WoW Down to 7.7 Million Subscribers, Activision Blizzard Purchases Vivendi's Shares

[hiragana]

not surprising at all, been downhill since cataclysm.

[Faroth]

Good....

I think 5-7 million is the range it should settle out and Blizz can get a better grasp on developing for their player base rather than trying to develop for every player style on the planet.

To be honest, I've lost most of my guild and friends from WoW and the story's just not interested me from the Alliance perspective. I'm even expecting to let my sub lapse before the next expansion for FF XIV: ARR and watching EQNext (1 week to the unveiling!).

[snowcrash512]

the sub losses are a combination of financial instability in the economy and over pricing by blizzard . with the amount of sub losses maybe they should rethink their over all sub fees vs the economy

As much as I hate to get into these debates, I have to agree. 5 years ago the number of F2P games was fairly small and nothing with serious quality behind it. Now, thats changed quite a bit, there are dozens of MMOs that can be played without ever spending a dime and the quality has come up quite a bit as well. Times are changing in the MMO world.

[CaptainArlong]

Make it free-to-play or drop the price to $5 a month, I'd be back, but $15 a month isn't worth it for such an old game. The graphics really show their age, and it's not worth it at all.

Don't want to do that? Get rid of the old character models and put in new ones, then I'd be back and paying $15 a month.

[Deleted]

and the reason for that is the blizzard store...
you're already making people pay 13 euro a month
but if you wanna have a ugly transmog helm you'll have to pay another 12 !
or a unique mount another 20 !

I've also heard or read somewhere on a website they're gonna add pay for extra xp boosts to lvl up quicker & pay for more Charms of lesser good so you don't have to do dailies anymore... ( apperently this is going to be tested on the Korean servers) anyways if they do this they just anal raped their own game.

[Faroth]

Make it free-to-play or drop the price to $5 a month, I'd be back, but $15 a month isn't worth it for such an old game. The graphics really show their age, and it's not worth it at all.

Don't want to do that? Get rid of the old character models and put in new ones, then I'd be back and paying $15 a month.

You mean the models they're working on and expected to be shown at Blizzcon as a feature for the next expansion?

Personally, I'd love a $100/year subscription option

[Deleted]

to all those people that say that the game is too casual and easy now, how many of you have killed lei shen heroic? or even jinrock on heroic? yeah thought so. the raids are as hard as ever, and even the world 1st race this time lasted a month (only icc took longer due to LK beeing over tunned)

[tarkin12]

It's the summer...I think you can always expect numbers to decline this time of year.

[shamental]

... and even the world 1st race this time lasted a month (only icc took longer due to LK beeing over tunned)

actually LK was gated and also had the attempt system crap.

[shimargh]

Honestly never heard of that, I hear people blaming activision more than anything, and I would too. Activision is probably right up there with EA for most greedy gaming company.

I always said "it's blizzard's fault"

[wych]

to all those people that say that the game is too casual and easy now, how many of you have killed lei shen heroic? or even jinrock on heroic? yeah thought so. the raids are as hard as ever, and even the world 1st race this time lasted a month (only icc took longer due to LK beeing over tunned)

But that's bullshit.

TBC took a lot longer than a month and ICC was gated so it isn't really a worthwhile comparison

[xenogear3]

Sinking ship for both stock owners and WoW fanboys

[Raven]

Would say them starting to play around with the blizzard store, and let people use it from ingame is a clear sign they are getting closer to free 2 play or atleast lowering the cost per month.

[Drithien]

and the reason for that is the blizzard store...
you're already making people pay 13 euro a month
but if you wanna have a ugly transmog helm you'll have to pay another 12 !
or a unique mount another 20 !

I've also heard or read somewhere on a website they're gonna add pay for extra xp boosts to lvl up quicker & pay for more Charms of lesser good so you don't have to do dailies anymore... ( apperently this is going to be tested on the Korean servers) anyways if they do this they just anal raped their own game.

"An investment group that includes Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly, who put up $100 million together, as well as Tencent and other partners is purchasing 172 million shares for $2.3 billion. This group will own 24.9% of the company." And with Tencent as a shareholder now, these are not going to go away any time soon, sadly.

to all those people that say that the game is too casual and easy now, how many of you have killed lei shen heroic? or even jinrock on heroic? yeah thought so. the raids are as hard as ever, and even the world 1st race this time lasted a month (only icc took longer due to LK beeing over tunned)

What do heroic modes have to do with the success of the game?! Do you realise how small a portion of the playerbase actually gives a damn about raiding? Do you understand that if WoW was catering to "raiders" it would never have surpassed even half a million subscriptions? It's the casuals that made the game the frantic success that is has been, and still is. Those "poor scrubs that run around doing quests and don't know how to even socket gems," not the "ultra-cool shinies-equipped from top-to-bottom wannabe pro raiders." And if Blizzard catered to those casuals instead of the elitists, maybe the game would still be above 10 million subscriptions. It's the focus on raiding and instanced PvP, at the expense of open-world role-playing content, that made the game boring for most players. Not "heroic Lei Shen."

[Chawan]

and the reason for that is the blizzard store...
you're already making people pay 13 euro a month
but if you wanna have a ugly transmog helm you'll have to pay another 12 !
or a unique mount another 20 !

I've also heard or read somewhere on a website they're gonna add pay for extra xp boosts to lvl up quicker & pay for more Charms of lesser good so you don't have to do dailies anymore... ( apperently this is going to be tested on the Korean servers) anyways if they do this they just anal raped their own game.

Please tell me how something OPTIONAL is killing the game? Don't like it? Then DON'T fucking purchase anything from the store, it's not hard.

[klaps_05]

i can see the subs stabilizing around 8 mil by the 3rd quarter. except for a couple of bad and very specific class changes everything else looks amazing, especially flex raiding and all that. it will bring all those thousands of players without guild or struggling guilds with members between 10-24 together.

[Deleted]

Would love to see WoW's sub numbers without all the botting accounts active.

And as for the whole shares crap...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...sion-blizzard/

[Azutael]

It is also to much of a hazzle for new players to get started I think, it is going to cost them quite a lot. And then they need to get to max lvl, and then catch up to the current content before the game really begins.

People are crazy to think they would go free to play yet though, WoW is still a big cash cow after all.

[wych]

It is also to much of a hazzle for new players to get started I think, it is going to cost them quite a lot. And then they need to get to max lvl, and then catch up to the current content before the game really begins.

People are crazy to think they would go free to play yet though, WoW is still a big cash cow after all.

I'd say some of the most fun I had in WoW was through leveling up and exploring.

Most players don't come into the game thinking "I need to get max level as quickly as I can"

[ngc2440]

Ugh now I have to hear about the sub decline for months.

Hey guys I have a pet hate in the game I'm going to blame the sub loss entirely on that and act as if that's justified.

My feelings exactly. Incoming wall of "WoW is dying because of <x>" threads.