wolk since, it did not increase the sub but at least maintain it.
finally they should look at what they did in cata/mop and learn hard lesson from it.

[RoKPaNda]

People feel the urge to rationalize their actions. In this case, the fact that they stopped playing the game or want to do so. Psy 101 -_-

Basically this. I do the same thing every time I take an extended break from WoW. I even know I do it, and it's still hilarious to watch other people doing the same thing.

[dasboog]

8+ mill subs is still a huge number, but 1.3 million is also a very large percentage of their overall player base to lose. You have to wonder at what point they start to hold people accountable. If the company i work for lost roughly 14% of our sales contracts, you can be sure heads would start rolling..

[Rorschachs]

Thanks for quoting me at the wrong time (editing adjustments at the time you quoted me). Anyhow, where's the evidence (detailed) behind why they lost 1.3mil subs? Where did I say the game was dead, too? No where. With 8.3mil players left, the game looks fine to me. Though, I wouldn't say it's dying at a fast rate either.

It looks like it. The reason is there is no lack of content or anything but there is a fast loss of subs. Its kinda sad how blizzard manages to mess up their own games at a fast rate..

[eldritchforeshadow]

I am still playing the game however, I avoid looking for raid whenever possible and I stay far away from scenarios. Instead, I do normal mode raiding(when I can), pet battles, achievements, and old content for fun. I think LFR, scenarios, and dailies suck in this expansion and I think it is the reason why subs were lost. I will continue playing WOW until it has only me left as a sub. But what if WOW stayed a pay-to-play model yet added an optional free-to-play model with restrictions and a cash shop? Would that not be a good idea?